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20 hours ago
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The U.S. men's national team thought someone was playing a joke. Just hours before its biggest match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the USMNT received stunning news that striker Folarin Balogun would be available for the Round of 16 against Belgium after FIFA suspended his automatic red-card ban.
The ruling was so unexpected that several American players didn't believe it was real at first. Instead, they assumed it had been created by artificial intelligence.
Chris Richards says USMNT thought Balogun news was AI
Balogun was shown a straight red card during the United States' Round of 32 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina after a VAR review determined his cleat caught defender Tarik Muharemović. An automatic one-match suspension appeared inevitable.
Then FIFA made a highly unusual decision. Rather than enforcing the ban immediately, the governing body suspended its implementation under Article 27 of its disciplinary code, placing Balogun on a one-year probationary period. That cleared the star striker to face Belgium in one of the biggest matches in recent USMNT history.
When the ruling surfaced online, many U.S. players simply couldn't believe what they were reading.
"I think a lot of us thought it was AI at first," defender Chris Richards said.
Chris Richards and the USMNT couldn't believe Folarin Balogun was available to play when they first heard the news 😅 pic.twitter.com/e010iD2HqW
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 5, 2026The team bus erupted after the truth came out
Richards later revealed the atmosphere on the team bus as players slowly realized the reports were legitimate.
"To be fair, we were lit on the bus regardless," Richards said. "We had our speaker in the back listening to music. Then one person said something, another person said the same thing and nobody wanted to confirm it. It was pretty much right when we got here that we found out it was true."
Christian Pulisic said seeing Balogun's reaction made everything even better.
"I just saw a big smile on his face," Pulisic said. "Knowing we're gonna have him around tomorrow, it helps so much. It's a big boost."
MORE: Why Folarin Balogun red card ban was suspended by FIFA before USA vs. Belgium in World Cup
A massive boost before Belgium
The timing couldn't have been bigger for the United States. Balogun opened the scoring in the Round of 32 before his controversial sending off, leaving many to assume Mauricio Pochettino would have to navigate the knockout stage without one of his top attacking threats.
Instead, FIFA's unprecedented decision handed the Americans an unexpected lifeline. Now, instead of preparing for life without Balogun, the USMNT enters its showdown with Belgium at full strength—and with a story the players admit they initially thought was too unbelievable to be true.
For a team chasing its deepest World Cup run in generations, the news felt almost too good to believe. At least at first.
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