By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer
GENEVA (AP) — An all-time controversy in the World Cup’s 96-year history was raging Monday ahead of the co-host United States facing Belgium with a quarterfinals place at stake.
European soccer body UEFA criticized FIFA for an “incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision” to let U.S forward Folarin Balogun play despite getting a red card in his previous game — a shocking move made Sunday after pressure on the world soccer body’s leader Gianni Infantino from his close ally, U.S. President Donald Trump.
UEFA said in a statement FIFA “crossed a red line” with its decision not to enforce Balogun’s mandatory one-game ban for his foul tackle against Bosnia-Herzegovina last Wednesday.
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 the European soccer body, 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.”
The Belgian soccer federation was preparing an appeal in Seattle in the early hours of Monday to challenge the Balogun ruling before a FIFA-appointed appeals judge. The round of 16 game against the U.S. is due to kick off at 5 p.m. local time.
Balogun’s tackle
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 Lionel Messi for Argentina 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.
FIFA’s interventions
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.
US exceptionalism
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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