Mystery swirls in USA World Cup camp as FIFA quietly suspends two senior team officials in the wake of Trump’s Folarin Balogun intervention
It has been revealed that two senior members of the USA’s World Cup squad did not play in the defeat against Belgium after they were quietly suspended by FIFA before the match.
In the latest off-field drama surrounding the host nation, team manager Sam Zapatka and deputy head of security Frank Pannell have been banned from featuring in the team’s last 16 clash.
FIFA quietly published the news on its website but no reason was given for the suspension, although the Daily Mail understands it is unrelated to the Folarin Balogun controversy.
The incident that led to the suspension is believed to have occurred in the previous round against Bosnia and Herzegovina, leaving both players unable to fulfill their usual roles in Seattle on Monday night.
A US Soccer spokesperson referred the Daily Mail’s request for comment to FIFA, but has not yet received a response.
The USA were eliminated from the World Cup with a 4-1 defeat by Belgium, but their final days in the competition were marred by major controversy surrounding star man Balogun and his suspension.
Mauricio Pochettino was missing two key players from the USA team for the Belgium game
Folarin Balogun’s penalty – eventually overturned – left its mark on the course of the game
The Monaco striker received a red card against Bosnia and was given an automatic one-match ban against Belgium, until Donald Trump’s surprising intervention.
The president lobbied FIFA chief Gianni Infantino to overturn the decision, and shortly afterwards the governing body announced it was suspending Balogun’s one-match ban until the end of the World Cup.
The shock decision angered Belgium, but their objections were ignored and Balogun was given the green light to play in the last 16 clash – but ultimately it made little difference to the result.
In Seattle, Charles De Ketelaere scored twice either side of Malik Tillman to ensure the European giants took control, before Matt Freese’s terrible goalkeeping error prevented Hans Vanaken from adding a third goal.
Donald Trump intervenes to ask FIFA President Gianni Infantino to lift single-match ban
In the end, it didn’t matter as Romelu Lukaku and his team edged the United States four times.
In stoppage time at the end of the match, Romelu Lukaku added a fourth to the injury-time, spelling the end of the USA’s World Cup adventure.
Fox announced Tuesday that the match’s audience was the largest in U.S. soccer history, with nearly 37 million people watching at the broadcast’s peak.
Unfortunately for the US national team, that peak came as Freese made the blunder that allowed the Belgians to score the third goal at Seattle Stadium.
These viewing numbers reflect viewership on Fox only and do not include numbers on Telemundo, which has Spanish-language broadcasting rights.
When these are included, the average viewership is likely to exceed 40 million total viewers.
