Folarin Balogun opens up on Donald Trump World Cup controversy
The USMNT striker spoke to CBS about the controversial decision from FIFA to overturn his red card ban.
Football is in the ‘after’ times. Prior to the 5th of July, we were in the ‘before’ times. That was when FIFA confirmed that Folarin Balogun’s automatic one-game red card suspension had been overturned unilaterally, a decision that later turned out to be influenced by multiple phone calls between the President of FIFA and the Leader of the Free World©.
“It was difficult,” Folarin Balogun said when asked about coping with the pressure of being the most popular name on the internet for 48 hours. “My initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team, but when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy, and I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves, because it’s something that is so unique."
“Unique” is right; a synonym would be ‘unprecedented’, at least in modern times. Never before had the most powerful man in the western world so directly influenced the outcome of an on-field issue, and to do so in such a public way was almost a patronising shrug to the stunned population of planet Earth.
Balogun admitted there was “a lot of outside noise” which was “hard to avoid,” while reminding those watching on CBS that “it wasn’t something I could change. It was just a situation that was unfortunate, which gave me confidence.”
On the on-pitch action itself - although as is the way when politics dips a greasy hand into the beautiful game, it became the least of anyone’s priorities - Balogun said he was “in shock” at the referee’s call. “It wasn’t even a tackle. I was totally in shock, I think you could see my reaction, but I just had to accept the decision and just try to be there for my team. When something’s not intentional it should never be a red card, so it was just an unfortunate situation, and I think it put a lot more pressure on us than we needed.”
Folarin Balogun will “for sure” return to the pitch with the U.S. Men’s National Team for the next World Cup, he told CBS Mornings. pic.twitter.com/A5jXOsqQ0C
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) July 14, 2026
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