Impact On US Soccer Reputation

NPR's tiny desk can't come to you. I mean it's a desk, but the tiny desk contest tour can New York City join NPR's tiny desk contest winner, Cure for Paranoia at Warsaw this july ninth. It's all the NPR Tiny Dk ennerergy minus the office furniture Get your tickets now at tinydesktour. org The World Cup has officially entered the politics chat. So if you listened to the show last week, you know that my Can't Let it Go was Faller and Blligan's Rd card. It meant the US team striker would be suspended for the big match against Belgium tonight. But then, President Trump made a phone call And now Boigan is being allowed to play It's one hundred five PM on Monday, june sixth, and this is the NPR Politics podcast. I'm Tamera Keith, I cover politics. I'm Frank Ordonz, I cover the White House. I'm Becky Sullivan, I cover sports. And Becky, you have been traveling with the US men's national team, and I'm hoping you can catch us up what happened with Baligan in that last match and why did he get a red card Yeah, boy, guys, this has been a mess. So this started last week in The USA's round of thirty two game against Bosnia Herzegovina. Flor Balligan is the team striker. He is the leading scorer on the team. He has three goals so far at this World Cup. and he got tangled up with a Bosnian defender, both of them going after the ball. and in the tangle, Balligan's leg and his cleat really specifically came down on the ankle of the Bosnian defender and turned his ankle if that kind of Contact was intentional. That might be your you know red card that you normally see, but in fact, the referee thought that it wasn't intentional. He didn't even give a foul on the field at first. But then the video replay referee stepped in, called for a video review, took a close look at the play, including in slow motion and ultimately recommended a red card which was given Which meant Balligan was kicked out of that game. The US had to play a man down for the rest of the game. They won anyway. But Rd cards also come with a one game suspension in the next game. So Balligan was supposed to sit out this Belgium game today. Okay, so as a viewer watching that game, it seemed like a totally bunk call.ed like What are they doing? This is terrible many Americans shared that view. Yeah, it was not the most clear cut red card. I mean, cleats on an ankle. it's never good. But this I thought personally, you know, that both of them were going for the ball, that the contact was clearly unintentional. This was not like Balligan had tackled the Bosnian deffender. they were both trying to get the ball. I think going from no foul at all to replay review to a red card came as a shock. to a lot of people watching And then another shock came because We thought that these types of decisions couldn't be reviewed, but then This weekend, word came that FIFA, the organization overseeing the World Cup was actually going to suspend that suspension and let Boigan play. So what happened there? Yes, this is definitely the most shocking part. This is like It's not totally unprecedented, but it is essentially without It's like out of the it's like extraordinary. It's like an extraordinary step by FIFA. So basically, they came out and said yesterday morning that a disciplinary committee had reviewed the punishment and decided that Balag' suspension would be put on hold for a year essentially you know, as part of a probation. So if he commits another red card level foul, then this probation ends immediately. He has to serve the suspension But the effect is that he gets to play in the game after he got a red card, which is highly unusual. and you know, sort of instantly causeed this uproar, especially followed by the reports that President Trump had personally called. FIFA President Johnny An Fantino to talk about this. And Franco, that's where you come in. That's where the politics come in. The presresident of the United States In fact did call the head of FIFA. I asked for a review by SIFA I spoke to a man who's highly respected. and by the way, whose level of respect has gone up Tenfold And it was good before this started. but You know, he really pushed it. How is Trump explaining this call? and is he taking credit here? In some ways, he's taking credit, but in other ways, he's definitely downplaying his role. He said he asked for a review, but that it was not his decision. He didn't demand that this be changed. But look, it's the president of the United States, in the home country We've all reported so many times of the relationship that Trump has with Infantino It's hard to see this kind of influence. I mean, it was really fascinating though, kind of watching Trump give this explanation. I mean, he said he watched the play and asked for a review because he didn't think it was a foul. I mean, like you said, like a lot of us think that it wasn't necessarily foul. But you know, Trump also said that he didn't even know what a red card was before this h again but that he loves sports and that he was very good at this stuff. You know, he called the foul quote very unfair that not only had Balligan gotten this foul, but then he would have to miss a whole other game of suspension. He felt that that wasn't right. He also brought up the subject of the referee. He called the referee suspect. That's a quote So clearly he was activated by all of this and then he follows that whole multiple minute. you know, sort of stream of remarks about the unfairness of the foul with this sort of matter fact statement, like, yeah, I asked for review. I talked to him and I asked for review, which I think is extraordinary as well And Franco, what's fascinating to me about this is yesterday, I was reaching out to administration officials to try to figure out initially, it wasn't clear whether President Trump was personally involved or had personally intervened. I eventually