When news broke on Sunday that Folarin Balogun’s one-game red-card ban was suspended by FIFA, allowing him to play in the USMNT’s World Cup round-of-16 match against Belgium on Monday, a lot of people stepped forward to claim they knew it was going to happen all along.
Fox Sports’ Nick Wright didn’t claim to know it would happen for sure, but he had admonished U.S. sports media for slamming the door shut on the possibility. And on Sunday, he took a victory lap on social media.
Not sure where “Sports Media Ombudsman” now ranks in American history of “Most Important Sports TV Segments within a Segment”, but it’s got to be very, very high! 🦅 🇺🇸 🦅 https://t.co/mScPNcRT5J — nick wright (@getnickwright) July 5, 2026
The 25-year-old American striker received a red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday over a foul on Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic, which was accompanied by a one-game suspension under Article 10.5 of FIFA’s rules for the tournament. It had been presumed that there was no way for such a ruling to be overturned. However, that changed, somehow, when FIFA confirmed that Balogun would now be available for the game in Seattle on Monday, with his ban suspended for a probationary period of one year.
“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,” a FIFA spokesperson told The Athletic.
Last week, when it appeared there was no chance of Balogun’s suspension being overturned, FS1’s Nick Wright chastised The Athletic and American sports media for failing to see the possibilities, especially with certain people in charge.
“American sports media, can we stop acting like Balogun’s definitely suspended and try to put our finger on the scale here?” asked Wright on First Things First. “From The Athletic. They’re like, ‘oh, don’t— listen, let’s be clear. FIFA’s got rules. There’s no appeals process. FIFA sources confirmed there’s no mechanism to appeal a World Cup red card, disciplinary code, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’
“It’s FIFA. It’s the World Cup. Home field advantage has always mattered a bit. And you know what? I think we might be able to apply a little pressure. ‘Cause we’re not appealing the referee’s decision. We’re appealing something totally different. Misapplication of VAR, which is appealable.
“What’s the VAR rules? Well, luckily we have ’em. VAR can check footage in normal speed and/or slow motion. But in general, slow-motion replays should only really … be used for facts. For example, position of offense, point of contact for physical offenses in handball, ball out of play. Normal speed should be used for the intensity of an offense. There’s a case right there.
“… If you wanted to do slow-mo to see where the guy got hit, fine. But I think that it was the intensity of the contact, which is what got Balogun in trouble.
“Here’s what I know, okay? I know that Cristiano Ronaldo got a 3-game suspension right before the World Cup, and then FIFA’s like, you know what, let’s go 2 games, uh, probation, because he’s gonna play in the World Cup. It seems like, you know, our president’s buddies with the guy who runs the thing. He got the Peace Prize. Maybe make a phone call, maybe see what you can do. It’s a home World Cup.”
Sure enough, The Athletic reported that President Trump and other members of his administration contacted FIFA about the one-game suspension.
“I’m just here to tell you that we, as a collective media, need to be talking about Balogun’s suspension as a possibility, not an assured— like pending the appeal of the obvious VAR error,” Wright said last week. “…I think it’s on the board. And I don’t like all this fatalism, like, ‘oh, well, we read the rules and they say this. Rules can change. I don’t think he’s definitely out.”
Never doubt the Sports Media Ombudsman’s powers again https://t.co/tE8meFO7Y0 — nick wright (@getnickwright) July 5, 2026
We like to consider ourselves something of a sports media ombudsman at large, but even we have to admit that Wright gets to wear that crown on this one. He saw the bigger picture, as well as the likely reality that when Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino are the ones in charge, anything is possible.
Source: Awful Announcing
