Trump confirms he asked Fifa to review Balogun ban

US President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday at the White House that he had asked world football's governing body Fifa to review the one-match suspension of United States striker Folarin Balogun at the World Cup. Trump said he believed it was not a foul but rather two great athletes colliding and getting entangled.

Fifa made a surprising decision on Sunday to suspend the automatic one-match ban for 12 months, clearing the way for the 25-year-old Balogun, who has scored three goals in the tournament, to be selected for Tuesday's last-16 match against Belgium in Seattle. Balogun had received a straight red card for a foul on Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic in the previous round.

Trump confirmed he spoke to Fifa president Gianni Infantino but insisted he only asked for a review and did not tell Infantino to overturn the ban. "I can't tell them what to do. I don't believe they made the decision; I believe it was the commission that made the decision. And it was the right decision," Trump said.

The Royal Belgian Football Association earlier expressed being "astonished" by Fifa's move to allow Balogun to play. The RBFA said in a statement it was deeply concerned by the course of events and would continue to fight for the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football.

England head coach Thomas Tuchel, whose own side were reduced to 10 men against Mexico after Jarell Quansah's red card, said the ruling set a dangerous precedent. "Where to draw the line is the question that I ask. Do we appeal if a yellow card is not a yellow card? Where does this start and where does this end?" he said.

European football's governing body Uefa said that intervening to effectively cancel a suspension at a tournament "crossed a red line".

Of the 189 other red cards at the World Cup, only once before has a player escaped a suspension – Brazil's Garrincha in 1962, before automatic bans were in place, with the failure to impose a sanction shrouded in allegations of political interference.