Trump calls ref who despatched off Balogun ‘suspect’ as he admits he requested FIFA to assessment
US President Donald Trump has branded the referee who sent off US striker Folarin Balogun as “suspect” after admitting he made a call to FIFA President Gianni Infantino
Donald Trump has admitting he phone FIFA President to review the USA striker’s red card(Image: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Donald Trump has broken his silence on the controversy over FIFA decision to suspend a red card shown to US striker Folarin Balogun at the World Cup and admitted he made a call to Gianni Infantino.
The US President even went further and called the referee “a little bit suspect” after “looking at his past” in his comments to the press. Trump went on to say he thought the incident was not a “foul” and the review happened due to his phone call.
He told the press: “I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul.” I didn’t know what the hell a red card was”
Senior Republican senator Ted Cruz, who was stood next to the president, he thanked him for getting rid of that ridiculous red card”, after FIFA’s made the controversial decision to suspend a one-match ban on US striker Folarin Balogun.
During the press conference, Trump even said “nobody cares” about World Cup red card controversy.
It comes after UEFA blasted FIFA’s decision to suspend a red card shown to Balogun and said it “crossed a red line”.
The former Arsenal forward is now free to face Belgium in the last 16 on Monday evening, unless an appeal by the Belgian Football Association (RBFA) is successful.
“Yesterday’s decision to suspend for a probationary period of a year the implementation of the one-match automatic suspension following the red card issued to the player Folarin Balogun crossed a red line,” a UEFA statement began.
UEFA expressed “disbelief” at the decision, which it said was “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable”.
UEFA added in its statement: “Football, like any other sports (sic), relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not.
“A minimum automatic suspension of one match following a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the decision of a competent body to be enacted. It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.
“When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined. Equally, such decision creates a precedent in the ongoing tournament, where similar situations will now require an equal treatment, to the detriment of the competition.
“Football is the most loved sport in the world because it is a beautiful game and is trusted because it is played everywhere with the same laws. A tournament is never a pure standalone and, if the tournament in question is the World Cup, it has the power to drive positive or negative consequences on the game as a whole.
“We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.”
