Trump called FIFA over Balogun red-card suspension, president says
In the end, whether he was right or wrong, the referee that pulled a red card had bigger balls than our current US House and Senate.
Barbara or Babs, Never Barb14Balls ≠ courage. Come up with a less misogynistic metaphor. It's 2026. Mostly women have been the ones to stand up, and most of us don't have testicles. 😉
G ToeKnocks14To be fair, a gerbil has bigger balls than most Congressppl.
Cranky Old Man 🏴 🇪🇦11We still have a Congress?
Carlos California10There are female rodents with bigger balls than the whole of our legislative branch
Ziggy6I think our players were ashamed tonight. 😔
William Jansen6And hats off to the referee tonight, who called it straight down the middle.
To me whether the call was right or wrong doesn't matter but what trump did mattered a whole lot, he fucking tainted the World Cup !!
Ross Parsons2Listen, I valorize our brave referees as much as the next guy but I don't think he was making a point about Donald Trump as much as he was about ankle safety.
Goes to one Knicks game and they lose for the literal first time in 2 months. Calls the head of FIFA to make him overturn a red card and then the US loses in one of the worst matches of the tournament. No one does it like him, it’s actually amazing
alexis12356.bsky.social19There is something very strange about Trump. Putting it mildly everything he gets involved in and touches turns to shit.
milwaukee2024.bsky.social12We can bitch about DT. WE know he's a jerk. The USA coach should have kept that player out in honor of the sport.
Grudgie the Whale10Worst US home Ryder Cup defeat in decades
Dave in Ohio9the art of the fail
MollyG8They may not have been the better team but it’s maddening how the commentators are acting like none of that happened: “they were hesitant, they lacked confidence, and I don’t know why.” Really??
This Is Exhausting7Don't forget cursing the Chiefs in the Superbowl and the US hockey team in the Four Nations Tournament.
Dana El Kurd87Almost makes you believe in god
Rebecca Williams38powerful energy, one cannot deny it
💙 amsterdamred 🇺🇦🇺🇸🇨🇦🇮🇪 Please NO DM'S Please. Just an Old Hippie4He is being friendly with Putin, who is currently facing significant challenges from Ukraine.
Dan eBoy4truly the most offensive part of the whole affair to me is looking forward to the match with the big bad evil guys who cheat and it just being extremely boring
Richard Delevan3I AM BECOME TRUMP. DESTROYER OF HOPE.
MA3I mean this doesn’t even bring up the reflecting pool and the temu arch!
SDDPHOTO2Maybe that's why Melania lives separately she's afraid of his curse
And also this is Trump’s fault. Getting involved in the red card drama and then gloating about it. Cursed the team. Remember the only game Knicks lost in the playoffs was the one Trump attended.
pcrritesgood.bsky.social191He did not just fuck up the vibes, if Balogen is not playing, USMNT probably comes in more desperate and with more intensity and an edge from being the team that feels like it has been unfairly treated. trump snatched that edge away from the USMNT at the last moment and handed it to Belgium.
Art Martin8lost in the media coverage....is that the USMNT is not elite. that's not a criticism, it is a fact. but US sports media wildly over hyped them
Jonathan Bender7Maybe if Seattle had built a sage bonfire...
Adam Poling4The Knicks lost two consecutive games in the first round of playoffs to Atlanta, then went on a winning streak until the Trump game.
Jim Sylvester2It has merit. The controversy absorbed a lot of attention that wasn't part of "How do we win this next game?" That's on Cheeto.
Chris Camposeo2They lost two games in the first round but go on
FIFA needs to be disbanded and a new football body needs to take its place; after the blatant corruption (biased group selection, construction deals, games, gambling) and the conspiracy with Trump seen this World Cup, regional bodies like UEFA, CAF, etc need to figure out a different model.
The “Enemy”5All the dead people who made World Cup 2022
DJ Francois4Add the IOC to that as well
guido mescalito4Egypt are the winners of that game, they always will be. Mo Salah and the Egyptians Kings.
Sean Lynch4@youranoncentral.bsky.social You sound like you might sympathise with the movement known as Anti-Fi-Fa. They'll be no FIFA Piece (of the action) Prize for you!
wsfm506.bsky.social3Problem is, the different federation bodies are also extremely corrupt and feed off FIFA's corruption. I can maybe see UEFA standing up, but I don't see CONCACAF or CONMEBOL wanting to change how things are managed. Too much money, perks, luxuries for those who run the sport
kjpuu.bsky.social3Not sure the regional organizations (UEFA etc) are any kind of poster children of anti-corruption, either... But, in comparison, its hard to be worse than FIFA.
The US men's soccer team suffered an embarrassing defeat after Donald Trump had a bizarre interaction with FIFA. So why does it feel like Joe Biden is the one who had Folarin Balogun's red card rescinded?
n3rdopolis12OPINION | The US can still win if Mike Pence has the courage to do the right thing
Art Martin8Opinion | If the United States national team had more authentic, working men with a military background on the squad, instead of players created in a soccer lab, they would have been able to beat Belgium. by Matty Y, Ezra Klein, Ryan Grim & the Pod Bros
Señor Juanton7Put goalies passing directly to the opposition on the blockchain by Andrew Yang
Pitchbot Reply Guy6The meritocracy is working when the president phones up the head of FIFA to overturn a red card he didn't like.
F'Arte Moreno4Kamala Harris should not have had Alexi Lalas appear at her campaign rallies.
richkamm.bsky.social3The decision to suspend the Balogun red card was made by a totally independent FIFA Committee: membership, S. Alito, C. Thomas, B. Kavanaugh.
"Trump burned any soft power gains the US had accumulated as host. He has made Fifa look like clowns in the process, and has surely left Infantino’s future as President in doubt. He made the US team pariahs, with the world rooting for their failure. And he gained absolutely nothing from it."
