Typical FIFA incompetence.

agsalaska said:

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Only in America would this be a domestic controversy. If this happened in another country, any other country, their citizens would be about 99% behind the decision however it came to be.

In most countries politicians being able to influence FIFA to make decisions in their favor is in the job description.

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Maybe other heads of state have intervened in this way but geez.

What's the saying… better to be silent and let people speculate than to speak and remove all doubt.

Good God Trump just shut up. And yes I would apply this to Biden, Obama or any other head of state and their cabinet. There end of political rant on a soccer forum

Go USA, beat Belgium!

ccaggie05 said:

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Sea Speed said:

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BREAKING: Belgium wins right to appeal FIFA’s decision to lift Folarin Balogun’s ban.

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) July 6, 2026

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This is exactly why the true villan in all this is FIFA not having a system in place to appeal suspensions and with it, transparency on why an appeal is accepted or rejected.

I doubt anything changes before the game tonight, but who knows. FIFA is making things up as they go.

This should have all been handled within the first 24 hours after the Bosnia game.

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24 hours? Could have announced by the next morning within 12.

FIFA managed to do this the worst possible way. There is very little prep teams can actually do for these games and they somehow managed to force the US to prep most of the week for another scenario and managed to give everyone else as much ammo as possible to make FIFA incompetence the main storyline.

deadbq03 said:

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The handwringing on both sides is dumb… especially when it gets political.

Every president would've done the same thing. Every host country would've done the same thing.

And on the flip side, we would've been super pissed if this happened against us.

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I'm actually not so sure I'd care that much if Belgium got back lukaka, for example, in the same scenario. thats because fifa broke its own rules, not that they overturned the red card or the referees opinion. Thats a different case.

TXAggie2011 said:

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ccaggie05 said:

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Sea Speed said:

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BREAKING: Belgium wins right to appeal FIFA’s decision to lift Folarin Balogun’s ban.

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) July 6, 2026

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This is exactly why the true villan in all this is FIFA not having a system in place to appeal suspensions and with it, transparency on why an appeal is accepted or rejected.

I doubt anything changes before the game tonight, but who knows. FIFA is making things up as they go.

This should have all been handled within the first 24 hours after the Bosnia game.

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24 hours? Could have announced by the next morning within 12.

FIFA managed to do this the worst possible way. There is very little prep teams can actually do for these games and they somehow managed to force the US to prep most of the week for another scenario and managed to give everyone else as much ammo as possible to make FIFA incompetence the main storyline.

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Yes this should have been delt with immediately following the match not on the eve of the next match. I imagine if arch manning was suspended for their game against us. We prep knowing arch isn't playing and then within 24 hrs the NCAA announced after discussing with Chris Del Conte the Arch Manning WILL play against A&M

Yeah you'd be pissed

Who?mikejones! said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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Who?mikejones! said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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wangus12 said:

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aginlakeway said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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wangus12 said:

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Bag said:

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that's kind of my take, I would have much preferred to beat them wo him, which I believe we were still favored to do.

that would have been a great story line.

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You would be wrong. Belgium are still favored even with Balogun in the team. They may not have looked great so far, but they are still considered a top team in the world.

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Best case scenario at this point to shut everyone up is probably for Balogun to go off with a very minor injury early on and then go on to win.

I am just so tired of FIFA managing to making what should be a slam dunk success of an event into a controversy every four years.

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Our player having a minor injury is best case scenario?

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Yeah that's weird. If we want to have a "face-saving" moment where Balo doesn't effect the match, the best scenario would be to just not play him.

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I assume after this there is 0% chance Poch doesn't play him. Obviously I don't actually want anyone to be hurt.

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Why shouldn't we start him?

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Did I say we shouldn't? /laughcryface/

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You suggested the best case scenario is for him to get injured early and be taken off. Why? Why should we care? Fifa ****ed it up and then fixed it. And we're worried about what other might think?

Nah, screw that. I hope Balogun scores eleventy goals tonight and does the trump dance for every one

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If you grew up watching boxing like I did, you'd remember Roy Jones Jr putting his hands behind his back before knocking the **** out of Roy Glenn.

And you know you'd be basking in it if after all this, Balogun went out there, came off after 2 minutes with the equivalent of a painful hangnail, we had to use an early sub and change our approach and then went on to beat them anyways. You know you all you other keyboard warriors would absolutely love it.


