GENEVA (AP) — Furor at the World Cup saw Belgium tackle FIFA’s ruling not to enforce a ban from Monday’s game of United States forward Folarin Balogun, and U.S. President Donald Trump claim credit for swaying the soccer body’s leader.
The on-field integrity of soccer’s biggest event came under a shocking attack in what seemed a blatant case of political interference. A strict reading of FIFA statutes could see the U.S. suspended from the global game.
Trump defended calling FIFA President Gianni Infantino, saying he merely pointed out a “horrible” decision by a referee to issue Balogun a red card last Wednesday for an illegal tackle on a Bosnia-Herzegovina player when the U.S. won in the round of 32.
“All I did was ask for a review. I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump told reporters Monday at the White House about lobbying Infantino, a close ally, not to impose a one-game ban on Balogun that is mandatory in soccer laws.
What has flared into an all-time controversy in the World Cup’s 96-year history was raging just hours ahead of the U.S.-Belgium match in Seattle with a quarterfinals place at stake.
The Belgian soccer federation said it was “deeply concerned” in a statement that showed clear frustration with FIFA at what seemed to be a lack of good faith in shaping an urgent legal process to appeal the Balogun ruling.
European soccer body UEFA earlier criticized FIFA for an “incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision,” that it said “crossed a red line” by not enforcing Balogun’s mandatory one-game ban.
FIFA’s ruling Sunday — to defer Balogun's ban for one year of probation — deviated from soccer’s traditional rule of law and drew stinging criticism globally including from former World Cup stars and coaches at this tournament.
“It’s a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad decision that will hurt the World Cup,” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said Sunday after his team beat Brazil to reach the quarterfinals.
UEFA, whose member federations include Belgium, insisted: “Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not.
“When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined,” said UEFA, which has often clashed with Infantino during his decade in FIFA power.
“We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision,” said UEFA, where Infantino was its CEO-like general secretary from 2009 until being elected to lead FIFA in February 2016.
FIFA was asked Monday to comment on the UEFA criticism.
Infantino's predecessor Sepp Blatter, who was forced from office in 2015 in fallout from corruption scandals, posted Monday on social media: “Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies.”
Belgian officials prepared an appeal in Seattle through the night into Monday to get a hearing with a FIFA-appointed appeals judge. They said FIFA had not provided documents key to filing a valid appeal.
The round of 16 game against the U.S. is due to kick off at 5 p.m. local time.
“Regardless of the sporting outcome of the match,” the Belgian federation said, "(we are) deeply concerned by the way these events have unfolded and will continue, in the hours, days and months ahead, to pursue every available avenue to uphold the fundamental principles of ethics, sporting fairness and the interests of football as a whole.”
Soccer rules require teams ultimately judged to have fielded an ineligible player to default the game as a 3-0 loss. Belgium must first appeal to FIFA and then to the Court of Arbitration for Sport based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Balogun was sent off directly for planting his cleated foot on the ankle of Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic during a 2-0 win for the U.S. in the round of 32.
That kind of challenge has been a routine red card all season in competitions worldwide, and Balogun could have expected a two-game ban for serious foul play under the FIFA disciplinary code.
Still, similar challenges by star players have gone unpunished at this World Cup — by Argentina's Lionel Messi against Algeria and Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi vs. Brazil. Bernardo Silva of Portugal got just a yellow card against Congo.
“I think a yellow card would have been fair,” Balogun later suggested.
This World Cup has been remarkable for FIFA under Infantino seeming to rewrite the norms of disciplinary action even before the tournament began.
A pattern of pardons opened FIFA to suggestions of executive intervention in the statutory independence of its judicial bodies, including the disciplinary committee that formally reprieved Balogun.
Cristiano Ronaldo was cleared to play in Portugal’s opening World Cup game despite getting a red card for serious foul play in a qualifying game against Ireland last November. He struck an opponent with an elbow.
Ronaldo served his mandatory ban in Portugal’s final qualifying game but he was reprieved from an expected two-game ban because FIFA introduced the idea of probation. An imposed three-game ban was less meaningful as two games were deferred during a one-year probationary period.
At the opening game on June 11, South Africa's Themba Zwane got a red card against Mexico for a similar offense to Ronaldo's and FIFA imposed a three-game ban with no probation. Zwane did not play again at the World Cup.
Three players sent off in their teams’ qualifying games last year were surprisingly told by FIFA in May they could serve their bans in a future competition instead of at the World Cup, which was the long-standing norm.
Ecuador midfielder Moisés Caicedo, Argentina defender Nicolás Otamendi and Qatar defender Tarek Salman all had their bans waived for the World Cup.
This, FIFA said in May, was to ensure teams “can compete with their strongest possible squads on the biggest stage of men’s international football.”
The Balogun decision simply took this policy further, though not for other players shown a red card so far who were mandated to miss at least one game.
“It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions,” UEFA said, “let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.”
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