U.S. player cleared for tonight's World Cup vs. Belgium

FIFA has ruled a request from the Belgium soccer federation for an explanation of Folarin Balogun's suspended red card as "inadmissible," meaning it has no grounds to appeal the decision and the United States forward remains cleared to play against Belgium in Monday's World Cup round-of-16 match.

Balogun, the star forward for the U.S. with three goals in the tournament, received a red card for stepping awkwardly on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemovic of Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday, triggering an automatic one-game suspension.

"The FIFA Appeal Committee has rendered a request submitted by the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) as inadmissible in relation to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee's decision to suspend for one year the match suspension imposed on United States national team player Folarin Balogun," FIFA said in a statement on Monday.

"The chairperson of the FIFA Appeal Committee, Neil Eggleston [from the United States], was not involved in the decision. The request was rendered inadmissible on the grounds that the RBFA is not a party to the proceedings and, as such, has no standing to appeal the decision."

FIFA's decision to suspend Balogun's one-match ban has been widely criticized and the governing body's rejection of Belgium's request for further information on the ruling has prompted the RBFA to say it will review its options, should Balogun be included on the USMNT's team sheet for Monday's game.