By Dan Catchpole
SEATTLE, July 5 (Reuters) – United States coach Mauricio Pochettino said on Sunday that he welcomed FIFA’s decision to suspend striker Folarin Balogun’s red card ban ahead of the team’s World Cup last-16 match with Belgium on Monday in Seattle.
“I think everyone who really looked at the sport and trusts in ethics and integrity should celebrate that decision,” Pochettino told reporters.
“We were punished enough against Bosnia and Herzegovina, playing with 10 men for 35 minutes after a decision that was completely unfair.”
Balogun was sent off in the second half of Wednesday’s round of 32 match with Bosnia for planting his boot into the ankle of Tarik Muharemovic. The 25-year-old’s dismissal came after a video review.
FIFA announced on Sunday that the ban was being suspended but not rescinded. The unprecedented decision followed a call from U.S. President Donald Trump to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Belgium coach Rudi Garcia had reportedly said the ruling felt like “April Fool’s Day”.
Pochettino acknowledged Garcia’s position although he insisted the decision was good for football.
He added that while he understood Garcia had to object, integrity and ethics were “global” and “more fair than that is impossible.”
Pochettino said he had not been involved in the appeal process and only learned of the ruling shortly before the team’s training session.
The Argentine added that political pressure should not influence sports rulings.
“We cannot mix that,” Pochettino said.
Pochettino acknowledged that Balogun’s availability was a boost but stressed that the U.S. team’s strength was in the collective.
“The power is in the 26 players,” he said. “Maybe tomorrow my decision is to put Balogun on the bench. Who knows?”
Balogun has been America’s top scorer in the tournament so far, making up for U.S. talisman Christian Pulisic’s limited game time due to injury.
Pochettino said Belgium remained “one of the greatest teams in the world” and among the contenders to win the World Cup. The U.S. lost 5-2 to Belgium in March in a World Cup warm-up game.
U.S. fans see Monday’s game as a boost to the country’s international football reputation and domestically puts the sport on a par with other major professional sports in America.
“I think this knockout round against a European country, being at the door of the quarter-finals, would make even more history for a country like this,” Pochettino said.
Before this World Cup, he said, soccer in the U.S. “was beginning to grow among young people, but now people are waking up and beginning to feel the sport.”
The U.S. and Belgium are playing in one of the country’s biggest soccer cities and in a stadium known for being among the loudest in professional sports.
“We are going to have the support of our fans, the 12th Man,” said Pochettino, referring to the diehard supporters of the Seattle Seahawks.
(Reporting by Dan Catchpole in Seattle; Editing by Ken Ferris)
