"Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls," wrote Sepp Blatter on Monday. The man who was removed from FIFA in disgrace amid corruption allegations and remains banned from all football activity until 2027 would like you to know he has concerns about institutional integrity.
The internet had thoughts.
The immediate backdrop: FIFA deferred Folarin Balogun's one-match suspension — earned via VAR review for a stamp on Bosnia's Tarik Muharemovic during the USMNT's 2-0 group stage win — placing it instead under a one-year probationary period. That decision came after Donald Trump reportedly called FIFA president Gianni Infantino and asked him to revisit the ban, allowing Balogun to remain available for Monday night's last-16 tie against Belgium in Seattle.
The politics problem FIFA can't ignore
Whether Balogun's red card deserved to stand is a separate argument — USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino publicly disputed the ruling, and there's a reasonable case the challenge was clumsy rather than malicious. But the manner of its removal matters. A head of state contacts the governing body's president, and a suspension evaporates days before a knockout match. That sequence is difficult to explain away through procedural language alone.
Blatter's post called it exactly that. "If a U.S. President intervenes with the FIFA President — and a player is suddenly cleared before a World Cup knockout match — the question is unavoidable: Quo vadis, FIFA?" he wrote. Piers Morgan, no stranger to a pointed take himself, noted that if even Blatter is questioning your ethics, something has gone badly wrong. Ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher leaned into the absurdity by sarcastically calling for Blatter's return to "clean up" the organisation.
The joke writes itself. But underneath the mockery, there's a real issue for Infantino and for the tournament. Belgium lodged their own appeal before kick-off, and the optics of that appeal landing differently to the American one — should it do so — would be genuinely corrosive. Any side playing the USMNT in this knockout phase now has a legitimate grievance to reach for if decisions don't go their way.
What it means for Belgium vs USMNT
Balogun's availability is a significant factor. He started the tournament sharp, and his pace in behind is a problem for most defences at this level. Belgium, already navigating their own squad uncertainties, now face him in full. The USMNT's odds to progress from this tie look more solid with him on the pitch than without.
But the story trailing into this match isn't just about one player. It's about whether FIFA's disciplinary process can be moved by a phone call — and whether anyone in football governance is willing to say so plainly. Blatter, of all people, just did. That's either the most darkly comic moment of this World Cup or a genuine warning signal. Possibly both.
Belgium's appeal was still pending at kick-off. The winner advances to face either Portugal or Spain in the quarterfinals.
