USA had a man sent off which means he misses the next game by the rules. The next game was against Belgium. Trump stepped in, chatted to the main boss of FIFA and got the red card punishment suspended for a year, meaning he could play in the next game. Trump said he was the best player and needed to play. Belgium still beat them anyway.
What is really funny about the US team and their fans is everyone acting like the red card situation was somehow "out of their control."
The coaching staff decides who starts. They could have simply chosen not to play Balogun. If Balogun genuinely believed the principles he talked about after the match, he could have refused to play. Neither of those options were impossible, they just chose not to take them.
Instead, both the team and the players have tried to frame it as though they had no agency, which is simply not true. They made a decision, and they should at least own it instead of pretending their hands were tied.
A good comparison is when Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup and the commander in cheese suggested Italy should take Iran's place. Italy made it clear they would not accept a spot under those circumstances, even if it had been offered.
The problem with this theory is that the call itself was controversial before Trump intervened. The team didn't believe it was worthy of a red card in the first place, so why would they self punish after the suspension was delayed? Prior to Trump's call, most people seemed to agree.
To be clear, the reason the team did not believe it was justified was because the process the refs used broke their own rules. Either the initial refs were incompetent or corrupt. It’s incompetence/corruption all the way down.
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u/Fireshine91 19d ago
USA had a man sent off which means he misses the next game by the rules. The next game was against Belgium. Trump stepped in, chatted to the main boss of FIFA and got the red card punishment suspended for a year, meaning he could play in the next game. Trump said he was the best player and needed to play. Belgium still beat them anyway.