FIFA's Balogun decision looks even worse with latest England update

It's becoming increasingly obvious FIFA played favorites with its decision to suspend U.S. Men's National Team striker Folarin Balogun's single-game red card ban so he could play against Belgium. In fact, the World Cup's governing body just decided to punish another country more harshly for a lesser offense.

England center-back Jarell Quansah was handed a two-game ban on Thursday for his red card sending off against Mexico in the Round of 16. That means he'll miss Saturday's quarterfinal tilt with Norway as well as a potential semifinal clash should England advance.

Quansah was disqualified in the second half of Sunday's match at Estadio Azteca for what was deemed (rightly) a reckless tackle that saw his boot studs meet Mexico's Jesus Gallardo's calf. England were leading 2-1 in the 53rd minute and had to pay the remainder of the game with 10 men, eventually escaping with a 3-2 win.

When you compare Quansah's case with Balogun's, in which the American (non-intentionally) put his studs into Bosnia & Herzegovina's Tarik Muharemovic and turned his ankle awkwardly, it's undeniable FIFA severely bent its own rules to benefit a host nation after being strong-armed by its president. It doesn't get more corrupt than that and we already watched FIFA award the tournament to human rights violators like Russia (2018), Qatar (2022) and Saudi Arabia (2034).

FIFA's hypocritical England decision proves USMNT were given unfair advantage

Let's get something straight. Both Quansah and Balogun were shown red cards for serious fouls committed without malice. Neither player intented to hurt their opponent (a la Zinedine Zidane's 2006 head butt) but their actions were still reckless and fell under the letter of the law interpretation of a foul that warrants a sending off.

Where they differ is how Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was used to prompt the on-field referee into showing the red card in the first place. Quansah's foul was a clear and obvious error by the official in real time. Balogun's was not and that's because the action in real time was a tangle of legs, not an attempt to tackle. VAR shouldn't have gotten involved as many rules experts have explained in the fallout.

So, it could be viewed that FIFA finally admitted VAR did something wrong and rectified it but as has been noted by multiple federations, the action to suspend a red card ban opens up the door to suspending every red card that was prompted by a marginal call. The argument in favor of Balogun's reinstatement isn't helped by the fact that FIFA did the same for Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of the tournament so he wouldn't miss the opening match and also did not send off Argentina's Lionel Messi for a serious studs-to-calf incident earlier in the competition.

What's even more blatant is the fact that a two-match ban for a red card is actually standard punishment. So Balogun was originally going to face lenient discipline from FIFA anyways.

The contradiction is clear favoritism so that the tournament's commercial darlings would have better chances of remaining in the World Cup longer. That backfired for the USMNT which choked on the biggest stage against Belgium. England had every right to appeal under the Balogun standard but FIFA responding with a doubled punishment is the organization not even trying to hide its motivations anymore.

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