Robert Craig4I suspect he was put out that he has been largely peripheral to world cup discourse, hated that people were having fun without him in the frame, and like any narcissistic bully set out to satisfy himself by conspicuously ruining things. So job done as far as he's concerned?
Robin for easy pronunciation4As a Brazilian I can say that that is very accurate. I was thinking after the game that maybe if the coach had decided to leave that player on the bench at least they could lose, but maintain their national sportsmanship intact, redirecting the anger back to Trump, but no.
Jack London4I rather think Infantino the author of his own fate....he caused FIFA to look ridiculous, not Trump - who was just being Trump
stosh80.bsky.social2Those 2 assholes deserve each other. Crooked bastards.
John Flanagan2Infantino stank like a rotting corpse long before this tournament.
James Morrison2Infantino isn't going anywhere, unfortunately. His whole business model is to generate enough money to give (bigger) bribes to small and poor countries in Asia, Africa and Oceania, who control the majority of votes in a fifa congress.
Ambassador Greg Delawie10Trump and Republicans continue to burn up the few molecules of soft power the U.S. still has. Remember: Soft Power is real power! gregdelawie.substack.com/p/hard-truth...
Jan Valdman6Jako z definice stupidity. Trump opět způsobil nedozírné škody aby absolutně nic nezískal.
Amit Katwala5Sadly FIFA's structure means that this scandal will have almost zero effect on Infantino's future as president. One vote per member, so he has adopted the Blatter model of funnelling funds to smaller football associations in exchange for their support.
#Trump made the call and #FIFA bent the rule. Every thing he is involved with is crooked and fails. You can bend the rule, but you cannot bend the game. #SheShed #ViVaHerAlliance
CoCo ✌🏼💛🕊️33This stupid & arrogant MF 💀🤬🖕🏼 #SheShed #ViVaHerAlliance youtu.be/Q17lImPetpQ?...
Rebecca E ❌👑8That's an impressive win, for sure. Belgium shouldn't have been surprised they won, though, because the whole world knows that everything he touches dies. #SheShed
▪️H▪️5Good morning, Coco 💖 #ETTD Period.
JoeinNJfightsfordemocracy2At least the Knicks had a chance to recover.
Hanford1I bet the Tantrum Paste is flying all over the PIG STY (White House) last night and this morning
mobilista.bsky.social1And you shouldn’t bend the knee
Would they have won if they were playing with a feeling of avenging injustice of the red card and with their backs against the wall and knowing they needed one more game to get Balogun back? Who can say! But it would have been a more fun game.
Morgan Clendaniel16Just worth reminding everyone that the 2014 USMNT was way worse than this team and the 2014 Belgian team was way better than this Belgian team and we came way closer to winning that game than this one. bsky.app/profile/mich...
smurfsup | aka the sentient backpack4Just so tentative and defensive (not in the good way)— like kids seeing the Big Guys hanging around the corner candy store
JB3Gap in skill level and quality still would have been there, alas.
johnvanderwindt.bsky.social3No, Belgium way better than USMNT.
Dan. Just Dan.2I don't know the sport, but it seemed to me that their offense tonight consisted of passing it around the backfield until they lost the ball.
Canaan Morse 莫楷2Would they have won if the whole world didn’t hate them as proxies for something else? We’ll never know, but it still sucks.
David M. Perry173they certainly wouldn't have lost more!
Mark Copelovitch114No, probably not, but they would have kept their honor & been able to send a message to both Trump & FIFA bsky.app/profile/mcop...
J. Emory Parker 🏳️🌈7i mean they could not possibly have lost more
Taulby Edmondson5I've watched a lot of soccer and one thing that often goes overlooked in analysis is how situational it is. Outside factors matter. These guys are headcases on the pitch, especially attackers. And firing up a team with the man v man talent of Belgium is frankly stupid.
Kevin Riggle4Morale is a terrain of struggle but good morale and good things happening are only somewhat related
It really is amazing how Trump soils everything he touches, like some scrofulous medieval monarch spreading the King's Evil. He turned a pretty likeable US team into global pariahs. By contrast, Balogun handled himself pretty well (and made a point of shaking the referee's hand after his red card)
Tony Yates4Thanks…. I missed that last detail about the handshake
McDaragh2It's particularly ironic given that Trump and most of his party believe Balogun shouldn't be a citizen and regard him as biologically inferior due to his race and nationality.
Anders Andersson2Midas, for the older ones, comes to mind. Even there gold wasn’t a blessing
Dr Colin Runeckles2He is, as The Hollies once sang, King Midas in Reverse... 🎵He's not the man to hold your trust. Everything he touches turns to dust 🎵
PissTake Peg 😏1“Scrofulous”: a word I haven’t heard or seen since my schooldays (well) over 50 years ago.
Toni Korpivaara1He only tried to help (Trump) That’s the thing with good intentions…
🇺🇸⚽🇧🇪 So you're telling me that Trump bought FIFA and Infantino so that a team from a country that has no idea what men's football is (women's is another story) can lose 1-4 to Belgium, of all the teams on the planet.
Jakub Jaraczewski32The first American to comment "Yeah, we know what football is", with an NFL screenshot is kindly reminded that Mutant League Rugby isn't footie. Thank you.
Dan4You do know that Belgium are highly respected in football? The USA were the Iran in this scenario, although I dont remember Iran ever cheating.
Dr Negrin's Victory Pills2Bit cruel to Belgium. But yes.
Ben R2What the angry fans in the comments don't know is that Jakub AkShUalLy has very relevant subject matter expertise here, as a Polish citizen (in having one god tier retiree player on/off and getting kicked out of the World Cup quals by a very-mid team Kötbullar)