Washington — President Trump said he saw the World Cup play that led to U.S. Men’s National Team soccer star Folarin Balogun’s one-game red card suspension, and then spoke to FIFA president Gianni Infantino and asked for a review.
The U.S. team’s striker was given a red card during the team’s Wednesday match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, eliminating him from the next game. Balogun was penalized for stepping on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemović of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
FIFA reversed the one-match suspension, although that reversal is facing criticism and an appeal. The president told reporters in the Oval Office Monday that he “saw the play,” and Balogun’s move didn’t constitute a foul or an infraction. Mr. Trump said he talked with Infantino about the incident.
“I’m a person that loves sports and was a good athlete,” he said. “And I understand sports really well. Really well. And that wasn’t a foul. That wasn’t even an infraction. That was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other. You can’t take your foot and properly place it on somebody else’s foot when you’re going — no, these were two great athletes that got tangled up.”
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“And this referee, who is a little bit suspect if you check his, if you check his past,” the president said. “I don’t want to say that because I don’t like to create controversy, but very suspect. If you like, I’ll provide you with the past. He made a call that nobody could believe. Even people on the other side, they said ‘We got lucky.'”
The president said Balogun “didn’t do anything wrong.” Despite his assertion that he knows sports “really well,” the president admitted he at first didn’t know what the red card meant.
“Then I started hearing that that means you can’t play in the next game — at least in the next game,” he said, arguing it’s “very unfair” to penalize someone for a “game that hasn’t been played yet.”
“Yes, I asked for a review by FIFA,” he said of his conversation with Gianni.
“I spoke to a man who’s highly respected and by the way, whose level of respect has gone up tenfold,” he added, apparently referring to Infantino.
But Mr. Trump said he didn’t tell Gianni what to do, and he didn’t take credit for FIFA’s reversal.
“All I did, I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul,” he continued. “… If they wouldn’t allow, you know, a top player, maybe the best, maybe among the best players on the team, I think it would have had a big stain. And I related, just that, I didn’t tell him what to do, I can’t tell him what to do.”
Infantino said Monday in a statement that “FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent.”
“Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the president of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues,” Infantino said.
“During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies,” he said. “That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.”
