Belgium midfielder Nicolas Raskin said his side’s 4-1 World Cup last-16 win over the United States on Monday felt like a measure of justice after Fifa’s decision to allow U.S. striker Folarin Balogun to play despite his red card in the previous game.
Balogun had been sent off against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32, and while a dismissal normally carries an automatic one-match suspension, Fifa suspended the ban under Article 27 of its Disciplinary Code after U.S. President Donald Trump asked Fifa President Gianni Infantino to review the case.
Infantino said Fifa’s judicial bodiesfi operated "independently and autonomously" and that he had told Trump the Balogun case was subject to an ongoing legal process.
Fifa's disciplinary committee said it had the authority to suspend the one-match ban.
The decision triggered widespread criticism, including from Belgium’s football federation, which unsuccessfully challenged Balogun’s eligibility hours before kickoff.
Belgium, however, made the controversy irrelevant on the pitch, sweeping aside the hosts 4-1 to reach the quarter-finals.
“Like I said, I think there was always a justice somewhere in life and the fact that something can happen like that, you can put it all you want, but we don't think that was fair,” Raskin told reporters.
“And today, I think it just brings us a little bit of luck. We needed to win the game and the message throughout.”
However, United States coach Mauricio Pochettino said his side failed to show their true level as he declined to blame off-field distractions for the hosts' exit.
Roared on by a fervent home crowd in Seattle and buoyed by impressive wins in the group stage and round of 32, the U.S. had entered the match with belief they could upset a Belgium team many considered vulnerable.
Instead, Pochettino's side produced their most hesitant display of the tournament and were punished by a clinical Belgian team.
"We didn't show our real quality as a team," Pochettino told a press conference.
"We never connected with the game. Belgium were better than us, and that's it.
"It was a very bad day. It wasn't our day, collectively or individually. In a tournament like the World Cup, when that happens in a knockout stage, you are out and you need to go home."
The U.S. briefly appeared to have found a foothold when Malik Tillman scored to make it 1-1, but Belgium quickly regained control, leaving Pochettino frustrated by his team's inability to build on the equaliser.
"Even when we scored, in the next action we conceded," he said. "Normally you cannot concede in that moment."
Pochettino rejected suggestions that controversy surrounding Folarin Balogun's availability, after Fifa suspended his red-card ban and Belgium's appeal was dismissed, had affected the team's performance.
"We were not good enough today. We don't need to find excuses," he said. "All that was happening around was around, but it wasn't a situation that affected us."
Pochettino's contract expires after the World Cup, and he said no decision had been made on whether he would continue.
"Now is a moment to rest a little bit, to think, to have conversations and then see what the decision is from the federation and from us," he said.
Despite the heavy defeat, Pochettino defended the team's progress, saying the U.S. had taken major steps in the past year.
"We need to keep improving," he said. "But I am proud. I think we settled the principles for the future."