Is that what "I want to happen?" No. But, hypothetically, is that how to make the rest of the world shut up and remember this team as a force for decades? Absolutely, I think it would be.

Max Power said:

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I didn't realize FIFA did the same thing for Ronaldo recently which impacted his availability for the World Cup. He received a red card and subsequent 3 match ban for elbowing an Irish player during qualifying. He was allowed to serve a one match suspension vs Armenia, and deferred the other two matches under a one year probationary period. He would have missed the first two games of the World Cup otherwise. FIFA is not setting precedent here, people need to calm down.

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They've done that for 3 other players as well.

The main difference was those suspensions allowed players to play at the start of the tournament. Balo's red card was during the tournament itself which is why people are ignoring the other ones.

Max Power said:

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I didn't realize FIFA did the same thing for Ronaldo recently which impacted his availability for the World Cup. He received a red card and subsequent 3 match ban for elbowing an Irish player during qualifying. He was allowed to serve a one match suspension vs Armenia, and deferred the other two matches under a one year probationary period. He would have missed the first two games of the World Cup otherwise. FIFA is not setting precedent here, people need to calm down.

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To add to Wangus, I also think part of the issue for Europeans is Ronaldo absolutely deserved the red card because he absolutely threw an elbow and they hated that, too. I am not agreeing with them, but that's not "good" precedent to them.

I think we have to remember FIFA is like the NCAA is to college sports fans. It's a completely broken relationship that's a constant issue.

TXAggie2011 said:

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Who?mikejones! said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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Who?mikejones! said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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wangus12 said:

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aginlakeway said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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wangus12 said:

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Bag said:

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that's kind of my take, I would have much preferred to beat them wo him, which I believe we were still favored to do.

that would have been a great story line.

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You would be wrong. Belgium are still favored even with Balogun in the team. They may not have looked great so far, but they are still considered a top team in the world.

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Best case scenario at this point to shut everyone up is probably for Balogun to go off with a very minor injury early on and then go on to win.

I am just so tired of FIFA managing to making what should be a slam dunk success of an event into a controversy every four years.

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Our player having a minor injury is best case scenario?

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Yeah that's weird. If we want to have a "face-saving" moment where Balo doesn't effect the match, the best scenario would be to just not play him.

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I assume after this there is 0% chance Poch doesn't play him. Obviously I don't actually want anyone to be hurt.

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Why shouldn't we start him?

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Did I say we shouldn't? /laughcryface/

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You suggested the best case scenario is for him to get injured early and be taken off. Why? Why should we care? Fifa ****ed it up and then fixed it. And we're worried about what other might think?

Nah, screw that. I hope Balogun scores eleventy goals tonight and does the trump dance for every one

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If you grew up watching boxing like I did, you'd remember Roy Jones Jr putting his hands behind his back before knocking the **** out of Roy Glenn.

And you know you'd be basking in it if after all this, Balogun went out there, came off after 2 minutes with the equivalent of a painful hangnail, we had to use an early sub and change our approach and then went on to beat them anyways. You know you all you other keyboard warriors would absolutely love it.


Is that what "I want to happen?" No. But, hypothetically, is that how to make the rest of the world shut up and remember this team as a force for decades? Absolutely, I think it would be.

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What are you talking about? Yes, I'd love a win no matter how we get it. I dont give a **** about the "rest of the world's" opinion. They can say what they want. I, and many other americans, don't care.

I've still yet to see a vaild reason, and you haven't given one yet either BTW, as to why Balogun shouldn't play, or should only play a min or two. Why?

I'm an arsenal fan, as you probably know. You think I give a **** about all of the asterisk talk for this past seasons trophy? Or, how this team was somehow inferior to other championship teams? All because of how arsenal won? Nope, no ****s given. They can talk all they want.

Who?mikejones! said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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Who?mikejones! said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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Who?mikejones! said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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wangus12 said:

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aginlakeway said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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wangus12 said:

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Bag said:

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that's kind of my take, I would have much preferred to beat them wo him, which I believe we were still favored to do.

that would have been a great story line.

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You would be wrong. Belgium are still favored even with Balogun in the team. They may not have looked great so far, but they are still considered a top team in the world.

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Best case scenario at this point to shut everyone up is probably for Balogun to go off with a very minor injury early on and then go on to win.

I am just so tired of FIFA managing to making what should be a slam dunk success of an event into a controversy every four years.

---

Our player having a minor injury is best case scenario?

---

Yeah that's weird. If we want to have a "face-saving" moment where Balo doesn't effect the match, the best scenario would be to just not play him.

