President Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino to discuss the red card given to Team USA’s Folarin Balogun during Wednesday night’s game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, an person familiar with the conversation told The Hill. Trump later cheered the reversal, calling it an “injustice.”
FIFA said its independent panel overturned the red card suspension for Monday’s game.
Well fuck. I was pulling for USA but with this special treatment I’m not sure I can anymore.
USA - Unscrupulous Scam Alliance
The best thing that could happen is the team refuses to play. By continuing to play, you are part of the problem.
Or play, but really really bad.
“An person”? I didn’t read the article but I can’t take a publication seriously if they can’t get that right.
Reads like a shitty AI summary of an article with “an anonymous person” or something.
You have to literally beg AI not to fix mistakes like that. It is a “what word looks right next to this one” generator.
A lot of people saying he shouldn’t even have gotten a red card because he didn’t do it on purpose; it was a reckless tackle and the injury was potentially career ending. If a drunk driver kills a kid you don’t let them of with a slap on the wrist because it was an oopsie.
Sure let’s talk about it like the law. If a drunk driver kills a kid they are going to get punished and imprisoned for that. If a sober driver intentionally runs a kid over and kills them that person is going to get a much harsher sentence.
Now you understand the difference between a yellow and red card
I’m sorry, I seem to have confused you with my simple analogy, let me make it a bit easier. Imagine a professional racing car driver (professional means someone who’s so good they get paid to do it) is in a race and they really want to win. They see a chance to get ahead but it means driving through a playground full of kids, but they do it and they hit one. Now that driver didn’t hit the kid on purpose but they should have known that was likely to happen when they drove through the playground. Do you understand now?
When evaluating a reckless tackle they take a few things into account like speed (there was some of this), force (there was plenty of this), and control (there was none of this). These are literally the best players in the world, they’re expected to make decisions as to what is safe and what isn’t. Making sure you don’t seriously injure other players isn’t just good sportsmanship, it’s required. If they show they can’t do that they shouldn’t be playing, hence the red card and ban.
This exact thing just happened to an England player and his tackle wasn’t as bad and he got the ball (the latter usually being the difference between a fair tackle and a foul). Even the English commentators were saying he deserved the red. We’ll see what happens to him.
No you didn’t confuse me you were just wrong. Thank you for clarifying
I swear we’re a few decades away from players just watching the ball saying “no after you I insist”
Excuse me?!
Killing or causing life-changing injuries to foreigners is an American Tradition.
Granted, it’s usually done to people with a dark enough skin color to be seen as non-whites, from Latin America or the Middle East, but none the less Tradition Is Tradition.
if a drunk driver kills a kid
Bit of a false equivalency. Two players trying to play the ball and walking into each other is objectively not a foul. Extremely disingenuous to call it a “tackle”. Making the choice to get behind the wheel while drunk is not the same thing at all
He was on the wrong side of the player to realistically challenge the ball without getting recklessly physical.
Balogun chose to recklessly challenge for the ball and, accident or not, he could have ended another players career.
Instant red card.
Whether the red card was bullshit or not it irrelevant. Sports fans everywhere know that shit calls get made. The issue is that a sitting president called up his buddy who happens to be the president of FIFA and had it overturned. That is fucking insane.
I feel like it would have been overturned regardless, as it was an egregiously bad call, but I agree that Trump should have plenty of better things to fill up his schedule with than calling up the FIFA president to complain about a red card in a game of footie. It’s a bad look, because now it looks like Trump had a hand in influencing the decision and the fairness and integrity of the game is called into question.
The thing is, FIFA put in rules that the Red could not be overturned. They removed the appeal process. What FIFA should have done was say there was a VAR protocol error (there actually was), which invalidates the procedure to give the Red. They didn’t take that easy out. Instead they make it completely obvious that this was corruption and not a mistake.
Unfortunately anything beyond this point is tainted. The only thing that can save this is the USA coach deliberately not fielding Balogun.
The card was absurd in the first place, they absolutely should field Balogun.
FIFA is a comically corrupt organization; of course it’s going to do shit like this, if you don’t like it stop watching world cups and supporting FIFA. Otherwise you’re just whining the clown show didn’t perform the act you wanted it to.
Just because it was accidental doesn’t mean it wasn’t a red card.
Except for when Messi did worse… in fact wasn’t even a yellow card. Imagine defending FIFA’s clown show. Europeans really need to acknowledge: World Cup is an absolute joke, as long as FIFA runs it.
Whining about what’s fair is pathetic when you support such a shitty corrupt organizations.
Except a red needs to either have intent behind it or have very reckless play behind it. This was just one player being in the air while another player moves his leg into the space where the first player would be landing. That isn’t reckless. You can call it careless for leaving the ground and not having a clear space to land, but reckless needs to have more behind it.
we either have rules or we don’t. Otherwise, we will be second guessing ref calls with social media polling of fanboys.
