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| generated via ChatGPT |
FIFA succumbs to Trump pressure, will allow suspended US star to play Monday night. {ESPN 6 July}
FIFA's decision to suspend Folarin Balogun's automatic red-card ban after intervention from President Trump hath provoked outrage across the sporting world, with UEFA describing the move as ‘unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable’, whilst Belgian officials have questioned the integrity of the tournament itself.
How can anyone be blamed for being furious?
The issue is no longer whether Balogun deserved the red card. Reasonable people can disagree on that. The problem is the appearance that the host nation's star player was granted relief after the President of the United States personally sought a review from FIFA's leadership. Trump has publicly acknowledged contacting FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and FIFA subsequently lifted the suspension using a rarely-invoked disciplinary provision. Critics across Europe have argued that the decision creates the perception that one nation is playing by a different set of rules from everyone else — and I believe it is more than mere perception.
Should America somehow advance to the World Cup Final and lift the trophy — already unlikely, but even more so without Balogun — this controversy will not simply disappear and their win shall be tainted. An asterisk will forever be attached to that achievement. The Americans would be confronted by a question that no champion should ever have to answer: did they prevail because they were the best team, or because political influence succeeded where sporting merit alone could not? For a nation that once championed the rule of law and equal treatment — however imperfectly — that is a humiliating question even to have to answer.
I believe this country hath a collective humiliation kink now. No other way to explain bringing this corrupt tyrant back to office. One who hath continually humiliated America and its people on the world stage for years, and the people just spread 'em wider for him.
🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈
