World Cup: Boost for US as Balogun’s red card is suspended
By Luke Oluoch, July 5, 2026The United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) has been handed a timely boost with the return of striker Folarin Balogun ahead of their crucial round of 16 encounter against Belgium on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, at Seattle Stadium
The former Arsenal academy star was red-carded in the 64th minute of the round of 32 victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite the setback, Mauricio Pochettino’s Stars and Stripes lads held on to claim a famous 2-0 victory and advanced to the next rounds.
Available
FIFA, through its Disciplinary Committee, issued an update on Sunday, July 5, 2026, on the status of the 25-year-old New York-born attacker.
“By operation of Article 27 FDC, the implementation of the automatic match suspension for USA player Folarin Balogun is suspended for a probationary period of one (1) year,” the governing body’s statement read.
The USA are seeking their first World Cup quarter-final appearance since Korea/Japan 2002, with the striker’s availability crucial to boosting their chances.
The attacker is the USA’s leading scorer at the global finals with three goals. Balogun spectacularly opened his account, netting a brace to power the U.S. to a dominant 4-1 victory against Paraguay in their opening match.
He claimed his third goal, scoring the opening goal to guide the U.S. into the round of 16 with a 2-0 win over Bosnia before getting his marching orders.
Former US national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann shared his thoughts on what a victory against the European opposition could mean for the co-hosts.
“It would mean a lot because the game has been consistently growing over the past three or four decades. Since 1990, there have been so many milestones that the programme went through in the United States, and it would add another milestone in that process to soccer in the US and it would be fantastic. The game is hugely popular everywhere, but going into another round of the World Cup would give it another boost,” he told FIFA.
The clash kicks off at 3:00 am.