Trump Finds Way to Taint World Cup
By Bob Gaydos
The red card call.
This will be short and not so sweet. The match is tonight.
He just couldn’t help himself. He had to meddle in a much beloved worldwide sporting event and leave a taint that will further stain America’s reputation regardless of how the match plays out.
Yeah, Trump. He got on the phone to call FIFA President Gianni Infantino to ask the soccer organization to review a red-card suspension given to U.S. star player Folarin Balogun for an illegal tackle in a game Wednesday against Bosnia-Herzegovina. The red card carries a mandatory one-game suspension. That meant Balogun would be unavailable for tonight’s (Monday night) match against Belgium.
Trump says he heard about the suspension and that there were complaints the red card call was unfair, so he called his buddy Infantino (he gave Trump a phony FIFA Peace Prize, remember?) Sunday to ask him to please review that call again.
Presto! Comes news Sunday that the suspension has been suspended and Balogun, leading scorer for the U.S. team, is eligible to play in the knockout game.
Belgium was outraged. Indeed, most of the World Cup community was outraged. Why is the president of a host country, the U.S. no less, interfering with the prestigious soccer event? Trump said he thought the call and red card wasn’t fair. So what? FIFA has rules and procedures to deal with penalties. Bad calls happen all the time in sports. It’s the sporting body’s responsibility to deal with them, not some wannabe poobah’s place to get involved.
Belgium said it was appealing, although it didn’t have much time or clear direction from FIFA on how to proceed. By 5 p.m. game time in Seattle no less. I have no idea what will happen as I write this. I’m just disgusted that Trump has to stain this event. And Infantino has damaged FIFA with his obsequiousness. I’d love to see the U.S. team win, but if it does with Balogun playing, the victory will be forever tainted. Meanwhile, the whole world is rooting against us now. It’s unfair to the team and Balogun, who handled the questionable call and suspension with class.
Not so Trump. Clueless. It’s always about him and he messes up everything he touches.
The option was still there for the U.S. team to not play Balogun in the match. But how do you sit your star player when the bosses of the tournament say he can play?
More will be revealed, I guess. Talk after the match.
Tags: Balogun, Belgium, FIFA, Red card, soccer, trump, World Cup