---

I assume after this there is 0% chance Poch doesn't play him. Obviously I don't actually want anyone to be hurt.

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Why shouldn't we start him?

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Did I say we shouldn't? /laughcryface/

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You suggested the best case scenario is for him to get injured early and be taken off. Why? Why should we care? Fifa ****ed it up and then fixed it. And we're worried about what other might think?

Nah, screw that. I hope Balogun scores eleventy goals tonight and does the trump dance for every one

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If you grew up watching boxing like I did, you'd remember Roy Jones Jr putting his hands behind his back before knocking the **** out of Roy Glenn.

And you know you'd be basking in it if after all this, Balogun went out there, came off after 2 minutes with the equivalent of a painful hangnail, we had to use an early sub and change our approach and then went on to beat them anyways. You know you all you other keyboard warriors would absolutely love it.


Is that what "I want to happen?" No. But, hypothetically, is that how to make the rest of the world shut up and remember this team as a force for decades? Absolutely, I think it would be.

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What are you talking about? Yes, I'd love a win no matter how we get it. I dont give a **** about the "rest of the world's" opinion. They can say what they want. I, and many other americans, don't care.

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Yep. Very well said.

I never said he shouldn't play and I said I obviously don't actually want him to get hurt. So I don't have to explain why he shouldn't play. You're tilting at a windmill there, 'ol Donny Q.

Just being funny here...

Tell FIFA’s judicial bodies they should check again. This is clearly a red car! pic.twitter.com/DqzBg5rEgt

— ₳lex🐍 (@gudtek) July 6, 2026

That is clearly a pink shoe, not a red car.

Quote:

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"I have seen the public comments regarding the decision of the independent FIFA Disciplinary Committee related to the suspension of Folarin Balogun, and I would like to reiterate a fundamental principle of FIFA's governance.

"FIFA's judicial bodies are independent. They operate autonomously, apply the FIFA Disciplinary Code, and decide cases based on the applicable regulations and the specific facts before them. Their independence is essential to the credibility and integrity of football, and this must always be respected.

"Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues. During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA's independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA's system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.

"I read the decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee when they are issued. Sometimes I am surprised by them. Sometimes I agree with them, and sometimes I disagree.

"What I always do, however, is respect those decisions and the autonomy of the bodies that make them. Whether we personally like a decision or not is irrelevant. Respect for independent institutions and the rule of law is what protects the integrity of our competitions and the credibility of FIFA at all times."

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tysker said:

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rsf0626 said:

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Trump needs to stop talking about this to the public. The more he yaps the more corrupt it sounds. Dude is literally bragging about his personal call to the FIFA president

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Ya this whole thing was essentially "anonymous sources" and media influencers talking **** with no evidence.
But Trump being Trump can't help himself from taking credit for any good thing that happens.

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Again breaking the rules. pic.twitter.com/2IJ01bM0Ax

— Caesar (@J_CaesarX) July 6, 2026

Who?mikejones! said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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I never said he shouldn't play and I said I obviously don't actually want him to get hurt. So I obviously don't have to explain why he shouldn't play. You're tilting at a windmill there, 'ol Donny Q.

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"The best case scenario is for balgoun to get injured and come off early..." is what you said

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You're misquoting me.

Max Power said:

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I didn't realize FIFA did the same thing for Ronaldo recently which impacted his availability for the World Cup. He received a red card and subsequent 3 match ban for elbowing an Irish player during qualifying. He was allowed to serve a one match suspension vs Armenia, and deferred the other two matches under a one year probationary period. He would have missed the first two games of the World Cup otherwise. FIFA is not setting precedent here, people need to calm down.

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It is the first time in WC history that a red card issued during the WC has been suspended.

aginlakeway said:

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Insane. Because Trump got involved, some will now root against our soccer team.

Insane.

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It is hilarious to me because on the day he got the red card, leftists on Reddit were saying Trump should get involved to fix the injustice. They were fine with the idea until it actually happened.

Is there any chance that after Belgium's appeal, Balogun is out for the first half only or is it all or nothing

Aggie95 said:

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Is there any chance that after Belgium's appeal, Balogun is out for the first half only or is it all or nothing

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That might be the most bizarre outcome. It would almost certainly be all or nothing.

PJYoung said:

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Best case scenario for me is that Balogun continues to score a crap ton of goals for us and we shock the world and bring home the trophy.

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Yep.