Folarin Balogun Scandal: Thomas Meunier on FIFA’s Handling and Unexpected Support for Belgium

Thomas Meunier, part of the Belgium squad at the World Cup affected by FIFA’s decision not to enforce the suspension of Folarin Balogun prior to the last-16 tie with the United States, has described the tournament as “the dark side of traditional football” and said a consequence of the Balogun decision was the rest of the countries involved “wanted us to beat America, because of that situation.” Balogun played due to the intervention of FIFA, having collected a red card in the United States’ previous game against Bosnia-Herzegovina. Belgium defeated the U.S. 4-1 in Seattle to knock the co-hosts out.…