Donald Trump hails 'reversing a great injustice' as US star's ban suspended

Donald Trump has hailed a "reversing [of] a great injustice" after Florian Balogun had his one-game ban suspended.

The United States striker was shown a straight red card for a foul on Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic, with the co-hosts winning 2-0.

Fifa said the automatic one-match ban will be suspended for at least a year.

In a statement, the governing body wrote: "In line with Article 27 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code, the implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year.

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"If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement."

Trump thanked Fifa for its action on his Truth Social.

The US President wrote: "Thank you to Fifa for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice! President Donald J. Trump."

Balogun is now available for the US's last-16 contest against Belgium, scheduled for 1am on Tuesday morning.

The striker has been a key player for the United States at the World Cup, scoring twice in their opening game against Paraguay, a 4-1 win.

Balogun also scored against Bosnia before being dismissed.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was one of several senior members of the US Government calling for the decision to be reviewed.

He said: "It was great. They got screwed with that red card. There needs to be an appeal process for that. It's probably too late for that."

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US Soccer accepted the decision, saying in a statement: "[We] are pleased that Folarin Balogun is eligible to compete tomorrow."

The former Arsenal forward's teammates found out about the news on social media while travelling to training.

United States' forward Christian Pulisic said: "We found out about it just coming over here.

"At first, you're like: 'Oh really, is this real?' And then: 'Oh, this is great news'."

The US will be looking to match their second-best ever return at a World Cup tomorrow, with victory into the quarter-finals equalling their achievement in 2002.

Pochettino's side will do incredibly well to beat the States' achievement in 1930 when they finished third, with a tough Belgium number up first.

Belgium made it to the last-16 thanks to an incredible 3-2 comeback win against Senegal, with a last-minute penalty from Youri Tielemans sending the European nation through.

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