Portugal v Spain, USA v Belgium Round of 16 games, teams, players, standings

Now it’s time to continue the news I mentioned before.

If you’ve been following the World Cup, you know by now that FIFA has lifted the ban on US forward Florian Balogun.

Balogun, America’s three-goal standout forward, received a red card for awkwardly stepping on the right ankle of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Tarik Muharemović in the 2-0 win in the 32nd round. A red card is an automatic one-match ban, but the White House appealed to FIFA and, surprisingly, the red card penalty was lifted.

This, as expected, caused outrage and despite the best efforts of Belgium (the United States’ opponent in the round of 16 this morning) the decision was not reversed. We’re waiting on the team rosters for that game to see if Balogun will start for the USA, but it looks likely at this stage.