{"id":2554,"date":"2026-07-09T20:18:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=2554"},"modified":"2026-07-09T20:18:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:18:23","slug":"trump-says-world-cup-referees-red-card-call-was-horrible-but-insists-he-left-outcome-to-fifa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=2554","title":{"rendered":"Trump says World Cup referee&#8217;s red card call was &#8216;horrible&#8217; but insists he left outcome to FIFA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">WASHINGTON &#8212; <\/span>President Donald Trump on Monday took credit for getting FIFA to <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/falorin-balogun-suspension-world-cup-e5a5cab5731a916808601be93cb36832\">review a red card<\/a> issued against the United States\u2019 star forward Folarin Balogun at the World Cup but said he did not demand an outcome.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cAll I did was ask for a review,\u201d Trump said when asked about it during an unrelated Oval Office event. \u201cI didn\u2019t say, \u2018You have to do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Trump confirmed that he called FIFA President Gianni Infantino and asked for a second look at <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/world-cup-red-cards-balogun-messi-e36f64ea0b5439ee53fb0f4b111ee1fe\">the punishment<\/a> against Balogun in <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/world-cup-usmnt-bosnia-score-b78bdf42bf14d604d7b466aa58d33324\">the United States\u2019 2-0 win<\/a> against Bosnia-Herzegovina last week in Santa Clara, California, near San Francisco. But he said FIFA made the final call to lift Balogun\u2019s mandatory one-game ban for a foul tackle, allowing him to play in Monday\u2019s round of 16 match with Belgium in Seattle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">FIFA\u2019s decision to suspend the one-game ban was celebrated by many in the United States but brought <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/balogun-red-card-uefa-us-belgium-d32fc2e13728cef9317feeb7b72c279b\">condemnation in the international sports world<\/a>, where some called it an outrageous intrusion. The Belgian soccer federation <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/balogun-red-card-uefa-us-belgium-d32fc2e13728cef9317feeb7b72c279b\">challenged Balogun&#8217;s eligibility<\/a> for Monday&#8217;s match, and the UEFA soccer body in Europe called FIFA&#8217;s move \u201cincomprehensible and unjustifiable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Belgium ended up winning 4-1, eliminating the U.S. team from the tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In remarks Monday, Trump called the referee&#8217;s decision a \u201chorrible\u201d call. He said it would have been a stain on the tournament if Balogun, the U.S.&#8217; leading scorer at this year&#8217;s World Cup with three goals, was held out against Belgium and the U.S. lost. He praised FIFA for suspending <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/balogun-red-card-uefa-us-belgium-d32fc2e13728cef9317feeb7b72c279b\">the punishment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cI didn\u2019t think it was a foul,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The Republican president, who said he understands sports \u201creally well,\u201d acknowledged that he did not initially know what a red card is or the consequences it brings. When he learned it would lead to a one-game suspension for Balogun, he said, he decided to step in. He also took issue with the use of video review to issue the red card, arguing that slowed-down reviews can make plays look more aggressive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cBelgium has got a great team,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe have to have our best players, and they have to have their best. And if we win or we lose, it\u2019s fair.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Soon after Trump addressed the controversy, Infantino issued a statement detailing his call with Trump and defending the independence of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cDuring our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA\u2019s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies,\u201d Infantino said in a statement on X. \u201cThat is how FIFA\u2019s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who joined Trump at the White House event, credited the president for taking action. &#8220;On behalf of all Americans, thank you for getting rid of that ridiculous red card,\u201d Cruz said during his remarks. \u201cIt was spectacular.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was the right decision to lift the punishment for Balogun.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In rare comments during a photo op ahead of his meeting with Chile\u2019s foreign minister, Rubio questioned why Belgium would want to win a match \u201cif everyone will argue you didn\u2019t really win it because their best, or their leading, scorer was not on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">He joked that it was becoming an \u201cinternational incident\u201d ahead of <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-nato-summit-iran-turkey-erdogan-8d994efb518c6a8538cbe3c6ac539147\">a NATO summit<\/a> in Turkey this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Trump took a swipe at the official who made the call, describing Brazilian referee Raphael Claus as \u201ca little bit suspect if you check his past.\u201d He did not elaborate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Claus has been considered one of Brazil\u2019s best referees in the last few years, often picked to officiate the nation\u2019s most important matches, including the final of the 2024 Copa America.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">During a match-fixing investigation by Brazil\u2019s Senate in 2024, lawmakers scrutinized referee assignment practices but did not accuse Claus of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">On Monday, the Brazilian soccer federation defended Claus as one of the world\u2019s leading active referees, praising his technical expertise and ethics. \u201cThere is nothing in his record that calls his integrity into question or supports any suspicion of wrongdoing,\u201d the federation said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The Sao Paulo Football Federation in a statement expressed \u201cits unwavering support\u201d for Claus in the face of \u201cregrettable insinuations that attempt, without any basis, to cast doubt on his integrity and professional career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The foul against <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/world-cup-folarin-balogun-usmnt-81fe1dd7b8b391aff8fe55a711fd7028\">Balogun<\/a> was called after he planted his cleated foot on the ankle of Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic during their round of 32 match. The referee didn\u2019t initially signal a card, but a slow-motion review resulted in the red card.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Balogun later said he thought <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/balogun-red-card-usmnt-world-cup-809b17c4ed5bca84f777ef5aeb170be8\">a yellow card<\/a>, a formal warning, would have been fair.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">FIFA&#8217;s decision drew quick rebuke Sunday from Belgium coach Rudi Garcia, who said it sounded like an April Fools&#8217; Day joke. Meanwhile U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino applauded FIFA\u2019s move, saying his team was punished enough by losing Balogun for the remainder of last week&#8217;s game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">As the drama played out on the pitch last week, it was immediately clear from the perspective of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, White House FIFA Task Force leader Andrew Giuliani and Trump administration officials that the process used to issue the red card to Balogun was improper.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Discussions over the red card and what to do about it dominated the flight from Santa Clara back to Washington. The consensus of the group, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the talks, was simply: that the slow-motion replay was improper, so shouldn\u2019t the red card be nullified?<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The next day, Trump officials continued to dig into the rules, consult lawyers and speak with U.S. Soccer about the matter, according to the official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Trump was also briefed on updates as he prepared to speak with Infantino, whom the U.S. president has talked with multiple times a week since the World Cup, which is being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, began June 11.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">___<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Kim reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press photographer Manny Ceneta contributed from Washington. Associated Press writer El\u00e9onore Hughes contributed from Rio de Janeiro and writer Tales Azzoni contributed from Madrid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON &#8212; President Donald Trump on Monday took credit for getting FIFA to review a red card issued against the United States\u2019 star forward Folarin Balogun at the World Cup but said he did not demand an outcome. \u201cAll I did was ask for a review,\u201d Trump said when asked about it during an unrelated&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/c7e4b152-d999-4158-a215-c878f43c199e\/wirestory_b5f509db64ecca71c4fe0cd860755478_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}