Neville strongly criticized FIFA, calling its decision to suspend Balogun's one-match FIFA World Cup ban "absolutely rotten" and describing the controversial ruling as "sickening."

In the ITV studio, Neville, Wright, and Keane—all renowned commentators—condemned the decision. Keane was the first to state: "This is clearly unfair, just unfair."

"You have to put yourself in Belgium's shoes; their preparations were completely disrupted. To put it bluntly, it's like someone pulling strings for a friend."

Keane's former Man United teammate, Neville, was even more blunt, saying he would be furious if he were Belgian.

"Let's be clear, this whole thing stinks," added Neville, a former England international who played in two FIFA World Cups.

"The one thing that gets me is that there should be a proper review process. I didn't think it was a red card in the first place. There should be a proper channel to overturn a red card decision, but right now there is no legitimate way to change the ruling, and FIFA is just letting the player play regardless. Rules should apply equally to everyone."

If I were Belgium, or any other team that had a player sent off and felt wronged, I would be absolutely livid. Honestly, I'm not surprised this happened—these people always operate this way.

Wright, meanwhile, stated that this was another troubling incident in a series of embarrassing decisions at this FIFA World Cup.

"Suspensions should always be served during the current FIFA World Cup; postponing a ban is unprecedented. Everyone talks about fairness and transparency in tournaments, but look at everything that has happened here. Some teams are clearly receiving special treatment, which is truly disgraceful, especially when the player involved is American. Whether his foul warranted a red card or not, many decisions in this FIFA World Cup are simply unacceptable."

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