France has formally appealed to FIFA over the yellow card shown to Michael Olise during Saturday’s World Cup round-of-16 victory over Paraguay, hoping to have the caution overturned before the knockout stages continue.
Though television replays seemed to indicate that Olise had just grabbed his opponent’s jersey rather than striking his face, the Bayern Munich midfielder was sent off after an incident with Paraguay’s Matias Galarza.
The News Chronicle reports that the French Football Federation finds the booking unjust and has requested FIFA to examine the ruling. Olise would miss a possible semifinal against either Spain or Portugal should the appeal fail and he get another yellow card in France’s quarterfinal match against Morocco.
Sources familiar with the matter said the appeal is based solely on the circumstances of the incident and is unrelated to FIFA’s recent decision involving United States forward Folarin Balogun.
After FIFA suspended his one-match ban and made him still eligible for the competition, the Balogun case still sparks controversy. Both UEFA and the Belgian Football Association objected to the decision.
FIFA has since maintained that Belgium has no legal standing to challenge the outcome, leaving Balogun free to feature for the United States.