FIFA doesn’t have rules. This isn’t even the first time it happened; Ronaldo this tournament and the 1962 world cups . Messi didn’t get carded for something worse, and Balogun did. The refs make it up as they go.
Europeans need to stop supporting FIFA… but they won’t because they’re completely fine with turning a blind eye for its corruption.
What Messi did was not worse.
You should look at the video, they both do something similar at the beginning, but they diverge sharply.
Messi should have been carded, but he didn’t do anything worse than balogun.
The part where balloons foot lands on the other players ankle is where it goes from a yellow to a red. It was reckless and could have seriously injured another player.
Messi didn’t even get a yellow card for it. They have different rules for different players and always have.
Hating on the Balogun reversal is peak mental gymnastics to try and justify FIFA is somehow legitimate in how they run their tournaments… They aren’t. Stop watching them. The Balogun is par for the course with FIFA, it’s not more outrageous than other shit they do, or don’t do. Seems like you’re just mad at who they benefitted this time, because there’s half a dozen other red-card qualified plays that didn’t result even in a yellow you could bring up from this tournament, too.
The number of downvotes you have is depressing. FIFA has been insanely corrupt since its inception, a fact that’s been well-documented. Anyone that chooses to grandstand over this, while continuing to watch the games, is ignorant at best.
I have to say, this is so strangely captivating, I can’t stop looking at it honestly! Weirdly in sync between the two very different approaches! I have zero idea why this is so enthralling but I couldn’t just scroll away without explicitly voicing my confused enjoyment, so peculiar
It’s prob in sync because they’re both doing it in time to a song or a chant
I think its simply empathy, both are looking like they have a fun time and we want to join them.
Seems like they’re in front of a bunch of kids telling a story or singing a song, or something?
Yep. Specifically a variation/verse on/of “The Wheels on the Bus,” though I didn’t watch enough of the full video to find out why there seems to be a baby on the bus?
My nephew does that when dancing to Wheels on the Bus at the part with the babies on the bus. He’s probably seen this video
Oh of course, the baby on the bus goes wah wah wah, wah wah wah. 😆👍
I’m surprised he’d intervene for a black dude
You have to understand its not about intervening for a black dude. To them and other rich racist assholes, they see the players as animals there to serve them. In this case serving as entertainment. They would be just as upset if their cock fighting chicken got penalized.
Exactly. This is just like a billionaire CEO intervening to help an employee win a court case if that employee is important enough to the success of the company. That same CEO would happily throw that person under the bus if the profits would go up by doing so.
Trump would happily have this young man skinned alive if it would mean “his team” wins the next game.
You mean a man in the US team sports arena of being bought and sold in markets.
Tf you on about? He’s never played in a US market, unless Arsenal or Monaco moved continents at some point…
Same idea. People are bought and sold.
I mean, Arsenal is owned by an American. But to your point, Balogun grew up in London and only happened to be born in the US due to airlines not allowing his mom to fly back to their home in London that late into her pregnancy. He has never lived in nor played in the US outside of international games.
“independent panel”
Cheating at solitaire. Sad shit
I will exitedly open up a nice Belgian beer if they can make Trump angry this Tuesday.
I will excitedly open up a nice Belgian beer, regardless of the results of the match. It’s just a solid decision.
Might I suggest an ABT 12 or Pavel Kwak?
Infantino should give him another made up prize
I kind of want to see the US win the world cup thanks to interferences like this from pedohitler. I’ve been saying that the FIFA is a corrupt organisation for a while and everyone has dismissed it by saying that it’s not true. Well, here you have proof, now what?
Let’s hope we see more of this in the next games; this world cup was a farce from the beginning, so cheating is just something that was bound to happen.
Everyone being so mad that the US wins that they just end fifa entirely? That would be hilarious. Let’s make this happen.
I dont even like soccer and this is fucking bullshit
I mean that red card was actually total bullshit.
Now show the Messi boot in someone’s calf during this tournament, and the half dozen other worse infringements that didn’t even result in a yellow card
Read my earlier response in this thread that already agrees that Messi should have also been shown a red card for his challenge. It was more intentional than this one.
Ok, but Messi didn’t get a red card. So we just get some players with different rules than others? Seems like refs are just making it up as they go, not a good look for the sport.
100%. I suspect there was “guidance” on protecting Messi given the marketing $$ and this intervention by Trump for the host country was unacceptable for an arguable valid red card.
Lol I doubt anybody reffing for FIFA needs “guidance” on that.
It’s all bullshit. Some Academy award level acting on those fields.
Ok. Now show it in video instead. It was an accident. The still frame looks bad, and it probably should have been called a yellow, but it didn’t meet the criteria for a red card.
If you think it still should be a red after all that, please explain why Messi doing the same thing on purpose wasn’t.
