For the second time in 2026, a U.S. moment of televised-sports feelgood unity has become an infight-y referendum on the Trump administration.
The reason for that? The Trump administration.
Mostly.
The president’s gambit this weekend of asking for “a review” from FIFA president Gianni Infantino of the red card given U.S. striker Folarin Balogun has, not surprisingly, caused everyone you’d expect to get upset in fact to get upset and everyone you’d think would defend the move in fact to defend the move.
It all turns what had been a non-partisan story of the USMNT’s success — they play Belgium in the Round of 16 Monday night on Fox and Telemundo in what will be a ratings extravaganza — a partisan story, through no fault of the team.
Just like the U.S. Men’s Hockey team gold-medal win over Canada at the Olympics in February became a partisan story, through no fault of the team.
As you likely know, the U.S. Men’s National Team has been a very heartwarming story at the World Cup after going 2-1 in Group play and then beating Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0 despite playing down a man for much of the second half.
Theirs has become an inspiring story with genuinely good guys and a melting-pot multiracial squad — coach Mauricio Pochettino from Argentina, star winger Christina Pulisic from Pennsylvania, attacking midfielder Malik Tillman raised in Germany, striker Balogun as a British-Nigerian man (born in Brooklyn while his parents were on a trip here), Mexican-American striker Ricardo Pepi and right-back Tim Weah, the New York-raised child of the man who would become the Liberian president. The roster also features the World Cup’s only known Jewish player in keeper Matt Turner. The club came together Wednesday for some tight defense (and a beautiful direct free kick) to win a WC knockout game for the first time in 24 years.
Not for nothing did the matchgarner 33 million viewers on Fox and Telemundo, the most ever for a U.S. soccer broadcast by the length of three pitches. After decades of American poobahs trying to hook mainstream viewers to watch, this feelgood story is finally doing it.
As you likely also know, Trump didn’t like that Balogun was given a red cardfor what looked like an inadvertent ankle-trample on a contested ball. Trump soon learned (in fairness, like many Americans) that it meant a suspension for Monday’s Belgium game. So this weekend he called Infantino, who had given him a “Peace Prize” recently and has clearly been playing the Trump-obeyance game. (Haven’t these people heard of backchanneling?) The decision was soon reversed under so-called “Article 27,” which FIFA reserves for such moments, and announced Sunday.
By Monday morning the battle lines were drawn, and you could chalk their outlines without even opening your eyes. UEFA, the European soccer federation, called the reversal“incomprehensible and unjustifiable.” The Norwegian coachcalled ita “big mistake.”Belgium coach Rudi Garcia quipped“I didn’t know thatJuly 5wasApril 1.”
And on the other side: Infantino threw up his handsmore dramatically than Messi after a challenge and said that “FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent.”Trump said“I didn’t think it was a foul.” AndTrump supporter and Fox Sports commentator Alexi “Soccer President” Lalaswent onFox News to say, literally, “take it up with FIFA.”
(That the whole drama is playing out on Fox News sister unit Fox Sports only adds to the stickiness; will Euro-centric commentators like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thierry Henry join their continental siblings in protest Monday night or be gently encouraged to can it?)
The insertion of Trump into what should have been a continuing Hollywood story (the president “may have just broken the World Cup,” New York magazinesaid) elicited shudders and eyerolls for any fan who’s been loving this great story. Just as it did when FBI director Kash Patel showed up to chug in the men’s hockey locker room in Milan and then Trump invited the club to the State of the Union for a gold-medal victory lap. Many who watched that win with unadulterated joy on NBC that Sunday suddenly felt like they may be getting used during the network broadcast of the SOTU on Tuesday.
Now it’s happening again. Some liberal fans who don’t like the president were even flooding social media saying they’d root for Belgium. But even if you didn’t go that far (come on), matters do feel … tainted.Trump said the reinstatement would help because a U.S. loss would feel rigged (to him). Of course now a U.S. win will feel rigged (to everyone else). So much for the Miracle on Nice.
ESPN columnist Sam Bordenlabeled the national feeling an “uncomfortable paradox, a jumble of joy tinged with a heavy slice of unease.”
Another way of saying that: so much for those pure-hearted Knicks vibes.
So while all this may have increased the USMNT’s chances to win on the pitch, it reduced the team’s chances to win as part of a national solidarity moment, which is the point of all these international sports-tournaments in the first place. And all because of one call that Infantino took and appeared to have acted on. (Really, haven’t these people ever heard of backchanneling?)
But don’t feel too bad for Belgium and their pearls. Lost in all their cries is that many soccer experts believe that Balogun’s move did not merit a red card. (I mean, it was a pretty cringe-y call.)
Also lost in this is that FIFA reversed a three-game suspension for Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo before the tournament under Article 27. Meanwhile, one story — from a veteran sportswriter at the Murdoch-owned New York Post — reported that Trump probably didn’t even have much to do with the overturn. Instead, it came about after legal threats from U.S. Soccer. Of course that won’t matter: once Trump said he was the reason, the world (and he) will believe he was the reason.
So yes, you can blame Donald Trump for calling Infantino (seriously, have these people never heard of backchanneling?!?) even as you also can’t blame Donald Trump for trying to exploit a system so many have exploited before. CNNnotedthat “the very integrity of the tournament is being questioned because of the apparent actions of one man and his too-close-for-comfort relationship with the FIFA president.” To which I can only say: are you new here? If you believe that the integrity and officiating of the tournament were unassailable before Donald Trump fished his cellphone out of his pocket, you clearly haven’t been watching the World Cup. For 40 years.
“The World Cup is not supposed to be political!,” some non-U.S. fans are yelping, which is the funniest thing to be uttered this tournament. And Zlatan has been pretty hilarious.
The real losers in all this? Who else — the fans. Those of us who genuinely wanted to root for this U.S. men’s team Monday night as part of a blissful national moment. And now it all feels fraught. At least with hockey it wasn’t ruined until after.
What’s ironic is that Trump is doing this division thing while trying to create essentially another unifying Miracle on Ice. He clearly loves that television event, which he watched in his 30s having grown up in the shadow of the Cold War. He including that 1980 win in his montage for “America’s Eras Tour” two different times this weekend and, somewhat randomly, hosted 13 of its team members at the White House in December to give themthe Congressional Gold Medal.
But a Miracle on Ice was a country winning while united against a foreign enemy, not a country winning while divided against itself.
Trump could complain aboutthatlandscape but, well.
Come to think of it, his moves are a little like FIFA’s. A group that, having time and again created seat-of-their pants optics and played blatant favorites, is now complaining they’re being discriminated against. Of course UEFA doesn’t exactly have a clean sheet here either. I’d give anything to know what the Portugal delegate said (or didn’t say) when its federation was drafting that anti-FIFA statement.
So sure, complain about FIFA and Donald Trump, you’d have reason to. But also see the larger picture. For instance, liberal American fans rooting for Belgium might want to be gently nudged before donning Red Devils gear: Belgium’s prime minister is currentlyBart De Wever, a right-wing Flemish nationalist who styles himself after Margaret Thatcher.
There are noeasy or feelgood moves here.Just outrage and hypocrisy. Hey, at least people will watch.