USA Versus Belgium And The White House Versus Football

In the early hours of Tuesday 7th of July, the USA crashed out of the World Cup at the last 16 stage after a humiliating defeat to Belgium, but this isn’t where the story of this game began.

The previous Sunday, just as Americans were finishing up their 4th of July weekend celebrations, news broke in footballing circles that Folarin Balogun, the USA’s star striker, would be available to play against Belgium in the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup with his one game suspension being overturned.

This was despite being sent off in the round of 32 against Bosnia and Herzegovina for a (deserved) straight red card. FIFA’s own rules state clearly that in the case of a straight red card in a World Cup game, the offending player will serve an automatic one game ban.

It has since emerged that influential people in the White House, including President Donald Trump as well as his Secretary of Commerce (and all round evil billionaire Howard Lutnick) had contacted FIFA President Gianni Infantino directly demanding the rules be broken.

Make no mistake, this is political interference and FIFA have kicked national associations out of competitions for less. FIFA choosing to overturn their own suspensions isn’t new. Just a few months ago, it was decided by football’s governing body that Cristiano Ronaldo, who received a red card in a qualifying game against Ireland, would only serve a one game ban instead of the standard 3.

Had he served the full suspension he would not have been available for Portugal’s groups games at the World Cup. This was done, of course, to ensure that one of the world’s greatest ever players, in his last World Cup, was available as much as possible to play in front of American audiences.

Such bending of the rules was wrong with Ronaldo and is wrong with Balogun.

Getting back to the Balogun saga; neither the player himself nor the USA management team sought to overturn the suspension, he did start the game against Belgium but was largely ineffective.

It was a purely political act by the White House that shows us something interesting - as low as FIFA corruption can go, it will always go lower. Infantino has claimed to not get involved in politics but has very openly courted Trump and has stroked his ego at every opportunity. The ridiculous inaugural FIFA Peace Prize is an outrageous and almost funny example.

From a purely footballing perspective, this has been a great tournament so far with brilliant stories such as Cape Verde and DR Congo making it out of their groups or Curaçao, happy to take part but left a lasting impact with their passion. At the time of writing African and Arabic nation Morocco are still in the competition.

Egypt lost to Argentina having been 2-0 up in what was arguably the game of the tournament, although not without it’s controversies. The referees performance came under scrutiny from the Egyptian manager and many pundits in North Africa and the Middle East. People have claimed favouritism and it will potentially be another headache for football’s governing body.

Across all host cities though, without exception, supporters from around the world have come together to party and enjoy their time together. It’s proof that football can be a microcosm of the world at large. More unites us than divides us and your average football fan knows this.

Although, as an aside, this has seemingly surprised many Americans, especially ones who aren’t interested in “soccer”. Go figure. However, if you scratch the surface, the tournament has been a mess on an organisational level.

From price gouging happening wholesale to apparent “visa issues” for match officials, to whole travelling parties like Iran being denied access to the US. Such ridiculous imperialist immigration decisions should never have been allowed. Forcing Iran to travel from a different country even goes against FIFA’s own rules.

Per FIFA rules, teams must be in the city they’re playing in at least the day before the game as travelling too close to kick off will impact preparation and recovery, something Iranian players have mentioned multiple times in interviews.

Uruguay along with Jordan, Iraq, and several African countries including Ghana and Senegal were treated to humiliating runway bag searches, hours of interviews and even some refusals when these first arriving in the US. Infantino chose not to intervene saying he couldn’t dictate political policy and said that people complaining about US immigration overreach need to “chill”.

Forced advertising breaks under the guise of hydration and player welfare are a another shambles. It has been used by teams as a tactical meeting effectively breaking football up in to 4 quarters. That’s the American way, of course. The great Diego Maradona predicted this in 2018 when discussing the USA being selected as a host nation for this tournament while on punditry duty on Argentinian TV during the Qatar World Cup.

There have also been reports from the US that some TV companies have made hundreds of millions from advertising during hydration breaks alone. In stadiums during these breaks, huge advertisements for sugary energy drink Gatorade are everywhere while loud pop music plays over the sound system, killing the momentum in games and dulling the organic atmosphere created by fans.

TV viewers are forced to sit through even more ads during these breaks. As a regular match going football fan, the whole hydration break farce and the Americanisation of the sport irks me no end. Let’s be clear, this is an attempt to ruin the beautiful game for profit.

The political climate has been hostile, to say the least, in the US since Trump’s re-election. FIFA are no strangers to allowing authoritarian regime’s host the worst largest sports competition. Authoritarian regimes and military dictatorships have always been allowed host these showpiece competitions and such states, like Argentina in 1978, Russia in 2018, Qatar in 2022 and potentially Saudi Arabia in 2034, have and will use it to sportswash their own reputation under the watchful eyes of the rest of the world.

Interestingly though, American exceptionalism and arrogance has led the US into believing that they don’t have any issues to sportswash and their bigotry is in the open for the whole world to see. The USA should have never hosted the World Cup.

Overlooking the lack of football culture and general interest of the sport Stateside, aggressive foreign policy should have ruled them out. It’s clear that FIFA saw the dollar signs and decided to ignore the crimes of the US but allow the US to punish its enemies.

The US government in the last year alone has kidnapped and killed world leaders in Venezuela and Iran respectively, deliberately bombed a children’s school in Iran, funded and supported genocides and Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Palestine and Lebanon. Domestically too, the US government have been busy, through ICE, the police and other state institutions, orchestrating the kidnapping and disappearing of possibly thousands of people in the name of “national security”.

They’ve crushed dissenting voices, increased surveillance of citizens and allowed ICE to murder protesters who tried to fight back. They have the largest military budget in the world and they exert their power across multiple regions.

FIFA, a non-profit organisation, is expected to mak somewhere in the region of $13bn, yes $13,000,000,000, at this World Cup according to a Guardian article in April. While FIFA have been known to be corrupt for decades, even disgraced former President Sepp Blatter has criticised Infantino and his decision making before and during this World Cup.

When arguably the most corrupt man in world football is calling you corrupt, you have a serious problem. The environmental impact of hosting an expanded competition in 3 separate countries has also come under scrutiny and carbon emissions have increased. Mr. Infantino, of course, is taking private jets to travel from game to game.

FIFA, and UEFA, have been under immense pressure too from national associations and supporters to ban Israel from competing at any level. Again, they have consistently refused. They claim that they cannot get involved in geopolitical issues. This, of course, is nonsense as the Russian football federation was banned from FIFA and UEFA days after the Russian military invaded Ukrainian. Belgium’s 4-1 thrashing of the USA was a win for the soul of football but football’s powerful men have ruined the game for their own greed.

There is a FIFA Presidential election next year and Infantino has already stated that he wishes to seek re-election. If he survives the many controversies he’s allowed himself to become embroiled in, it’s not a stretch to argue that he will continue to monetise football of himself and his cronies. What happens next at the top end of the football pyramid will have a lasting impact on the game we love but the joy, exuberance camaraderie and connection that football brings at all levels won’t ever change.

Football, at it’s heart, is egalitarian and rooted in the global working class. It’s our game and not many things can unite us the way football can.