I agree. Messi should also have received a red. The fact that he did not even get a yellow was a terrible call.
it dose not matter if it was an accident… he could have injured the player… either they are in control or they are just flailing out there like any one of us could
the usa is a fucking joke… fifa is a fucking joke… soccer is a great sport and these two loser entities are just making everything they touch worthless…
Except it does matter. Reckless unintentional fouls are still a yellow card.
I’m not going to disagree about either the US (government) in general or FIFA in specific though.
The rules are a red card can be issued for multiple Sending-off offences with one of those being Serious Foul Play.
“Serious foul play
A tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as serious foul play. Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force.”
International Football Association Board rules
“The Laws embody the unacceptability of unsafe play in their disciplinary phrases, e.g. ‘reckless challenge’ (caution = yellow card/YC) and ‘endangering the safety of an opponent’ or ‘using excessive force’ (sending-off = red card/RC).”
In this instance you can see how a referee would see this being beyond a reckless challenge given the potential serious injury that could have occurred.
Yes, a Red is about lunging at an opponent with excessive force in challenging for the ball. That is not what happened. He was moving sideways through the air and needed to put his foot down somewhere. His opponent was also moving sideways through the air and put his foot down in front of where Balogun was going to. If you watch the video, you can even see that the other player kicked Balogun’s foot FIRST, which changed the trajectory of Balogun’s leg, then put his leg in front of Balogun’s foot.
Sure, call it a yellow for careless play in being in the air without full control. But this was not reckless or violent.
That part doesn’t matter. If FIFA is getting a sitting leader of one of the host country governments to interfere with the outcome, it just signals how little the United States cares about the tournament or the sport. FIFA can totally come out and reverse the ruling and tell us why. The fact that they won’t and we are hearing that Trump is involved, will make the world have more distrust. We already denied visas to the referees, players and fans from many countries who wanted to come here for the tournament. This is blatantly cheating.
If the United States team wants to save face, they need to have Balogun sit out the game tomorrow.
No, it does matter. Two things can be wrong. But it is right that the player is not punished for a baseless call or for your other unrelated grievances that have nothing to do with what happened on the field.
yes and your mommy should call the principal and get your punishment revoked because you are a precious little petal
An outside influence that has NOTHING to do with the game calling the head off the federation is bullshit. You can’t call him to get the call over turned why the fuck does the person who won the fifa peace prize get to do it. Let the coach or the player or the team manager get the call reversed.
Exactly. Trump corrupted the process by interfering. The fact that the decision should’ve been reversed became irrelevant the moment Trump decided to call in a favor from his buddy Infantino. It’s no longer about a bad call on the field.
Shit calls get made all the time and people just live with it. The president of a shithole country should not interfere.
You really going to pretend FIFA isn’t already a corrupt clown show? That’s wild.
And so it’s fine that a dictator manipulates a tournament then ?
It had been in all the previous ones.
The tournament itself was a clown show to begin with. Europeans absolutely delusional about the integrity of FIFA.
The card itself was absurd, and the dictator’s “manipulation” was quite small. If Belgium loses its because they’ve been playing like shit the entire contest, not because US striker’s red card that shouldn’t have been given in the first place—was overturned.
You shouldn’t be watching the tournament all if you genuinely had any principles about the integrity of FIFA / the World Cup. But you do because you’re completely fine with looking away from all their shittiness because you’re too attached to a sport.
Exactly what you said. FIFA removed Ronaldo’s 2 game suspension for no stated reason before the tournament, so this is not just Trump fixing it for the US. This is FIFA having no integrity from the beginning.
The red was very harsh. The VAR protocol was broken in giving the red. Belgium has been playing like shit.
And as incredibly sad as it has made me to miss the first World Cup in my country since I’ve been an adult, I’m boycotting it because I am not OK with looking away from their shittiness.
I am not. I already know they are.
Then why do you care about this reversal? It’s irrelevant to the integrity of FIFA. FIFA has no integrity.
Which is why they’re talking about how the team should handle it?
Their suggestion to how “the team should handle it” is them just whining about something being unfair. The card itself was a joke so the team absolutely should play Balogun.
If you don’t like that, stop supporting FIFA and get some actual integrity about issues instead of just being mad about the clown show you’re supporting behaving like a clown show.
Go back and reread the post where everyone is pointing out the fact that a sitting world leader called into FIFA to get a foul overturned.
Go back and read up what a shitty organization FIFA is and has been for decades and reexamine why you’re still so invested in, and giving them your money and attention.
It’s quite pathetic, actually.
Not what experts say and more importantly not relevant.
This is know about corruption. The only honorable thing for the US to do now is forfait.
Most experts say it was very harsh and probably should not have been a Red.
I guess that’s the American fan experts then - but again, that’s irrelevant , this is not a excuse for corruption. US should forfait
