Lutnick worked back channels with FIFA to get Folarin Balogun's red-card ban overturned

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick privately urged FIFA to suspend the red-card ban facing U.S. striker Folarin Balogun, according to two people familiar with the discussions who were granted anonymity.

The push reflects Lutnick's deepening relationship with soccer's governing body. In early June, he joined FIFA President Gianni Infantino, senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro and roughly half a dozen others at a previously undisclosed dinner, the sources said.

Lutnick has cultivated a personal rapport with Infantino, hosting him at the Commerce Department and sitting beside him at last week's U.S. match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, the game where Balogun was sent off.