4 min readJul 7, 2026 01:55 PM IST
First published on: Jul 7, 2026 at 01:40 PM IST
Few things in life can remind the world’s greatest power that there are limits to having its way. Ninety minutes on a football pitch, as Belgium’s 4-1 victory over the United States in the World Cup Round of 16 earlier today demonstrated, remains one of them.
Before those 90 minutes, however, Washington did what Washington has done so often over the decades. Donald Trump personally urged FIFA to review the Red Card shown to Folarin Balogun in the previous game, which rendered the American striker ineligible to play in the pre-quarters.
The dismissal, during the US’s Round of 32 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, was undoubtedly harsh. FIFA’s own disciplinary code, however, does not permit appeals against straight Red Cards. Trump, who by his own admission did not know what a Red Card meant, had other ideas.
Thank God he confessed. Otherwise, we would have had to believe that FIFA decided to overturn Balogun’s suspension entirely of its own accord — a story almost as believable as FIFA President Gianni Infantino awarding Trump a made-up peace prize last year because he sincerely thought that the US president was the man for it. And that is why it should incense even those who turn on the TV only for the final.
It is tempting to dismiss this as a uniquely Trumpian instinct, but it isn’t. Power has always sought to exempt itself from the rules that govern everyone else. And few countries understand better than the US that international institutions often become remarkably accommodating when the head of state comes calling.
Recall Trump’s declaration that he did not need international law and that the only constraint on his power was “my own morality, my own mind”. The Balogun episode was a natural expression of that almost monarchical — L’État, c’est moi — instinct.
But when you are so accustomed to getting your way — when you lead a country that has spent decades shaping military, economic and diplomatic outcomes far beyond its borders — rationality is at risk of slipping away. Even if Trump’s plan had worked and the US had beaten Belgium with a Balogun goal, would anyone really have regarded it as a legitimate victory? Mere suspicion that one team reached kick-off with an institutional advantage is enough to taint everything that follows.
The beauty of football is that it has a peculiar way of restoring equality. When the whistle blew, the US had to face the same Belgium that had clawed its way back from two goals down after the 85th minute to eliminate Senegal. There were no presidential phone calls left to make, just football. Perhaps that is why the sport inspires such devotion across the world. It is one of the few global spaces where power can shape the circumstances of the contest — recall the restrictions imposed on the Iranian national team and its staff — but cannot guarantee its outcome.
I may be forgiven, then, for blatantly cheering against the US simply because they are the US.
One final, non-football footnote. Folarin Balogun was reportedly born accidentally in New York in 2001. His Nigerian parents lived in England and were only visiting the US when his mother, too far along in her pregnancy to be allowed to fly home by the airline, gave birth. Balogun automatically became an American citizen.
Had Trump’s preferred interpretation of birthright citizenship prevailed two decades ago, the footballer whose suspension he put in effort to overturn would never have been eligible to play for the US in the first place.
Power has many privileges. It does not, however, get to choose its ironies. Belated happy birthday, America.
The writer is deputy copy editor, The Indian Express. saptarishi.basak@expressindia.com
Thank god he confessed. Otherwise, we would have had to believe FIFA decided to overturn Balogun’s suspension entirely of its own accord — a story almost as believable as FIFA President Gianni Infantino awarding Trump a made-up peace prize last year because he sincerely believed he was the man for it. 
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