Ninety Minutes and a Favor

usapolitics.news     Analytical Journalism

Reading time: 4 minutes

__________

"You can always count, Mr. President, on my support, on the support of the entire soccer community." — FIFA President Gianni Infantino, to Donald Trump, December 2025

The World Cup has been here before. In 1934, Benito Mussolini hosted the World Cup in Fascist Italy. Italy won, beating Czechoslovakia in a final Mussolini watched from the stands. Allegations swirled that Mussolini had personally met with referees ahead of Italy's matches. The Prague press called the refereeing a scandal. FIFA took no action. Four days after the final, Hitler and Mussolini met in Venice.

On June 21, 1978, Argentina played Peru in the second round of the World Cup. The tournament was hosted by Argentina. The military junta under Jorge Rafael Videla was in power. The dirty war was running simultaneously — thousands of people disappeared, tortured, and killed while the stadiums filled. Argentina needed to beat Peru by at least four goals to advance past Brazil on goal difference. Before the match, according to the testimony of multiple Peruvian players given in subsequent years, Videla and Henry Kissinger visited the Peruvian locker room. Kissinger later said he had no recollection of entering the dressing room at all. Argentina's central bank released 35 million dollars in credits to Peru around the same time. Argentina won 6-0. Peru's goalkeeper that night was Ramón Quiroga, an Argentine-born naturalized Peruvian citizen. Quiroga steadfastly denied any involvement in fixing the result. The Brazilian football confederation filed a formal complaint with FIFA. FIFA did nothing. Argentina went on to win the World Cup. Videla presented the trophy on the same soil where the disappeared were being buried.

The match has never been officially investigated. The outcome has never been overturned. The complaints were filed and absorbed and forgotten. The tournament proceeded.

On July 2, 2026, the United States men's national team played Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 of the World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting with Mexico and Canada. The Americans won 2-0. Late in the match, striker Folarin Balogun received a red card for a foul. Under FIFA's own rules — Article 66.4 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and Article 10.5 of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Competition Regulations — a red card carries an automatic one-game suspension for the team's next match, with no appeal. The rule had been applied consistently to every red card in the tournament.

That evening, President Donald Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino and asked him to review the suspension.

On Sunday, July 6, FIFA announced that Balogun's suspension was lifted, citing Article 27 of its disciplinary code, which allows a judicial body to suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure. The Belgian Royal Football Association — whose team was scheduled to face the United States the following day — said it was "astonished" by FIFA's reversal. The Belgian association noted that the decision was "in direct contradiction" with the FIFA World Cup 2026 Competition Regulations. It was the first time in more than 60 years of World Cup matches that an automatic red card suspension had been overturned. Trump posted on Truth Social: "Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!"

The mechanism connecting Trump's call to FIFA's reversal had been constructed over months. In December 2025, Infantino bestowed upon Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize — an award created by the global soccer governing body specifically ahead of the 2026 World Cup. "You definitely deserve the first FIFA Peace Prize," Infantino said at the ceremony. "You can always count, Mr. President, on my support, on the support of the entire soccer community to help you make peace and make the world prosper." The Peace Prize was not awarded to a peacemaker. It was awarded to the president of the host nation seven months before the tournament began. The investment produced a return on July 6.

The U.S. government's involvement did not stop at a phone call. Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly called for the red card to be rescinded. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, helped recruit lawyers and communicated with U.S. Soccer officials as they presented their case to FIFA. A U.S. official confirmed that the White House provided information to FIFA's Disciplinary Committee, which used it in the process that led to the reversal. The government focused on referees reviewing a slow-motion replay before the red card was issued. The official said "the correct and proper outcome was achieved." The correct and proper outcome, in this framing, is the one that allows the host nation's best player to continue in the tournament after his team's president called the governing body's president and the government provided information to the disciplinary committee.

Belgium had no equivalent access. Its federation issued a statement and was granted the right to appeal — after the match had already been played.

