U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Mauricio Pochettino applauded FIFA’s decision to overturn striker Folarin Balogun’s one-match suspension. Pochettino supported the federation’s decision on Sunday to allow Balogun to play in Monday’s FIFA World Cup Round of 16 showdown with Belgium. Balogun was originally slated to miss the match, but FIFA announced on Sunday that his suspension was revoked, putting the ban under a suspended sentence for one year. The Monaco forwarded scored the opening goal in last Wednesday’s 2-0 Round of 32 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina before being sent off in the 64th minute. Despite being down to 10-men for the remaining 25+ minutes of the match, the USMNT iced the result through Malik Tillman’s free-kick goal, setting up a second meeting with Belgium this calendar year.Pochettino believes the USMNT already endured their punishment, which was being reduced to 10-men unfairly. “My reaction I think is like everyone that really loved that sport, and trust on the ethic and integrity. I think we celebrate all that decision,” Pochettino said in a press conference Sunday from Seattle. “We were punished enough against Bosnia-Herzegovina to play with 10 men, 35 minutes in a decision that was completely unfair.“But it’s not only because I am the head coach of the U.S. men’s national team, [and] I need to defend my side. It’s only because I think it’s 99.9% that we all agree that it was an unfair card,” he added.Plenty has come out following Sunday’s decision, including confirmed reports that United States president Donald Trump made a call to FIFA president Gianni Infantino after the USMNT’s win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, asking him to to review Balogun’s red card.In addition, the Belgian FA issued a statement saying they were “astonished” by FIFA’s decision to grant Balogun available while Red Devils head coach Rudi Garcia compared the July 5th decision to it being “April Fools’ Day” in his prematch press conference. Pochettino revealed that U.S. Soccer cooperated with FIFA since the Bosnia-Herzegovina match while Balogun’s character could’ve helped lead to his return to full availability. “[It was a] normal process and of course the [U.S. Soccer] Federation for sure was working really hard,” Pochettino said. “[U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson] and the whole federation working on trying to defend our situation and that’s it.”“The lesson is if you behave well, maybe you will be rewarded,” Pochettino said about Balogun’s character following his ejection. “And I think it’s fantastic to have that mindset. I am so happy that he act in this way and he took that decision because sometimes, when you are upset after the game and you feel in some point knowing that it was unfair to everything, but you have a small percentage of you feel guilty about this type of situation. But I think he did very well and manage [the situation] and I am so happy about that.”One thing’s for sure though, Balogun will be ready to go for the USMNT, which gives the Americans a better chance to potentially advance into the quarterfinal round.