Why USMNT Fans Should Be Une Be Happy About FIFA’s Balogun Decision

American fans should want striker Folarin Balogun on the field for the U.S. men’s national team whenever possible.

In case you missed it, FIFA suspended Balogun’s one-match ban for Monday’s World Cup round of 16 match against Belgium, stemming from his disputed red card received in the USMNT‘s 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32.

That means the influential striker will be eligible for the round of 16 match clash, which is good news in the very short term for USMNT fans but possibly a major boondoggle for the reputation and future of American soccer.

There are certainly questions both about the final decision reached by match referee Rafael Claus in sending off Balogun for his incidental-looking stamp on Tarik Muharemović‘s ankle, and the mechanisms used to reach it. Particularly, the utilization of slow-motion replay during a review to determine if serious foul play occurred seemingly violated FIFA’s replay review protocols.

But while a swarm of partisan American pundits may convince fans otherwise, the decision certainly fell in a gray area. There was a credible argument for being more lenient, but also one for dismissing the striker. Even former U.S. men’s national team coach Bruce Arena believed Claus had reached the right decision.

Then came FIFA’s edict Sunday that it had essentially put Balogun for one year provided he does not commit a similar offense during subsequent FIFA-sanctioned appearances for the national team.

That edict included no explanation for the decision. But we do know that president Donald Trump (or his handlers) authored a post on his Truth Social media platform, reading “Thank you FIFA for doing what is right and reversing a great injustice.” We also have reporting from GiveMeSport’s Ben Jacobs indicating that The White House called FIFA directly about the red card discipline and ensuing one-match suspension.

And we also know that, while many American pundits decried the initial decision when it was made, not a single one expected the decision to be overturned, indicating that there was at least some plausible justification for Claus’ initial decision, however much it was disagreed with.

Now that the referee’s decision has been effectively neutered with few details as to why, the world is left to draw its own conclusions. And the statement from the Belgian federation suggests that is already beginning.

And amid a global climate in which the Trump administration has increasingly abandoned democratic norms in pursuit of its own interests, the common conclusion among many that the decision is corrupt is a reasonable one.

It becomes even more so when you recall that FIFA has been enabled to enact an extraordinarily lucrative and unprecedented ticket pricing in part because of the U.S. governments lack of involvement in tournament organization.

Per Jacobs, FIFA insisted that the Trump administration’s overtures had no impact on its final decision. But the issue Americans should be concerned with here really isn’t FIFA, which has entertained other similar overtures before, but rather its own sporting reputation.

While American sporting endeavers are far from perfect, they have generally maintained basic respect for sports oversight institutions, a key differentiator from its autocratic rivals like the Russia, China, and in previous years Yugoslavia and East Germany.

That has ultimately been of great benefit to American sports. While MLB, the NBA and NHL have long been the elite leagues in their respective sports, they have all experienced significant growth in the shadow of that reputation of fairness, based on foreign athletes and foreign entities showing trust in their product.

And at this World Cup, American Soccer ultimately has similar aims, with the USMNT’s success only a small part of it. Just as important as that competitive result is how leagues like MLS, the USL and even NWSL use the event as a springboard to accelerate their global relevance and competitiveness.

Even the appearance of corruption, absent a compelling explanation to the contrary is ultimately an obstacle to that aim. And if you’re skeptical, ask yourself why neither Russian nor Qatari football seems to have made real progress in its domestic scene following its respective turns at hosting the World Cup.

Meanwhile, unless manager Mauricio Pochettino takes the extraordinary step of sitting Balogun against Belgium on Monday anyway, the rest of the of the United States’ World Cup campaign will carry an asterisk in the eyes of most of the sporting world.

Pochettino has embraced the 1980 Miracle on Ice as a relatable story for his team, evidence of what the American spirit can achieve against incredible obstacles.

But what made the Miracle on Ice so incredible was that the American team adhered to the spirit of the IOC’s commitment to amateurism, while the Soviets fielded a squad that was amateur in name only, full of players whose cost of living was fully subsidized by the government.

In other words, the guys representing the Stars and Stripes claimed the clear moral high ground.

Now the USMNT is decidedly on the other side of that binary to those beyond our borders. And that’s an incredibly difficult dynamic to recover from.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com