Earlier this month, FIFA made an unusual move when it shockingly overturned a suspension for United States star Folarin Balogun to allow him to play in the Round of 16 match against Belgium. The move drew immediate criticism, especially after President Donald Trump confirmed calling FIFA President Gianni Infantino to request a review of the suspension.
The controversial decision quickly became a massive talking point amongst fans and the media and loomed large over the high-profile match. Following the team’s 4-1 loss to Belgium, Balogun confirmed that the whole situation was quite distracting to the team, too.
Trump Got Involved
Balogun was expected to miss the match against Belgium with an automatic suspension after receiving a red card in the previous match. However, in a highly unusual move, FIFA announced the day before the match that Balogun would be eligible to play after FIFA suspended his punishment.
FIFA’s decision to overturn Balogun’s suspension came as a highly unusual move that quickly sparked outrage throughout the sports world, especially after Trump confirmed that he called FIFA President Gianni Infantino to look into the matter, even resulting in some Americans throwing their support behind Belgium.
Trump and Infantino both downplayed the role the call had in the eventual decision.
“Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues,” Infantino wrote in a statement following criticism. “During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.”
“All I did, I asked for a review, cause I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump said, via Yahoo. “I didn’t tell them what to do, I can’t tell them what to do. … I think it was a committee that made the decision, and they made the right decision.”
However, according to a report from The Times’ Martyn Ziegler, the decision did not come from a committee, but one individual.
“There are 18 members of FIFA’s disciplinary committee but the unprecedented decision to lift Balogun’s automatic ban was taken by just one person – the chairman Mohammad Al Kamali of UAE. No one else was consulted,” Ziegler reported on Sunday.
‘A lot of outside noise’
During an interview with CBS Mornings, Balogun himself broke his silence on the situation as he confirmed that FIFA’s controversial decision and Trump’s involvement did lead to “a bit of nerves” and made it difficult to focus.
“My initial reaction was I was happy to be back on the team. But when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy,” Balogun said. “And I could almost see within my teammates, a bit of nerves because it was something that’s so unique. But the closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could. But it was difficult, you know, a lot of outside noise.”
While it’s not clear how much the distraction hurt the team, the United States ultimately lost in a blowout, falling to Belgium by a score of 4-1.
‘Trump screwed them’
With Balogun essentially confirming that the whole situation did serve as a distraction for the team, the president’s intervention sparked widespread outrage from the sports community.
“Yep, Trump screwed them. I am thinking of all those dumb MAGa accounts who were on this site praising Trump for getting Balogun reinstated and acting like it was such a win for the USA. It wasn’t,” prominent English-American journalist Mehdi Hasan wrote in a post on X.
“The comments about this, like ‘he should have refused to play’ is an example of how most people default to not blaming the powers that be – in this case, Donald Trump, the White House, FIFA, United States Soccer Federation – for creating a needless situation. They place pressure on a passive party instead. Balogun accepted his red card gracefully even though he didn’t agree with it. He was then placed in an impossible situation, which was not of his making,” notable soccer writer Melissa Reddy wrote.
“Balogun admitted that it was difficult to deal with the maneuver that his government and FIFA pulled to get him on the field against Belgium. He said that his teammates were nervous too. A huge own goal,” wrote ESPN commentator Eugênio Leal in a post on X.
“I feel genuinely bad for him. Such a wonderful player (just see him at Monaco) and it all gets ruined by a bunch of corrupt goons,” historian, professor and author Moshik Temkin wrote.
“For anyone who doubted whether the Balogun drama was the reason the USA performed so poorly against Belgium,” wrote Daniel Garb, commentator for ABC Sports.
“When I said it would’ve been the best thing if Pochettino sat him, I got mouth-frothing rage in replies. Now, they got both a loss AND disgrace, and the same MAGA morons are going to call Balogun all kinds of xenophobic names,” former sportswriter Slava Malamud added.
Needless to say, it’s safe to say Trump’s actions were not appreciated.
About Dave Kelsey
Contributing author to The Comeback.