Trump named situation with suspension of Balogun's disqualification the most memorable moment of the World Cup
“I had to call Infantino and give him some advice,” said the US President.
Trump called the situation with the suspension of Balogun's disqualification the most memorable moment of the World Cup.
“I had to call Gianni [Gianni Infantino — FIFA President — NN] and give him some advice. I said: ‘Gianni, I advise you to let this guy play.’ No, I didn't say that — I said I wanted to file a complaint,” Trump continued, admitting that he “had no idea what would happen after that.”
However, Infantino had previously stated that FIFA made the decision to cancel the American footballer's disqualification independently.
According to the head of the organization, Trump's call did indeed happen, but the decision regarding Folarin Balogun, it is claimed, was made independently.
Folarin Balogun was supposed to be disqualified after the Round of 32 match when the USA played Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the forward received a red card.
In the 64th minute, he stepped on the shin of Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemović. Initially, the referee did not call a foul, but after a VAR review, he showed the American a straight red card. A red card entails not only an automatic sending off in the game but also missing the next match.
However, a few days later, FIFA suspended the disqualification, making it conditional and assigning Balogun a 12-month probationary period, which allowed the American forward to be included in the squad for the Round of 16 match against Belgium.
Trump, speaking at the White House then, stated that he had asked FIFA to reconsider the punishment, as, in his opinion, there had been no foul.
The case was unprecedented. In the entire history of World Cups since 1930, 188 red cards had been shown, and only one footballer had previously avoided subsequent disqualification. That was Brazilian Garrincha at the 1962 World Cup — before the introduction of automatic suspensions.
In the match against Belgium, Balogun started and played for 92 minutes until he was substituted, and Belgium eliminated the USA from the tournament.
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