got a statement from a U. S. official saying that they did speak becausecause the president wanted to better understand the reason why the red card was given and why there was a suspension. but it's definitely all handled by an independent board, essentially trying to put a little bit of an armss length between the president and the outcome. Yeah, I mean, I think often with Trump, know once we actually us reporters that is get in front of him and start asking him his lips get a lot looser than his team does. And he clearly was admitting that he had a role. You know, I think what's so fascinating about kind of like that reporting that you got was, you know, Trump's here trying to still say that you know, he, you know, didn't make the decision. The committee made the decision and downplaying his role. But not only did a head of state call, but the White House is providing evidence that was apparently used in the appeal process. I mean, talk about going outside of regular channels. We're not talking about U S. soccer filing appeal. We're talking about the U. S. president and his administration providing evidence. I mean, it's just I mean, it's kind of bonkers. I would say, you know, from the sporting perspective here that I found that wording very interesting too, because what it does is it preserves there's this legal needle that needs to be thread. There is a legal process that these sporting bodies have to follow. There is this like independent court ultimately that adjudicates these things and they look at what FIFA says, what its regulations are, what its processes are And so they are trying to say that they are following those processes. that there was an independent disciplinary board. In fact, Johnny Fantino put out a statement this morning acknowledging that he did speak to President Trump, but emphasizing the review process was totally independent. You know, from US soccer's perspective, on background, I've been talking to folks there. They say that they are the ones who handled the appeal. They say that a lot of people, you, a lot of sources weighed in with information that they may or may not have used in their appeal. I think maybe one thing that was In question here was whether the video replay review had followed rules of the game in terms of what kinds of footage they looked at, whether it was appropriate to use slow motion replay to look. That might have been something. that had come up when the White House was providing this information, so to speak. But that's something U.S. soccer may have also come up with by themselves So it's not clear exactly what the involvement was. It Certainly, I think FIFA has an interest in saying that Trump had no real part here. Certainly US soccer has an interest in saying Trump had no real part here because they want Balligan to play. They don't want this thing to be challenged. They don't want it to go to some sort of higher arbitration body to overturn and get things stepped on here. And all that stuff that Becky just laid out is absolutely true What is also absolutely true is Trump had this call, he had this conversation This decision was made after that conversation. We had talk more about the relationship between Trump and Infantino, so close, best of buddies, practically. Soon after the decision was made and President Trump Almost immediately, once this was released, President Trump was saying that you this justice was made, that this was overturned It seems very clear that Trump was very much in the loop and very much close to what was happening correlation at the very least. Okay, we're going to take a quick break and we will have more in a moment The fatal shooting of a teenager at a protest in Seattle has gone unsolved for six years This is open in your face. How are there no answers? Our investigation has uncovered new evidence and witnesses who say they've never talked to police. 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And we know that President Trump and FIFA's President Gianni Infantino Cose But intervening in a sporting event like this really does seem next level Franco, you have been following this relationship over time. Can you just talk about this connection? Yeah, I mean, it is a pretty fascinating connection. I mean, look, it makes sense that the president of FIFA is going to, you know develop a relationship with the head of the state of where the World Cup is being held. And not only is the World Cup being held in the United States, but also the Club World Cup was held in the U S. And that was another opportunity for FIFA and Infantino and Trump to develop a relationship. But also, Infantino has been at the White House so many times. I can't tell you how many times Infantino has been in Oval Office meetings with President Trump. I mean, I think he is definitely, if you were to like compare him to other leaders, other, you know perhaps world leaders, Infantino has been there quite a bit and would be arguably one of the top attendees of Oval Office meetings for people who are not in this administration. I mean, Infantino also, you know, was invited to Egypt with Trump for, you know the summit for peace. He's been at several peace events, and of course, h Inantino kind of served in presenting Trump with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, which in and of itself was pretty controversial considering that FIFA never had this kind of award. and it was largely seen as a way of, you know, curring favor with Trump who was frankly very angry because he had not received the Nobel Peace Prize. It's almost like Gianni Infantino is ahead of state or behaves like a headad of state. You know, you'll see him positioned along with other heads of state at these meetings. International soccer, FIFA just historically over the over the decades has a long track record of corrupt or questionable decisions, a lack of transparency, you