FIFA suspended two U.S. Soccer staff members before the United States played Belgium, and the reason for the move has not been made public. The suspensions became public the next day, after the United States was eliminated from the 2026 World Cup with a 4-1 loss.
The two men were Sam Zapatka, the team manager, and Frank Pannell, U.S. Soccer Federation vice president of security. Zapatka had handled off the field operations for the U.S. men's national team since 2020 and had worked with the United States Soccer Federation since 2015. Pannell had worked with the Secret Service and CIA before turning to private security.
The timing matters because the suspensions landed in the middle of a tournament exit that already left questions behind. U.S. Soccer also gave no explanation, but said the move was not tied to the successful effort to have forward Folarin Balogun's one-game, red-card suspension lifted. That detail closed one possible line of speculation and left the suspensions themselves unexplained.
What remains unresolved is simple: FIFA acted before the Belgium game, then said nothing. U.S. Soccer said nothing either. With the United States out of the 2026 World Cup, the only facts on the table are that Zapatka and Pannell were suspended, and that no one has yet said why.
