Youri Tielemans has spoken of Belgium\u2019s surprise at FIFA\u2019s decision to suspend U.S. forward Folarin Balogun\u2019s one-match ban during the summer\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n
Tielemans, who has joined Manchester United from Aston Villa this summer, was part of the Belgium side that comfortably defeated the United States 4-1 \u2014 but the last-16 knockout tie was overshadowed by the availability of Balogun for the co-hosts<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old\u00a0received a straight red card<\/a>\u00a0against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup round-of-32. He was, however, made eligible to face Belgium in the next round\u00a0after FIFA\u2019s disciplinary committee suspended the sanction<\/a>. U.S. President Donald Trump\u00a0later said he had called Infantino and asked for the case to be reviewed<\/a>.<\/p>\n The U.S. striker subsequently started for Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s side in the last-16 game.<\/p>\n \u201cOriginally we were surprised by the decision to revert the red card and his suspension,\u201d Tielemans said of the episode.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, it did not really change anything other than the preparation leading up to the game because it is a different type of player than the other player that was meant to play. But other than that, we were very calm and we just accepted our fate and tried to have a good game.\u201d<\/p>\n When Romelu Lukaku scored Belgium\u2019s fourth goal in Seattle, the team\u2019s feelings on the matter became evident. The striker performed a \u2018we can\u2019t hear you\u2019 cupped-ear celebration followed by the team doing a dance mimicking President Trump, on the pitch and then later again in the dressing room.<\/p>\n Then, the Belgium national team put out a social media post making fun of the situation.<\/p>\n Overturn this. \ud83e\uddcf\u200d\u2642\ufe0f #USABEL<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/KcBAJp3Z7d<\/a><\/p>\n