Originally a comment by What a Maroon at Miscellany Room.
I realize this is relatively minor compared to everything else that is going on, but the whole mess with the men’s team at the World Cup is just another example of how sleazy people in power suck up to Trump like mob bosses kissing the Godfather’s ring. To recap, for those who haven’t been following:
The US striker (and leading goal scorer) Folarin Balogun* got a red card in the match against Bosnia last week. It was a questionable decision, based on a VAR review apparently looking at the action in slow motion (which they’re not supposed to do), but it comes with an automatic suspension for the next match, and there’s no appeal. Balogun wasn’t happy with the decision, but he accepted it.
Or at least there’s not supposed to be an appeal, as the US Soccer Federation admitted. But in Trump’s world, everything is transactional. So Trump called Gianni Infantino, the President of FIFA, and asked him to do something. And Infantino, being the corrupt suck-up that he is, decided to put Balogun essentially on probation for a year, so that he can play against Belgium tonight.
Now Belgium is pissed, understandably, and is appealing the appeal. And UEFA is pissed at FIFA, and soccer fans outside of the US are pissed at the US, and whatever happens tonight it’s a whole fucking mess, and so typical of the way that Trump slimes everything he touches.
*Balogun, incidentally, is a birthright citizen. His parents are Nigerians who were living in London; his mother had been visiting relatives in Brooklyn, but British Airways wouldn’t allow her to board a plane home while she was in her seventh month, so Balogun was born in the US.
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