The victorious Belgium team mainly let their skills do the talking at the World Cup after a day of red card suspension controversy, a failed appeal, and the unsurprising intervention of Donald Trump. For some, the 4-1 win Monday over Christian Pulisic and Team USA in Seattle, WA would have said it all.
Not for the Belgians. Not after today.
Even with FIFA tournament co-host America’s elimination from competition, once the much-hyped match was over, the Red Devils dropped the stoic mask. In a short but pointed social media post, Belgium let their real feelings be known about the Gianni Infantino-led organization’s last minute and much condemned decision to suspend Team USA star player’s Folarin Balogun’s red card ban.
“Overturn this”
That’s basically all the tweet said, and said it all.
The return of Balogun came in part thanks to a call last week from Trump to his pal Infantino (who is facing growing calls to resign). FIFA’s disciplinary panel then “independently and autonomously” (according to Infantino) allowed the USMNT striker to compete in Monday’s match. After a his foul on defender Tarik Muharemovic during the July 1 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Balogun was sent off the pitch with a red card.
Standard FIFA procedure is that a red card also leaves the player unable to participate in the next scheduled game. For decades that’s been standard FIFA procedure — unless the President of the United States decides he thinks its unfair. Then, regardless of FIFA Peace Prize winner Trump’s call says Infantino, the little known 18-member FIFA disciplinary committee suddenly said Balogun’s red card game ban would be suspended for a year.
Admitting he asked Infantino for a review of the red card in their call, Trump called the decision “brilliant.”
As UEFA and nations and leagues around the world slagged FIFA’s move, the Royal Belgian Football Association filed an appeal. That appeal was rejected within hours.
The whole situation put a stink on today’s match and revived old calls of corruption and favoritism against FIFA. “This is our sport, not theirs,” ex-Liverpool manager and likely next Germany coach Juergen Klopp said on Monday as it was all going down. “If Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino really sorted this out between themselves, it is madness; it calls everything into question. These two people, who know nothing about football, should have absolutely nothing to do with this.”
Certainly the Belgium players Monday made it pretty obvious who they held responsible for the red card suspension malarkey. As one soccer feed put it: “In Lukaku’s goal, the Belgian footballers celebrated by doing the dance that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, usually does.”
Earlier in the day, Trump’s White House went full LEGO to claim their master’s own role in an American World Cup win.
As the likes of CNN host Abby Philip mocks the “Trump curse” on-air, there has been radio silence now from the former Apprentice host. Usually very chatty online, Trump is on his newly refurbished donated Air Force One heading to a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey — where POTUS will have to sit with fellow attendee Belgium PM Bart De Wever.
Now, with Balogun almost a non-entity in today’s match and America having nothing more to do with the World Cup on the pitch, Belgium goes on to play Spain in a quarterfinals match on July 10 at L.A.’s Sofi Stadium. Whether or not the USA-Canada-Mexico hosted 2026 World Cup keeps pulling in the mega-ratings for Fox and Telemundo now that all the host countries have been eliminated remains to be seen.
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