'SHADY BUSINESS!' - Alejandro Moreno on FIFA allowing Balogun to play vs. Belgium | ESPN FC

And news coming in as we go to air today that Flo Balogun will not be serving a suspension against Belgium in their game in the last 16.Red, white and screwed, said the papers, and seeing red after his 64th minute red card after a challenge on defender Tarek Makharemovic in the Bosnia and Herzegovina game.That meant that he would be suspended for the game against Belgium on Monday.But in what is an unprecedented move, the player is now available to face the Belgians in that last 16 clash in Seattle tomorrow.We now welcome into the show Jan Agafiotov, Hercules Gomez, and our own Sam Borden.Sam, let's start with you.

How has this happened?

Yeah, Kay.The most interesting thing to me is that while U .S.soccer officials, I think, did have some inkling this could happen, we're told that they were in conversations with FIFA over the last couple of days.The players had no idea.They literally saw reports on social media while on the bus over here to the University of Washington, where they had their matchday minus one training.

Chris Richards said about 40 conversations started breaking out all over the bus.They finally got confirmation when they arrived at the facility and heard that, in fact, Balogun is back, obviously really, really, really excited.I think Alex Freeman might have said it best when he said, we don't know how this happened, we're just happy that it happened.

Yeah, you can imagine that the US side of things, they are very excited to have their top scorer back, who of course had scored in that game as well before he did get the red card.What are your thoughts on it, Herc?

Well, it increases the U .S.men's and women's team's chances of advancing versus Belgium.He was literally that X -factor.He's already got three goals in as many games.Landon Donovan had an addition with three goals.

You've got to go to 1930 before that.It doesn't happen for the Americans every tournament.He's a player playing with tons of confidence and certainlyincrease those odds of beating a team like Belgium.But there's the train of thought of how did this happen?Why did this happen?

I'm of the train of thought of where is the injustice?Is the injustice the red card that happened to Folloran Balogun?putting up a still frame, a slow motion image, giving it to the referee who didn't even call the red card in the game.It was VAR who brought him over and then saying, based off this still image, based off this slow motion replay, is it contact?Is it a red card?Is it risking or endangering the opponent?

Is that the injustice or?is the injustice, something that you're not allowed to appeal, you're not supposed to appeal, all of a sudden is appealed.Much like the Cristiano Ronaldo decision where he elbows a player in his three games and it goes down to one, so he's available for the World Cup.I'm of the train of thought, and I know this isn't a popular opinion, that it shouldn't have been a red card.I don't believe you can go through the game in still images or slow motion and judge events.That to me was the biggest injustice.

This is allowing a player who should have never been sent off to play.But if you're anybody but American, this is ugly.This is very ugly.Because we're seeing and hearing reports of the President of the United States speaking with Infantino, speaking with FIFA, thanking FIFA.It just looks very, very murky.It's an ugly scene if you're not American.

But to me, the injustice was the red card.

And as we say, we're not confirming any of these reports that we're seeing just now that Hercules referenced.But to go to the Cristiano Ronaldo moment, just to add some context to it, because that has been brought up.He was handed a three -match ban for violent conduct during a World Cup qualifier against Ireland.FIFA chose to defer the final two games of that ban to a probationary period, ensuring that he wouldn't miss Portugal's opening World Cup group stage matches.He did serve one of those bans.Ale, your thoughts on what we're seeing today?

Okay, I can't help but thinking this is shady business.When the news came across, you kind of go, what?I'm sorry, excuse me, do what?Why?Now, while you may think that he should not have gotten a red card to begin with, I would suggest that the mistake, if you think that was a mistake, was not egregious enough for that red card to be rescinded.Once you decided that that was a red card, I don't think that would have been a mistake egregious enough to take it back.

And if indeed you were going to take it back, if you thought that it was an egregious mistake, then that's done within 24 hours of that game ending.The fact that we're finding out about this four days later, and one day ahead of the match, it brings all sorts of spe the open and all of those to be fair game because i as shady business.It com treatment.It comes acros it seems like it's a dif for different set of play for the host nation, which about that thought of wait to use Hercules' word, even if you thought that it was an injustice for Balogun to be thrown out.This is not the solution to the injustice.It's my point.