The Videla parallel is not precise. Videla was a military dictator running a terror state. Trump is an elected president operating within a democratic system, however strained. The Argentina-Peru result has never been conclusively proven corrupt. The Balogun reversal is documented — the call, the information provided to the disciplinary committee, the outcome — in real time, by named officials, in public statements. The mechanism in 2026 is more transparent than the mechanism in 1978 and no less effective. The host nation's leader cultivated the governing body's president. The governing body's president broke a 60-year precedent. The opponent was left with a statement and no recourse. The tournament proceeded.

There is a detail that belongs in this record. Folarin Balogun was born in Brooklyn in 2001. His parents are Nigerian and were living in London at the time. His mother, seven months pregnant, was prevented from boarding a flight back to England and gave birth in New York weeks later. That circumstance granted him U.S. citizenship under the 14th Amendment's guarantee of birthright citizenship. On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order stating that individuals born on U.S. soil are not automatically extended citizenship if their mother's presence was lawful but temporary and their father was not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. That circumstance described Balogun's birth precisely. The Supreme Court struck down the executive order on June 30, 2026 — two days before Trump called Infantino to keep Balogun in the tournament.

The Department of Homeland Security, run by Markwayne Mullin, posted a photograph of Balogun on social media with the words "Defend The Homeland" and "One Nation. One Homeland. One Team." The department that enforces the immigration policies designed to prevent people like Balogun from becoming citizens used his image to promote the tournament his citizenship — preserved by the Supreme Court four days earlier — allowed him to play in.

Trump celebrated the reversal as "reversing a great injustice." The injustice he described was a red card issued under rules that FIFA applied to every other player in the tournament. The rules that were not applied to Balogun are the same rules that were applied to every nation that did not have a president who called Infantino on a Wednesday evening and whose government did not provide information to the disciplinary committee.

In 1978 Videla presented the trophy. In 2026 Trump called the FIFA president. The instrument changed. The relationship between the host and the governing body did not. The outcome, in both cases, was what the host needed.

Belgium played on Monday. The result will stand regardless of the appeal. The tournament will proceed. The record, at least, is clear.

__________

Sources

CNBC. "Belgium set to appeal as FIFA reverses Balogun's World Cup suspension after Trump reportedly intervenes." July 6, 2026.

ESPN. "USMNT's Balogun has red card suspended; Trump asked FIFA to review." July 6, 2026.

The Hill. "Trump called FIFA chief to review red card against Team USA's Balogun in World Cup." July 6, 2026.

Axios. "Trump called FIFA after Balogun red card, US official says." July 5, 2026.

Yahoo Sports. "World Cup 2026: President Donald Trump reportedly called FIFA's Gianni Infantino to review Folarin Balogun's red card suspension." July 6, 2026.

Euronews. "FIFA 'crossed a red line' in Balogun match ban reprieve after Trump call, UEFA says." July 6, 2026.

Al Jazeera. "Why FIFA's Balogun red card suspension after Trump call is so controversial." July 6, 2026.

CNN Politics. "Analysis: Trump's red card call stirs political storm around World Cup." July 6, 2026.

PBS NewsHour / AP. "FIFA lifts U.S. player Balogun's red card suspension at World Cup after Trump calls Infantino." July 6, 2026.

NBC Los Angeles. "How birthright citizenship allowed USMNT star Folarin Balogun to rep Team USA." June 30, 2026.

Sports Illustrated. "What If Emerging Star Folarin Balogun Couldn't Play for the USMNT?" June 2026.

Sportico. "Folarin Balogun World Cup Breakout Amplifies Supreme Court Ruling." July 2026.

American Immigration Council. "Birthright Citizenship: The 14th Amendment Lives On." July 2026.

SCOTUSblog. "Supreme Court strikes down Trump's order ending birthright citizenship." June 30, 2026.

The Guardian. Historical documentation of Argentina v. Peru, 1978 World Cup. Various.

Sky History. "1934 World Cup: How Mussolini turned football into fascist propaganda." 2026.

Wikipedia. "Argentina v Peru (1978 FIFA World Cup)." Updated July 2026.