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The USA will not be allowed to appeal Folarin Balogun’s World Cup suspension after he was red carded in their 2-0 Round of 32 win over Bosnia & Herzegovina.
The Monaco forward scored his third goal of the tournament to put the US 1-0 up just before half time at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium – but he shown a straight red on 64 minutes – following a bizarre incident.
Match referee Raphael Claus opted to dismiss the US attacker after a VAR check on a tackle to the ankle of Tarik Muharemović.
Balogun’s manager Mauricio Pochettino claimed the incident was accidental as part of his post-match analysis and replays showed there was little Balogun could do to avoid landing on his opponent as they challenged for the ball.
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However, despite Pochettino’s comments, Balogun will miss the incoming last 16 clash against Belgium on July 7 as part of an automatic one-match ban protocol.
World Cup rules state no appeals can be made against one-game suspensions and the USA can only reach out to FIFA’s disciplinary committee if they were to add an additional game to his ban.
In that instance, the US can only appeal against the additional suspension – they can ask for a reduction from a two-game ban to one – but not from two games to zero or one match to zero.
Balogun has started three of the USA’s four World Cup games so far – after being rested for the final group match against Turkey with knockout qualification already assured – and Ricardo Pepi is expected to step in against Belgium in Seattle.
