'Accidental American' Balogun at crossroads of US, soccer politics at World Cup

NEW YORK, July 6 : Folarin Balogun plays the biggest game of his life on Monday caught in a complex intersection of soccer, identity and U.S. politics, with an intervention from President Donald Trump helping propel him to the centre of one of the World Cup’s biggest controversies.

Balogun was never supposed to feature in Monday's round of 16 game against Belgium, after earning a red card during the United States' previous match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

FIFA on Sunday stunningly said it would suspend the World Cup ban.

The twist carried a striking irony. Trump, who has repeatedly called for ending birthright citizenship, had publicly urged FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review Balogun’s case. Balogun acquired U.S. citizenship by birth after his Nigerian mother was unable to return home from a trip to New York because she was too far advanced in her pregnancy to fly. She took her newborn son back to Britain when he was one month old, where he would grow up before eventually choosing to represent the United States.

After initially competing for England at youth level, he opted to join the U.S. Soccer programme in 2023. 

Balogun's origin story added another layer of interest to an already charmed World Cup turn, his career blossoming on sport's biggest stage as U.S. Soccer sheds its decades-old image as an incubator for overwhelmingly white talent.

Supporters of birthright citizenship cheered on his performances at a time when citizenship, immigration and American identity have come to the fore in U.S. politics.

Balogun "prove(s) birthright citizenship isn’t a loophole — it’s America," declared a headline from a Miami Herald editorial on Thursday.

"Mr. Balogun's case is an extraordinary example of the good that is made