top of page
Search

Ep 95 - He Could Have Just Taken the Win

  • Jul 8
  • 7 min read

The World Cup should have been easy. That is what makes this whole thing so revealing. A massive global sporting event on American soil, packed stadiums, flags everywhere, tourists filling hotels and restaurants, American cities on display, and the U.S. team giving people something to cheer for. Any competent politician could have taken that moment, smiled for the cameras, praised the players, welcomed the world, and let the country enjoy something clean for once. Donald Trump had the win already. He still made it suspicious.


He had the world watching, the crowd roaring, and the win sitting right there. Then he reached for the whistle.
He had the world watching, the crowd roaring, and the win sitting right there. Then he reached for the whistle.

This is not really about soccer. You do not need to know formations, FIFA procedures, or the emotional geography of a red card to understand the problem. Everyone understands what it means when someone powerful calls the referee. Everyone understands that the game changes when one side appears to have access to a private back door through the rules. That is not a soccer issue. That is a power issue.


Folarin Balogun received a red card in the U.S. match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, which normally meant an automatic suspension for the next match against Belgium. Trump reportedly asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review the decision. FIFA later suspended the ban for a one-year probationary period, allowing Balogun to play while keeping the red card itself on the record. Belgium objected. UEFA criticized the decision. FIFA said the process was independent. And then Belgium beat the United States 4–1 anyway, because irony apparently had excellent field position.


But the final score is not the real story. The real story is that the president of the host country reportedly contacted the head of the organization running the tournament about a disciplinary decision involving the host country’s own team, and the outcome changed in a way that benefited that team. That does not require a secret recording, a cartoon bag of cash, or a villain monologue to be troubling. It looks bad because it is bad for public trust.


Institutional independence is not just a rule written somewhere in a policy manual. It is a public trust. It depends on distance. It depends on restraint. It depends on powerful people understanding that some things should not be touched precisely because their touch changes the meaning of the thing. If a president calls a prosecutor, that matters. If a president calls an election official, that matters. And if a president calls the head of FIFA about a World Cup disciplinary decision involving the U.S. team, that matters too.


The president should not be the appeals process. That is the simplest version of the problem. A player can appeal. A federation can follow the formal channels. Coaches can argue. Fans can yell at televisions until the drywall files a complaint. That is all part of sports. But the president of the United States should not become the emergency hotline for a red-card suspension. The game only works if the whistle is bigger than the most powerful person in the luxury box.


And this is where Trump’s instinct becomes impossible to ignore. His problem has never been merely that he wants to win. Everybody in politics wants to win. The problem is that Trump does not seem to recognize neutral systems as legitimate unless they produce the result he wants. Courts are fair when they rule for him. Elections are secure when he wins. Investigations are legitimate when they target his enemies. Media is honest when it praises him. Agencies are acceptable when they obey him. Now, apparently, sports rules are acceptable when they can be appealed through political influence.


A bad call is human failure. A political call is institutional failure. Sports can survive bad calls. They happen constantly. Referees miss things. Review systems fail. Fans spend decades nursing grudges over blown whistles and imaginary conspiracies involving their least favorite team. That is normal. What sports cannot survive is the belief that power can reach into the process and rearrange the consequences. Once that happens, every call starts to smell funny.


That is what Trump introduced here: suspicion. Not just one player back on the field. Not just one suspension put on ice. Suspicion. And suspicion is sticky. It does not politely leave after the final whistle. It lingers. It changes how people see the next decision, the next reversal, the next close call, the next big moment. It turns a game into a question mark.


The saddest part is that none of this was necessary. The World Cup was already a political gift to Trump. A seasoned, competent president could have used it as a broad patriotic moment that would have been hard for critics to reject. Praise the players. Thank the host cities. Welcome the world. Talk about tourism, jobs, national pride, and America’s ability to host something enormous and joyful. That was the whole assignment. Just take the clean win.


But clean wins do not seem to satisfy him. A clean win gives him the benefit, but it does not prove domination. It does not prove that a system bent because he walked into the room. It does not prove that somebody moved the furniture when power cleared its throat. Trump does not just want the trophy. He wants fingerprints on the process. He wants the referee to know who called.


That is not strength. Strength is letting your team compete without needing the system tilted toward them. Strength is trusting the players to win or lose on the field. Strength is accepting that not every institution exists to serve you. What Trump showed was not strength. It was insecurity with a lanyard.


