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Donald Trump reportedly called FIFA president Gianni Infantino in order to get FIFA to review the red card that USA player Folarin Balogun recieved in the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ordinarily, Balogun's red card would render him ineligible for Team USA's next game against Belgium in the round of 16. However, a special session of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee decided to suspend the red card, allowing Balogun to play against Belgium.
Belgium is big mad. The conventional wisdom in the immediate aftermath of the red card was that this was not a reviewable decision. This is a good reminder that nothing is ever final until it happens.
This is pretty poor behaviour. I'm seeing videos of Mexico fans making massive noise, lighting fireworks outside the hotel the English team is playing in in a (failed) attempt to disrupt their sleep. That's obviously crass and bad behaviour. How is this any better, just because it's done behind closed doors?
The US was also using tricks with the Iranian team I recall, making them travel into and then quickly leave the country.
It's just a game, not a trade agreement or a war or anything worth cheating over. What is the point? Why not at least show a little magnanimity or sportsmanship?
Football is never "just a game".
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The Iran situation seemed kinda weird and possibly atleast partly down to Iranian officials in charge of stopping players defecting (Like the women's team did in Australia) not being given visas due to their political affiliation. Then Iran minimizing time in the USA to try and reduce risk of defection
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My take, in this case, is that just because FIFA is used to accepting their bribes in grocery bags full of euros hand-delivered to their hotel rooms by expensive prostitutes, does not mean they aren't capable of long term planning. The US is a great growth market for them- lots and lots of disposable income(in an extremely strong currency) with a population that loves sports, has ties all over the world, makes a great host, has advertisers who will pay dearly, etc. Mild corruption is Tuesday and they've been trying to get the USA into footballing for a long time. It should've been a yellow card anyways.
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Oh god, did Trump somehow manage to make the perpetually underdog USMNT the bad guy during their home World Cup?
We were always the bad guy, this has just given the hatred a locus.
Americans and their ability to front as the best and strongest country in the world whilst also being the worlds biggest victim is unmatched.
Trump is not a popular figure. Neither is FIFA. Seeing them shake hands over the US team is like getting a letter of recommendation from Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein on your ability to manage a summer camp for girls.
No one likes the Belgians. Seeing them lose to the Americans would be great. But that would be quite enough for most people. And you should be courteous enough to pack your bags and leave when you're done.
Yes, many Americans have no idea how much people dislike the Belgians (and not just for the actions of Leopold II). Previously I was rooting for USA win here. After this, well, I'm still rooting for a USA win here, but it's now a little bitter.
It's generally seen as ill mannered and out of touch to go digging into the past for grievance with anything relating to politics. So I don't think Leopold has much to do with it. Football is its own history.
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Somewhat related, I’ve read a lot of hatred being hurled at Belgium in regards to soccer. Can you explain the anti-Belgian thing? They seem like a tiny country that nobody really cares about with a soccer team that is like second or third tier in Europe. I know they’re highly ranked but that’s it. Why do non-US soccer fans seem to hate them?
It's hard to say. I can only speak for myself in that they are a bitch to lose against. They usually have very strong teams on paper, but they also never go the distance to actually win. For smaller countries to have their miracle runs ended by Belgium instead of the 'big teams' is very anti-climactic. For bigger teams to lose against Belgium is similarly disappointing. It feels like you've been robbed of all the romance and drama of seeing two big teams duking it out. Instead you get... Belgium.
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They had a golden generation about 5-10 years ago that made them an absolute top tier team for a bit. They're coming down from that level of play so there's still some resentment about that run.
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Shot in the dark but does it have to do with being the seat of the EU?
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He should be disqualified for not being American. Trump admin literally had their birth tourism case last week and he’s exactly what they and (me) are against. The only exposure he’s had of America is being born here for 2 months and leaving.
Edit: wanted to add I think it’s the right call reversing this red. All the post saying corruption or US bullying but honestly I think they just fixed a mistake. I don’t think he should be playing for US team because he’s not an American.
My goodness, what long labor. How's his mom doing?
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Sorry chuds. The constitution says America wins FIFA.
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The President of the United States getting a soccer decision overturned demonstrates that yes, you can effectively use a bazooka to kill a mosquito.
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I've been seeing talk about VAR having been improperly used in this case, and how that's the unspoken justification (because FIFA doesn't want to admit a mistake). Any truth to that?
As I understand it there really was some kind of irregularity with how VAR was used, I believe that they used slo-mo or still frames in a context where it isn’t allowed (because all contact looks worse slowed down) or something similar to that, but they’re not hiding that, it’s in the official FIFA statement. It also was an extremely harsh call, and Messi had done the exact same thing (worse, honestly) in a previous game and wasn’t even given a yellow. They all-but-never overturn decisions within a tournament though, so imho, that’s all probably the fig leaf and Trump contacting Infantino is the real reason. I think the only other time this has happened was way back in the 60s? They did wipe away a multi-game suspension for violent conduct for Ronaldo to let him play in this very tournament, but FWIW that red card happened before the tournament so it isn’t quite as egregious/comical.
I was texting with a friend about the overturned suspension earlier today, and literally during the act of sending him a meme about “Trump called up FIFA to make this happen lol” it was confirmed that, in fact, that was exactly what happened. What a time to be alive.
Anyway, culture-war-wise I haven’t seen any truly negative opinions about the decision from Americans, certainly not from American soccer fans. Everyone I’ve seen or talked to has been amused and/or happy. It is admittedly kinda dirty but, well, it’s FIFA. Even the liberal NYT commenters on an article I read seem to at most be saying “I wish it hadn’t happened like this but I’ll take it.” Hell, even my mom (who utterly despises Trump and doesn’t care that much about sports) isn’t too broken up about it. That red card was total BS anyway, so this is how it always should’ve been.
After the red card and before this happened, the general sentiment from my mostly liberal social circles was "What's the point of having a corrupt government if they won't step in at times like this?"
Now everyone is pretty happy.
It's interesting that Trump is clearly pro-America-getting-into-soccer- and as an MLS fan(and rooting for a team that has three players for the national team), I have to sympathize- even though being into soccer is my least red tribe trait(no, speaking French doesn't count, it's Cajun French and not metropolitan), Trump liking it makes up for retarded Iran adventurism in my book.
I think Trump would have the same reaction if it was darts. It isn’t soccer itself but America winning.
He just praised Harry Kane, too, though. I think he genuinely likes soccer, or at least feels some fondness for the game. He played soccer in his school days.
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Trump loves the USA winning, but he probably loves even more that world cup tourists love America. They love our restaurants, our dance halls, our wings and ranch dressing, bucees and the sheer scale. There are regular human interest stories on cable news about fans from abroad falling in love with America(and drinking all the beer in Boston) in addition to the usual aides printing out tweets for him to peruse.
Out of all of the "Euros loving America" style slop content, the ranch dressing thing strikes me as particularly bizarre. You can easily get ranch dressing here, including multiple locally produced varieties. It's a very common choice for chicken wings, which are also available in basically almost every pub that also serves food here. Perhaps it's different in some other countries?
Buffalo wings outside of the USA very rarely live up to the ones inside the USA. I'm not a particular fan of American food but that's one spot where I'll say the Americans way outdo everybody else
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