Political influence and soccer integrity

It's consider this where every day we go deep on one big news story Today, a suspended red card and what it might say about political interference in soccer During a World Cup match on Wednesday, U.S. striker Faloren Baligan and Bosnia Herzegovinist Tarek Muhareimovich were fighting for the ball when Baligan stepped on the Bosnian defender's ankle given a red card. That meant Balligan, the US team's leading scorer would not be able to play in the next knockout match Typically, a red card cannot be challenged by the team according to rules set up by FIFA, the international governing body for soccer. Then President Trump called FIFS P president, Johnny I Fantino Here's Trump on Monday recounting a call. But all I did, all I did I asked for a review because I didn't think it was a foul You know, again, I'm good at this stuff. I didn't think it was a foul I thought it was two great athletes that crash into each other and got entangled. That was not a That was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that you know, would be different. After the review that Trump requested, a stunning move, FIFA suspended the red card Instead of sitting out Monday's match against Belgium, Balligan would be placed on probation for one year. And that meant a key player would be on the pitch for the biggest game in US soccer history Here's Trump again. And they made the right decision because number one, it wasn't a foul And you want to see a game with your best players. But not everybody sees it that way. The European soccer Federation, UEFA, says that FIFA crossed a red line by suspending the red card Consider this. The reversal has been the talk of the soccer world and has resurfaced discussions about FIFA and corruption. Is this uncharted territory I'm NP. I'm Scott Dettro. It's consider this from NPR, spports is very often about more than what happens on the field, and that is definitely the case with today's World Cup round of sixteen match between the United States and Belgium. We are talking, of course, about FIFA's decision to allow US striker Falar and Balligan to play in today's game, delaying a one match ban Balligan received following the red card for dangerous play that he picked up in the previous game against Bosnia The reversal by soccer's global governing body has been widely criticized ahead of today's match Franklin Fore is a staff writer for the Atlantic and someone who has written and spoken a lot about the mix of politics and soccer. He is also the author of how Soccer exxplains the worldor and joins us now. Welcome. Hi. What if anything of all of this surprised you the overtness of it all. I mean, I know that Donald Trump likes to boast about how he's able to shift outcomes in order to claim credit for something that I think he believes will make him enormously popular here at home. He's just trumpeted the fact that he has has kind of used his relationship with FIFA and Gianni and Fantino in order to get this decision that he wants. And so it's there's nothing that's happening underneath the table in cl behind closed doors, this is all happening out in the wide open. How does this compare, before we talk a little bit more about the moment, just putting in this context, how does this compare to what I think would widely be viewed as run of the midill corruption that often comes along with FIFA decision making over the years. All right. so We have to say that this is perfectly consistent with FIFA's and soccer's long history of political leaders trying to shape the outcomes of World Cup soccer matches. If we went back to nineteen thirty four, there' stories about Benito Mussolini having dinner with the referee who was refereeing Italy on the eve of that World Cup final. There are instances of military dictatorships in Brazil and Argentina bringing political pressure to bear. on on World Cup refereeing decisions and the like. And so this isn't novel. It hasn't happened for many, many decades, which is why it feels like it's kind of this shock to the system Yeah and it's coming out of the blue And the fact that it's happened before doesn't mean that it's acceptable this time You had written about the fact that Donald Trump, that President Trump had really attached himself to FIFA, attached himself to this World Cup, tried to make it a personal branding thing. And yet over the last few weeks, he had receded from the scene There was such a focus on the amazing play so far Now to you is this World Cup all about what Trump did, at least in this moment Yeah, I mean, one of the things that's so amazing about a World Cup, if we just flash back before this whole fiasco occurred was the way in which the game is so profoundly equalizing that on this weekend, we watched Cape Verde, a country with half a million people go toe to toe with Argentina, which is one, which is Leonl Mesti, the greatest player, perhaps of all time and has won all these World Cups. And they were able face each other on the soccer pitch and there was nothing that separated the two teams. The population size, their political power didn't matter, but then to have a country's political power affecting the outcome in this tangible way. Even if the decision was in isolation just, it's there's something called the rule of law. And we know about this in our own court system and it happens in sports as well that there is a set of procedures that the red card was called on the field by the referee, It was reviewed by the video assistant referee, and that's a final decision. And whether we like the outcomes of elections or court decisions, part about being a citizen of a system is that we have to accept the results. in the FIFA system didn't allow for any possibility for appeal and then Trump's becausecause he has this long relationship with FIFA and Infantino He's able to wield his power in order to get the outcome that he desires that's not available to any other nation in the world On the other hand, Trump is not alone. O the other hand. On the other hand, I guess there's several on the other hands here, let's takeick one of them Trump is not alone in saying this was a pretty dubious call to begin with. Does that factor into how you're thinking about this at all? Well, when I first saw the notification on my phone that this was being overturned My first reaction was justice has been served because I was fuming after Ballan got that red card. It just it felt to me a pretty dubious red card, maybe even a dubious yellow card. And was I was jumping with joy. And then I started to think through the implications of everything that had happened and the way in which this is going to blow back on the US national team. So If they win tonight with Alligan on the pitch, it's going to taint that victory in the eyes of the world. And so that that makes the more I thought about it, it didn't take me too long, but the more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable, I fel, but also just sad, sad that this thing that's been such a marvelous experience, this great festival of unity with the Scots coming in and drinking Boston dry with the way in which all these fans have come to this country and rediscovered their affection and love for America, even for ranch dressing And then to have that all kind of come crashing down because of this one moment. It really undermined something that was that was felt pure and good. All right, so Franklly for, let me ask you this You have thought a lot about all of the conflicting storylines we're talking about right now. You are also cheering for the US men's national team as a fan What to you is the best case scenario for tonight's match, given all of this? there is no best case scenario anymore because I still want these guys to win. I really like this team and The way that they've played over the course of this tournament has been so Um, has just been so dazzling. They've played with with swagger, they've been entertaining. It's been a really joyous thing to watch this team and the way that they've connected to fans and the way that they've connected the non soccer following universe to the soccer following universe. And so I don't want them to fail. I want I still want them to succeed. I would I would love it if players could maybe speak out and say something that that u distances themselves from this this advantage that they've had But I fear what's going to happen is that this is just going to open up You know, this this is occurring in a political context where Europe and the United States are drifting away from one another on so many other fronts. And it seems like like Europe is kind of seized on this. as an example of the way you know, correctly so the way the United States under Trump has thrown around. power. And so it's just againain, so devastating to see something that could have brridge to divide become another flashpoint that's going to separate us Franklin Foyer, staff writer for the Atlantic, also the author of How Soccer exxplains the world Thank you so much Thank you This episode was produced by Geffrey Pierre and Karen Zamora with Audio Engineering by Ted Mibbane and Tiffany Vera Castro. Her director is Kai McDamee. It was edited by William Trooppe and Timbeat Amius. Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning