Gary Lineker believes the United States should have left Folarin Balogun out of their team to face Belgium in the World Cup round of 16 even after the controversial decision to suspend his one-match ban.
Balogun was initially banned for Monday's match because of his red card in the round-of-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina last Wednesday, but FIFA's disciplinary committee announced on Sunday that the ban had been suspended.
U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday he had personally lobbied FIFA counterpart Gianni Infantino on the topic, leading to accusations that FIFA had been swayed by political interference, something strictly prohibited under its statutes.
Balogun's presence did not ultimately help the Americans, who lost 4-1, and former England forward Lineker believed the team could have taken a stand on the issue by continuing to leave him out.
"It would have been a good play for either Balogun or [head coach] Mauricio Pochettino to just say, 'actually, I don't think that's right for football, the integrity of the game, the integrity of the sport,'" Lineker said on The Rest Is Football podcast.
"And I wonder whether they were better off just saying, 'Actually, we're going to leave him out anyway.'"
Infantino has insisted the decision was entirely in the hands of the disciplinary committee, which is independent.
The committee subsequently said it had used discretionary powers under Article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code to suspend Balogun's ban due to the "specific circumstances" of the incident, without explaining what those circumstances were.
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Jürgen Klopp, who is expected to soon be confirmed as the new head coach of Germany after they exited the tournament at the round of 32 stage, said: "This is our sport, not theirs.
"If Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino really sorted this out between themselves, it is madness; it calls everything into question."