It didn't feel like that was an egregious enough mistake for this red card to be rescinded.And how we got here?Shady business.Davey?

What's that saying?If it walks like a duck and quacks, it's obviously a duck.I mean, there's no question this is about the fact that it's an American player.There's no doubt the Ronaldo one is because it was Ronaldo.There's no question.Messi didn't get sent off for a similar situation from Balogun because he was Messi.

But how about you feel the guy from Qatar, Adebo I think his name was, who gets a five -match ban for something that is innocuous.Because Kone broke his leg, it wasn't the player's fault, that was a situation that sometimes can happen, it wasn't a bad tackle.But guess what, he's a nobody as far as FIFA's concerned, and he gets a five -match ban.Ronaldo doesn't, he gets one, to make sure he's in the World Cup, and of course now we're seeing Balligan, which we're all pleased about, don't kid ourselves, we're all delighted.But it's not right.

Let's get U .S.Soccer's reaction to this.They've issued a statement after the news came out saying, Yeah, and your reaction?And you wonder what Belgium will be thinking about this, too.

Well, first of all, I'm surprised that US Soccer accepted this decision.That surprised me big time.Well, it's customary to bring a gift to the host.It's like the same in Norway, and I guess it's the same in the USA.I mean, the rest of the football world, I'm happy for USA.They get their best goalscorer back.

Belgium will have another threat in their game tomorrow.But for rest of the football world, this is a joke.I mean, you can't change the rule as you go by.I've never.I mean, we had the Ronaldo thing, but at least he was he did one game against Armenia.I mean, that was a joke as well, because we all knew that's going to be done because it was Cristiano Ronaldo, because you want the biggest stars ready for the World Cup.

And I am happy for USA.Get your best player back.The red card, I think it was a red card.I don't think he did it on purpose, but it was still a red card.Having said that, you can't do things like this.This is like a tournament.

I feel like I'm back in the village.I played 900 inhabitants, and we had a tournament in the villages, and we just changed the rule as time go by, as the tournament went by.This is the World Cup.I mean, what is going on here?

President Donald Trump has been on the social media about this very decision.saying on X, thank you to FIFA for doing what was right and reversing a great injustice.

Yeah, Kay, I mean, I think as you guys have been talking about, obviously there are two questions here.One is, was the decision correct in the moment?Was it correct to be a red card?And then has the process been followed afterwards?I think there's no question that it's very confusing.There's no transparency here.

And that's part and parcel of what we've seen from FIFA over the years.It's not surprising at all.I guess the one thing I would say is that I think From a player's perspective, as Christian Pulisic said, This is the right outcome, right?I mean, the decision in the moment was incredibly harsh.The players on the field didn't react.The referee on the field didn't even give a foul, wasn't interested in going further.

It was a VAR decision.Perhaps the VAR protocols weren't correctly followed.And so I think Pulisic and several of the U .S.players kept coming back to that same idea, which was that this was incredibly harsh.And in the end, is this the right outcome?

Yes.In terms of a justice perspective, is it the right outcome in terms of, you know, governance, administration, how a tournament should operate.I'm going to let others speak to that.But I think from a player perspective, they felt it was the wrong decision in the first place.And Balligan deserved the opportunity to play in this match.

But that's that's not the perspective of the United States players.That's not from the perspective of the Bosnia -Herzegovina player.that got his ankle mangled.So it's like, honestly, look, the challenge was what it was, and you can take your position whether you think that was the right car or not.But we got to the situation in which the red card was given.And so then follow the protocols that everybody knows coming into the tournament.

Listen, we're going to go over this.We're going to look at it over the next 24 hours and we're going to come up with a decision.And once we come up with a decision, that decision is final and we move on with our lives.The fact that this has now gone extra days to get to this decision, to this outcome.That's what we're all going, wait a minute, that is not the rules and regulations and the protocol established by FIFA for this very tournament, where everybody came to this tournament and said, hey, this is what, these are the bylaws that we are playing by.We know the rules.

This is what we're going to follow.And now FIFA is going, you know, see those rules and those regulations, They apply to most, but not all.And that's when it gets really, really slippery.