know this sort of idea and feeling that despite all of the rules and regulations at the end of the day, it's just some guys in some smokey room making decisions Um You know, in his statement today, infantino sort of gave a nod to the fact that he receives calls from heads of state all the time, government officials, football stakeholders, and business executives On many different issues is what he said, you know, casting this as just sort of a matter of course and everyday thing. obbviously the reaction we're seeing in the soccer world It tells us that it's not every day. The reaction from Belgium, the reaction from the European Football Federation, which said that it quote crossed the red line this decision by FIFA. You have coaches from other teams, officials from other teams saying, well, if this is the precedent that FIFA is setting, then we're going to challenge every red card we get in this tournament, every yellow card we get in this tournament. In fact, France has already challenged a yellow card that they received in their most recent match. We've talked a lot on this podcast about how President views things very transactionally. He wants to get his way politically, economically, socially. Now this incident has shown that the president is willing to get involved with the integrity of a sporting event he's not even responsible for. But you know, he clearly thought it would have a benefit to American athletes to weigh in What do you make of that I can't say I'm that surprised that President Trump would try to weigh in on something that he is interested in. I mean, this is how the president works. know he's very focused on winning, and he's very focused on using tools at his disposal to get what he wants. I mean, let's also remember what I find very interesting. We haven't talked about this, is that it was only a few days ago that we werere talking about Trump's efforts to fight birthright citizenship Balagan is actually a recipient of birthright citizenship. Yeah, he was born to Nigerian parents. He was raised in England in London But he was born in the United States from this quirky story. His mom was very pregnant with him when she came to Brooklyn to visit some family. And then when she went to go board the plane back overseas, airline staff told her that she was too pregnant to fly, They didn't want to risk a birth on the flight. And so she stayed in Brooklyn, stayed with his family member and Valligan was born in New York. And so even though he didn't live here, he was raised overseas, he was eligible for the US team. and he made the switch a couple years ago. And now Trump is fighting for him So like is often with the case, Trump does is in what suits him, what benefits him. And I just think this is kind of another example of that has a relationship with Gianni and Fantino. he likes to call him Johnny. And you know, I'm not surprised that he wouldnt use that relationship. I thought he would when I first heard that he was you know, that he did not think it was a good call. and now to see this actually happen, I can't say that I'm shocked considering, you know, all that we've seen and you know from the past two years. And this is also a very populist move, I guess in a way. Like here's this thing that peopleeople in America are talking about and are passionate about and there's sort of like a bipartisan outrage about the Rd card. and he's able to jump on that train and then sort of kind of maybe get tak a little credit sort of, but not fully because he doesn't want it to suninker up Yeah, without a doubt. He's still trying to find the balance, but you could also watching, you know, the press conference day, watching, you know the conversation with reporters. he was trying to like broach this delicately, but Trump, as we know, and as we have reported many, many times, struggles not to take credit or to let you know when he did something that he thinks is good You know, just kind of what's kind of disappointing is I actually went to a World Cup match this weekend. I was in Philadelphia with my eleven year old. We went and saw France play Paraguay. and it was such an awesome event. It was so much fun, you know, seeing some of these great players like Killian and Bape, you know, in a really hard match. And during that game, I was literally thinking about how cool this worldld Cup has been not only you know for the U. S, for the U.S. team, but like how people have like really been like seeing America in a different light. We've talked about like all like the food and the culture. it's been really cool. And I just worry that this kind of puts a little bit of a damper on all that that it kind of brings politics into something that has been definitely a like a universally a good story. It has given Americans something to talk about, to feel good about, to rally around, to, you know, like to for once, we weren't divided into a bunch of political camps. I will say I don't know what you think Becky is. you're the professional here on this on this level, but to me, almost like the fact that the US is in this kind of a controversy where an asterk could be placed on a victory is almost fascinating to me because the US men's soccer team has been so bad historically, that the fact that they are even controversially in this like this wiggle room I find as a fascinating place. I mean, I think about like controversy always follows FIFA. I mean, we remember the hand of God of Argentina in winning the World Cup like that. I certainly wouldn't want the U.S to win the World Cup in kind of this kind of shad over it But the fact that the US could now be part of that lore is kind of fascinating to me. I do think there's one sort of maybe cynical viewpoint from which you could say like this marks the moment that the US has arrived right as a soccer country that the US is now the one who is entangled with these questions around