It was also deeply unfair to the U.S. players. They did not create this controversy. They did not ask to become a case study in political influence. They deserved to have their tournament judged by their feet, their tactics, their mistakes, their effort, and their results. Instead, they were dragged into another Trump story. If they had beaten Belgium, the win would have been questioned. Since they lost, the intervention became humiliating. Either way, Trump created a no-win situation for a team that did not need his shadow over the field.


That is what he does to shared moments. He pulls them into his orbit. A global tournament becomes about his relationship with FIFA. A national team’s run becomes about whether he helped get a suspension delayed. A moment that could have belonged to fans, players, cities, and the country becomes another exhausting entry in the endless ledger of what Trump did now. He did not elevate the team. He made them part of his mess.


And internationally, the embarrassment is obvious. The World Cup is a global stage. The world is watching the host country. Trump’s supporters may frame this as “fighting for our guy,” but outside the MAGA bubble it can look like the president of the host country leaned on FIFA to help the host country’s team. That does not project confidence. It projects corruption. It makes America look less like a country proud to host the world and more like a country that needed a favor.


This is bigger than soccer because the instinct is bigger than soccer. Trumpism cannot accept neutral rules. It treats every independent system as either captured by enemies or available to be pressured. The court referee. The election referee. The media referee. The inspector general referee. The scientist referee. And now, apparently, the actual referee-adjacent machinery of an international sporting event.


The referee is not supposed to be red or blue. The referee is supposed to be annoying in both directions. That is how you know the thing still works. Democracy depends on the same principle. The rules matter most when they disappoint powerful people. Losing has to be possible. Accountability has to be possible. A ruling against your side has to be possible. Otherwise, what you have is not fair play. It is power with uniforms.


The World Cup should have been simple. Let the players play. Let the fans cheer. Let the country host the world. Let the team win or lose on the field. Let the moment belong to something larger than Donald Trump for five blessed minutes. But he could not do that. He had to touch it. He had to bend it toward himself. He had to turn a clean national moment into another question about pressure, influence, and whether the rules still apply.


That is the warning inside this ridiculous story. It is funny that a president would appear to get involved in a soccer suspension. It is almost slapstick that the U.S. lost badly afterward. But underneath the absurdity is the same old danger: a powerful man who sees rules not as boundaries, but as obstacles. Not as guardrails, but as suggestions. Not as something to respect, but as something to work around.


Some people want to win. Some people want to compete. Some people want to govern. Donald Trump wants the referee to know who called. And if they cannot accept a red card, why would we expect them to accept a subpoena, a court ruling, an election result, or a peaceful transfer of power?


SOURCES

FIFA lifts Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension ahead of Belgium match - https://apnews.com/article/falorin-balogun-suspension-world-cup-e5a5cab5731a916808601be93cb36832

Trump, Infantino, and the controversy over Balogun’s red-card suspension - https://apnews.com/article/ed312dc4565ae4cfadf6810270cc30c6

Reuters report on UEFA saying FIFA “crossed a red line” over the Balogun decision - https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/uefa-says-fifa-crossed-red-line-with-balogun-red-card-u-turn-world-cup-2026-07-06/

Reuters report on Balogun starting for the U.S. after the red-card ban was suspended - https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/balogun-starts-us-after-red-card-suspended-2026-07-06/

Reuters report on Belgium beating the U.S. 4–1 and eliminating them from the World Cup - https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/de-ketelaere-double-puts-belgium-into-world-cup-last-eight-ends-home-interest-2026-07-07/

ABC News report on Trump saying he asked FIFA to review Balogun’s red-card ban - https://abcnews.com/GMA/Culture/us-world-cup-star-folarin-baloguns-red-card/story?id=134500486

ABC News report on the U.S. being eliminated after a 4–1 loss to Belgium - https://abcnews.com/GMA/Culture/usmnt-set-showdown-belgium-world-cup-round-16/story?id=134450328

CBS News report on FIFA criticism after Trump phone call and Balogun suspension decision - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fifa-infantino-trump-red-card-folarin-balogun-criticism/

Al Jazeera explainer on why FIFA’s Balogun suspension decision after Trump’s call was controversial - https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/7/6/why-fifas-balogun-red-card-suspension-after-trump-call-is-so-controversial

Comments

Rated 0 out of 5 stars.
No ratings yet
Add a rating

© 2023 by Train of Thoughts. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page