Red card villain breaks silence as 3-hour World Cup final looms

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World Cup "villain" Folarin Balogun has spoken for the first time about the red card scandal that took over the tournament.

The USA star, who picked up a red card against Bosnia in the round of 32 subsequently had his one-match ban suspended after Donald Trump made a series of phone calls to FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

The decision to allow Balogun to face Belgium in the last 16 sparked global fury with governing bodies, national coaches, players and fans calling FIFA out for alleged corruption.

Speaking about the insanity that came with having his ban delayed, Balogun said: “My initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team, but when I started to reflect I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy, and I could almost see with my team-mates a bit of nerves because it was something that was so unique.

“The closer we got to the (Belgium) game I just tried to focus as best I could — but it was difficult, there was a lot of outside noise and that’s difficult to avoid.

“I was in shock, it wasn’t even a tackle. I just had to accept the decision and just be there for my team. For sure, when something is not intentional it should never be a red card, it was just an unfortunate situation.”

The scandal has prompted many to call for Infantino to resign while official protests have been lodged against him for "breaching the IOC’s rules on political neutrality."

3 HOUR FINAL?

Whatever you are doing on Monday at 5am AEST, make sure the coffee is on, we are in for potentially the longest World Cup final in history.

If Spain's showdown against England or Argentina goes the distance - dreaded penalties - we could be in for three hours of action.

That is taking into accountt he hydration breaks, added time, extra-time penalties and now the possibility of a 30-minute half-time show.

While FIFA rules state the mid-way break cannot exceed a quarter-of-an-hour, rules are there to be broken right?

Justin Bieber, Shakira, Madonna, BTS, Burna Boy and Gustavo Dudamel are among the names set to headline the show which is being directed by Chris Martin of Coldplay.

Robbie Williams will also be involved in a 90 minute pre-match closing ceremony along with Tom Cruise.