Most Americans believe Donald Trump should not have intervened to help get Folarin Balogun’s red card overturned at the World Cup, a new poll has revealed.
The international soccer tournament descended into farce earlier this month after Balogun was sent off in USA’s last-32 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 1, a decision many fans and analysts disagreed with at the time.
However, FIFA ignited fierce controversy a few days later by announcing that the striker’s automatic one-game ban had been suspended, allowing him to play his country’s crucial last-16 game against Belgium.
It soon emerged that Trump had called FIFA boss Gianni Infantino to ask him to review the controversial sending off, prompting allegations of favoritism and political interference given there had only ever been one instance of an overturned red card in the history of the World Cup, coming all the way back in 1962.
In the end, USA were dumped out of their home tournament after being thrashed 4-1 by Belgium, with Balogun failing to have any significant impact on the game. Following their exit, the Monaco star suggested Trump’s intervention and the ‘outside noise’ it created put added pressure on the team.
According to a new poll for the Daily Mail by public opinion researchers JL Partners, 35 percent of Americans opposed their president lobbying Infantino to review Balogun’s red card, including 27 percent who strongly opposed it.
Donald Trump shouldn’t have intervened in the Folarin Balogun drama, most Americans believe
Balogun’s automatic one-game ban was overturned by FIFA after his World Cup red card
But 28 percent were supportive of Trump’s actions, while 22 percent were indifferent on the issue and 15 percent were unsure.
When made to choose whether the World Cup or America 250 was better organized, 27 percent opted for the former. Just 14 percent picked the Independence Day celebrations, with 30 percent saying both were equally good and nine percent saying they were equally poor. 21 percent were unsure.
The Balogun drama sparked uproar across the sporting world after it was revealed that Trump had played a part in it, with Belgium’s players and staff left incensed ahead of their last-32 meeting.
The Belgian Football Association launched an appeal to FIFA over the matter shortly after the news was announced, only to discover it had been rejected.
Though controversially, the Belgian FA had claimed – just hours earlier – they did not actually submit the appeal but, rather, had asked FIFA for more information on the matter and claimed that the governing body registered that as an official appeal.
The decision came just hours after Trump revealed he had phoned up Infantino over the matter and implored him to review Balogun’s red card.
‘Yeah, I did, I spoke to Gianni. I asked for a review by FIFA,’ Trump said. ‘That’s all I did. And, you know, again, I’m good at this stuff. That wasn’t a foul. That wasn’t even an infraction. That was two guys running full speed who happened to crash into each other.
‘He (Balogun) didn’t do anything wrong, and he’s our best player, or one of our best players, a very vital player and they gave him a red card. I didn’t think it meant much. Then I started hearing that it means you can’t play in the next game, at least in the next game.
The striker was sent off for this challenge during their 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina
But Trump, pictured with Gianni Infantino in 2018, called the FIFA boss to ask him to review Balogun’s red card before it was overturned
Following Trump’s admission that he had called up Infantino over the matter, the FIFA chief offered clarity over the matter through another statement on Monday.
Infantino said: ‘Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues.
‘During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.’
Ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final, which saw Spain claim a 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina, Trump took a swipe at those who had criticized FIFA’s decision to overturn Balogun’s red card.
During an event in New York City on Friday, he stood alongside Infantino and backed the FIFA president over his handling of the saga. ‘You made another great decision,’ he said. ‘It was so much better the way it worked out because there’s no controversy: [Belgium] won the game and our team had all of its players.’
Trump then ripped into Infantino’s opponents, adding: ‘You’ll never get credit for it. Think if he didn’t allow [Balogun to play] and they lost.
Last week Trump took aim at those who criticized FIFA’s decision to allow Balogun to play
But the USA striker recently admitted the whole saga put added pressure on his teammates
‘They’d say: “We would have won the game if we had our best player!”‘
The president’s comments came a few days after Balogun appeared on CBS Mornings and admitted the whole saga caused ‘a bit of nerves’ for his teammates when they faced Belgium.
‘My initial reaction was that I was happy to be back in the team. But when I started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy,’ he said.
‘And I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves because it’s something that is so unique. But the closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could but it was difficult – a lot of outside noise and that’s hard to avoid.’
He added: ‘It was confusing because the team was practicing without me in the team, I’m almost just playing a supporting role to keep morale high.’
