FIFA reinstates Balogun after unusual Trump call on suspension

FIFA reinstated Folarin Balogun on Sunday, July 5, clearing the United States forward for Monday’s Round of 16 match against Belgium after Donald Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino about the suspension. The reversal erased a one-match ban and marked the first time since 1962 that FIFA had nullified a World Cup red-card suspension.

US Soccer had already been exploring an appeal with help from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Andrew Giuliani of the White House World Cup task force, arguing that the red card should not have been based on slow-motion replay. Balogun’s teammates learned of the decision on the bus to training. The United States is chasing its first World Cup quarterfinal appearance since 2002 in a tournament that has grown into a 48-team, 104-match event across North America.

Tens of thousands of mourners filled the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla on Saturday, July 4, for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after he was killed on February 28 in Israeli and U.S. airstrikes at the start of the war between Iran and the U.S.-Israel alliance. Officials staged a week of funeral processions, and his coffin was placed alongside those of several family members killed in the same strike, including a granddaughter who was 14 months old.

Chants of “Death to America” rang through the crowd, and the military and security institutions vowed revenge.

China fired a long-range ballistic missile from a nuclear-powered submarine into the Pacific at 12:01 p.m. Beijing time on Monday, July 6. The missile carried a dummy warhead and landed in designated waters. China said the launch was a routine annual training arrangement and was not aimed at any country or target. Australia, New Zealand and Japan criticized the test, with Penny Wong calling it destabilising and Winston Peters calling it unwelcome and concerning because it came within hours of notification. The launch landed on the same day Australia and Fiji signed a major defense alliance.