USA were dumped out of the World Cup on Monday after a 4-1 defeat to Belgium in the round of 16, but President Donald Trump did not mention the result in his post-match comments
US President Donald Trump has spoken out after the USA were eliminated from the World Cup, but opted against addressing the result after causing huge controversy.
The USA team suffered a crushing 4-1 defeat to Belgium in the round of 16 on Monday (July 6) in Seattle just hours after Trump admitted to making a phone call asking for a review of striker Folarin Balogun’s red card.
Despite appearing to be full behind the USA team hours earlier, Trump decided to not even mention his nation’s heavy defeat as they exited the World Cup. Instead, he decided to talk about how great the USA is and said no other country is “even close” to them.
“The United States Military has never been stronger, or more powerful. No other Nation can do what we do (It’s not even close! ),” he declared in a post on Truth Social following the match.
“This year we set even more Historic Recruiting Records, months ahead of schedule. Morale has never been higher.”,
“Our Military’s unmatched POWER was on full display during our Celebration of 250 Years of American Independence and, like our Country, the WAR DEPARTMENT has never been “HOTTER. “”.
“We need to keep it that way, which is why, when Congress returns, we must pass Reconciliation 3.0, with 350 Billion Dollars for Defense, plus THE SAVE AMERICA ACT!”.
Trump proceeded to discuss the “Save America Act”, yet made no mention of his nation’s World Cup elimination, reports the Mirror.
The defeat follows his telephone conversation with FIFA chief Gianni Infantino regarding a red card ban for USMNT’s leading striker.
The US president pressed Infantino to reconsider a red card issued to Balogun in the Round-of-32 clash against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Balogun should have faced an automatic suspension for the clash with Belgium following his dismissal in the previous fixture.
However, following discussions between Trump and Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House’s World Cup task force, and Infantino via telephone, the mandatory one-match ban was deferred.
FIFA confirmed on Sunday (July 5) that the sanction had been put on hold, freeing up America’s top marksman to feature, although it did not help them avoid defeat.
Trump subsequently hailed the verdict on Truth Social, posting: “Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right and reversing a great injustice.”
Despite the ban being suspended, FIFA still fined Balogun $40,000 (around £30,000) over the red card offence that Trump himself said was not a foul.