“That wasn’t a foul. That wasn’t even an infraction.” That’s how President Donald Trump reflected on the tackle by U.S. striker Folarin Balogun that earned him a red card in the round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The challenge, and the ensuing sending-off, prompted Trump to call FIFA President Gianni Infantino and ask him to review the decision so Balogun’s automatic one-match suspension might be lifted. The USMNT’s top scorer — ironically, a birthright citizen, one of the categories of American Trump has spent years railing against — should be allowed to keep playing, the president apparently argued.
Oh dear. The problem is that the U.S. president doesn’t understand soccer. Even a five-year-old just starting in the sport knows that stamping on an opponent’s foot, ankle or leg with your studs up, as Balogun clearly did, is a foul and a potential red card. There’s no debate about that.
Did Balogun mean to do it? Almost certainly not. But anyone who has played or closely follows the game knows intent isn’t the point — players get called for unintentional fouls all the time. Did he deserve the red card? Maybe not. It was certainly harsh, but that’s a judgment call for the referee and his video assistant. Referee Raphael Claus, whose reputation Trump grotesquely trashed by calling him “a little bit suspect” and urging reporters to “check his past,” made that call. It deserves respect regardless.
Bad luck for Balogun, perhaps — it meant a one-match ban for the next game. Those are the rules, established over decades of World Cups and applied equally to every player regardless of profile, and accepted by fans, players, coaches and federations alike. Balogun himself seemed to get this: he rued the call publicly but accepted the sanction.
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