We sit and listen.We sit and listen to FIFA, UEFA, and referees, and committees, and IFAB, and all kinds.And the one thing they all say, they all genuinely say, is the one thing we don't want to do is re -referee the game.Well, I tell you what, if this isn't re -refereeing the game, I'm not quite sure what is.

Hold that thought, Jan, because I know Herc was leaning in then when Ali was saying what he was saying.Herc, what did you want to say?

Yeah, to Ali's point, I mean, Ali's talking about an appeal process.There is no appeal process here at this FIFA World Cup.They're not allowed to do this.So take it one step further, Ali.This is moving the goalposts on the players because all you want as a player is if the referee is going to be bad on the field, be bad consistently so that the players can get used to it, so the players can adapt.There is no way to adapt

here.Jan mentioned about in his village, the rules as you go.This is what it is here.I mean, I'm of the train of thought that it's not a red card in real time, but Ali said it best.With what we see, can you reverse it?It's not even the rules to allow it to be reversed.

This is unprecedented.This is literally them making the rules up as they go.So I repeat, if you're an American fan, you should feel glorious right now because you get your best goal scorer back and he could literally be the x -factor to advancing to the next round.If you're anybody but a US Men's National Team fan, this feels off.It feels like the host nation is gaining a favor here.Without speculating too much of President Trump and his involvement, It leads to all types of speculation of how this came about and why it came about.

And it's very ugly if you're anybody else besides a US Men's National Team fan.

Go ahead, Jan.Well, the first thing I'm going to do if I'm off here, I'm going to call our king, the king of Norway.So if Erling Haaland today gets an offside goal, he will at least go to Infantino straight away and ask him if he can do that around.Having said that, I get a feeling now there is a lot of fans of USA Now that will go backwards to try to find argument why this is right.It doesn't matter if the red card was wrong or correct or it was wrong, because that's done.Where is football going?

I mean, we start with the rules, then we have a referee, then we have a VAR, then we have a president, then we have a Supreme Court.Is this where we're going now?And I'm not saying I have no idea who was involved or not involved.A part of this is the lack of transparency.That is one thing.But secondly this is not how things are being done.

I mean football being around for many many years and I think Stevie's point is very good.The poor guy from Qatar who got five games to just start tostate an example of someone because, and bless him, the Canadian player, I hope he'll be back soon.But this is not looking good.This is not looking good for a fantastic tournament, a fantastic tournament where they have 48 nations who are all in euphoria over their contributions and their games at this World Cup.This is a terrible, terrible look for everybody except the team that got their best player back or their goalscorer back.

Well, let's hear from another member of the team, Christian Palisic, his reaction to the news.

I just found out on the way over here from the guys.Obviously, for us, It gives us a boost.We're really excited.He's been so good for us this tournament, so to have him for tomorrow is obviously really exciting for us.I think a lot of people would agree the foul obviously was what it was.It was harsh.

It was harsh.There's no doubt about it.So to have him back, we're just excited.We're excited to have him.He's obviously just a big part of this team and a great energy around the squad.

Here's a look at the odds before and after the news that Flo Balligan will be available to play against Belgium.And the odds have increased for the US to become favourites, given that they do have Flo Balligan back now.That's what we're looking at here.

Yeah, I mean, for those of you who understand gambling, this was pretty much a pick 'em.You know, it was 50 -50, and Fala Raugen tilts that into the U .S.Men's National Team's favor against a team like Belgium, who was already lacking athleticism and was coming off a plane 120 minutes.He could be the X -factor here, and most likely will be the X -factor.This is unfortunate, because before the World Cup happened here in North America, Mexico, Canada, and the United States, there was so much opinion, and a lot of it divided about

the host countries, or at least two of the three host countries, and what they could provide in terms of hosting.And there's been nothing but good news when you see people who come to the United States and the experiences they've had.They've been pleasantly surprised.It's given them a different image of Americans around the world.Now this takes us back.This takes us into a territory where maybe for FIFA it's familiar, of certain things that they can be held against in terms of unfair treatment to certain groups.

This takes you back into something shady, as Alice said, and it's really unfortunate because this is going to be a great game, and it would have been a great game regardless without Fowler and Balogh, and now there could be a tainted outcome if this goes the US's way.