RED CARD REVERSED
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
RED CARD REVERSED: We laughed, collectively, when FIFA President Gianni Infantino bestowed upon Donald Trump the first ever peace prize issued by the soccer federation. But we’re crying with joy (though, let’s be honest, we’re all just a bit aghast) now that Trump has put his well-earned FIFA credentials to good use. The president reportedly called Infantino last week to talk about the red card given to U.S. striker Folarin Balogun during the game against Bosnia-Herzegovina. The card meant Balogun would be suspended for the round-of-sixteen match against Belgium.
Well, wouldn’t you know it, FIFA reversed the suspension citing its rules that lets its disciplinary committee “fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure” and place a player on probation instead. 1 Something like this hasn’t happened in a World Cup since 1962—which hasn’t gone unnoticed by THE REST OF THE WORLD, which is wondering what integrity is left in this tournament.
The White House is doing the bare minimum of spin right now, insisting it was not pressuring Infantino, so much as just trying to get a read on what had happened. But the actual level of resources and attention this behind-the-scenes effort involved makes you wonder if the planning for the Iran war received similar care. And Trump, predictably, couldn’t help but crow. After posting an old photo of himself and Macaulay Culkin at some press event featuring the World Cup trophy, he authored another bleet thanking “FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!”
Tags
Who is online
150 visitors
I really hope the US wins, American soccer fans deserve it. But this is the equivalent of pulling rank . The rest of the world will see it as undue influence and it will somewhat taint an American win.
(Belgium has appealed the decision to reinstate Balogun )
True.
Morning...
Very true, Trumpet makes a call and miraculously he can play!!. rather obvious and very much to the rest of the world.. even blind Freddy can see that..
Why do US soccer fans "deserve it" more, than any other countries fans??
I will be barracking for the small countries that have out played the bigger countries and all their mega million $$ players..
Go Norway..🇸🇯
Go Belgium!!!..
The US coach is kicking water bottles.. someone is not a happy camper...😁
I am pro American enough to want our suffering soccer fans to win more than I care if some other random country wins.
Maybe I would have made an exception for Australia.
As they say it is the best team on the day and for some reason it was far from the USA's best day..
We were lucky to even qualify and as for beating Turkiye unheard of..I was expecting to be flogged by the US but played fairly reasonable...
We first qualified 1974 and will never get in a bulls roar of the European and South American power houses and I doubt the US will either...
Once we went, then New Zealand then you mob I barrack for what's left..other than the Brits, I will be barracking for Norway...
Got to hand it to the tiny countries Norway, Switzerland, Belgium etc...they are more than holding their own..and simply showing us how it's done...
The US team should honor the original call (albeit a bad call) and not have Balogun play in the next game. That would be the honorable and smart move. Yes, they might lose, but if they win, they retain their integrity and, to a degree, show that Trump does NOT represent the true character of the US.
Everything Trump touches turns to shit. U.S. is losing 3-1 in the second half.
Yes we know..
Wonder what else he can stuff up..
Latest here he wants all female tourists to the US to be pregnancy tested?? What a drongo ..
Go Belgium..
can't agree with that
You mob seem flat footed and to busy fluffing around.
That's crazy. The call was wrong. I haven't seen anyone defend it on its merits. The correct, just, thing to do is get the call correct and let the game be decided on the merits by the players. Not by a mistake, blindly upheld for no other reason than optics.
If Belgium wanted to behave honorably, they should have demanded he play rather than issue legal threats. That's the honorable action, wanting to beat your opponent at his best on the field. Not try to gain advantage through a mistake.
Belgium are more skilled and they are just time wasting now..
Oh yes the flopping on the ground has started..
The honourable thing to do was Trumpet keeping his snout out of it..
Made no difference anyway with Balogun running around..
Simply out classed and out played...
Go Belgium..well done..😁
Yeah, Sean, you can see that I believe the call was wrong too. So why are you pretending that I have argued that the call was correct?
Endless dishonesty.
Trump pulled rank to get this bad call overturned. That is dishonorable. Trump should NOT have interfered. Yet again he makes the USA look bad.
