When FIFA announced its decision to rescind USMNT star forward Folarin Balogun’s one-game suspension, Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia thought it might be April Fool’s Day. The shock decision has been the singular point of discussion ahead of the USMNT-Belgium round of 16 clash on Monday. A former pro believed it was the biggest off-field decision this World Cup and was scared that this could set up an unforgiving precedent.

Discussing FIFA’s statement on Balogun’s red card, Michael Lahoud, a former Sierra Leone international, expressed his shock at the decision on CBS Sports.

“Every single person tuning in, you and I have the same reaction. Our jaws are on the ground because I’ve not seen anything like this happen in our recent memory at the FIFA World Cup. This is, in my opinion, the biggest off-field decision, the biggest off-field news at this World Cup, and one of the biggest in the history of the game in the VAR era,” he said.

Lahoud believed there are two stories to this decision. While the USMNT fans can be overjoyed, the others, though, will feel perplexed.

“If you’re a USMNT fan, you’d be over the moon. Because for me, he is the best player. But this is dangerous territory for me. They got the call wrong from the beginning. This is where it becomes dangerous, because if you can make this call, I’m curious what other calls FIFA is going to make in the knockout rounds of the World Cup, and I’m saying this as a neutral.”

FIFA used Article 27 of its laws to rescind Balogun’s red card. The USMNT star was sent off for an unfortunate challenge of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Tarik Muharemovic. With three goals, he has been the USMNT’s leading goal scorer and most dangerous player. Despite massive protests over the soft red card, FIFA even confirmed there was no appeal option available to the USMNT against Balogun’s card.

But three days later, after multiple calls to FIFA and even a post on X from the US President Donald Trump, the world organization decided to overturn its decision. Cristiano Ronaldo’s red card suspension was also rescinded using Article 27 by FIFA during the qualifiers ahead of the World Cup.

“I didn’t know that 5 July was equal to 1 April [April Fools’ Day] at FIFA,” Garcia said in his pre-match interview. “The federation does not defend itself, it does not defend the national team – it defends football in general. It defends its integrity. It defends its ethics,” he referred to the statement by the Belgian football federation.

With the FIFA World Cup already hit by multiple refereeing controversies and VAR decisions causing outrage, the direct intervention from FIFA will only prompt more and more teams to look to the world body in the knockouts of the FIFA World Cup.

Belgium had no plans for Balogun until yesterday, but the European side has to prepare for the USMNT star now, and that could affect their World Cup chances.