Mistakes are often made in sports. That is part of the 'game'. Honorable people deal with it. It is done all the time.
Even if the USA would win this game (not likely at this point), their win would be tainted because of Trump.
No matter what this asshole does, people like you run to defend him. Why??
[Meta]
[✘] The call was wrong. Punishing a player and a team for a mistake that everyone acknowledges was a mistake is not justice. Correct the mistake and let the players decide it among themselves, that is the always the best outcome and luckily which is what happened. Otherwise, Belgium’s win would have been tainted.
the issue being discussed is Trumps meddling into soccer officiating by using his influence with FIFA (they did give him a totally made up "peace prize" by the way) to get the player re-instated. Whether or not he should have been suspended in the first place is an issue, its just not the issue Trump created when he interjected himself.
Your opening "That's crazy. The call was wrong," deemed my suggestion that we honor the bad call as crazy; and then you tell me that the call was wrong. But I had explicitly stated that I believed the call was wrong.
Your claimed meaning was corrupted by your syntax. Not my problem.
Further, it is a normal practice in sports to abide by the calls of the officials. In those cases where an objection is stated, it is raised by the management of the team, not by a political figure (much less the PotUS) using his clout to influence the decision. There is nothing crazy about following protocol and tradition. In fact, it makes good sense to do so since if they had won, the win would have been tainted.
Now, given they lost, it is now a worse situation. Much of the world sees this as Trump putting his thumb on the scale (and that reflects on our nation) so we get the taint ... and we see no positive result since they lost anyway.
Following protocol in sports —being honorable— is not crazy.
Exactly. You knew the call was wrong and still thought the US should sit out the player.
Advocating for voluntarily sitting him out would be defensible if he clearly had committed a violent foul and was inexplicably exonerated. Punishing someone, and an entire team, you believe to be innocent is crazy.
Correct. Read my post to understand why people usually act this way (honorably) in sports.
American sports have built entire systems of review to ensure the just result is reached. From instant replay to process of appeals. When a mistake can be fixed , it should be. It is, in fact, dishonorable to try and win through taking advantage of bureaucratic mistakes rather than to win a sport on the field. Americans do not generally meekly accept injustice because inflexible authorities have decreed it. . Maybe that's a national difference between us and other countries.
And when those systems are in place, the professional sports organizations have built rules/procedures for how they are used. Technology will continue to enable higher quality calls but rules/procedures will still be in place, conventions will be in place, protocol would still exist.
Importantly, not every sport and not every type of call is automated. In those cases where we still rely upon human beings alone, existing rules, protocol, and established guidelines should be followed.
There is a procedure for objecting to a call. But that procedure does not involve the PotUS.
Trump inserted himself, as usual, and made things worse. And to make this clear for you:
If Trump had just stayed out of if, the USA would have played and (who knows) the psychology might have caused a different outcome. But now, we know that they lost anyway, so no gain but we (the USA) are now tarnished/dishonored because of the asshole that you continue to try to defend.
The team should have brought the objection, not Trump!
[deleted][✘]
Trump was elected to oversee soccer? He reminds me of the drunk insane soccer dad screaming from the bleachers and throwing empty bottles of beer at the ref.
I didn't see the red card given and don't know the rules enough to have an opinion on the penalty .
That being said:
Many sports seem to give more leeway on what is and isn't called during the playoffs. If they don't in soccer they should. Especially for red cards.
Soccer has too much flopping. I don't envy the refs
I don't think the precedent of changing a decision is a good one (unless done right away with instant replay).
It seems they use VAR to review all red cards given. I assume it was used.
Somebody probably got threatened with a pair of concrete sneakas.
... some FIFA official probably has a relative in a US prison needing a pardon.
No need, FIFA President Gianni Infantino would volunteer his mouth to be Trumps urinal if Trump casually mentioned he needed to pee.
The u s looks like they've never played together.
The US were simply out played and didn't really seem to get with it..
Maybe they were thinking home crowd advantage or something but they just seemed off right from the start..
Red cards are the new DEI.