The United States lost to Belgium 4-1 on Monday night, and its World Cup is over. But the game is the least of what America lost. Over the span of a single week (with one phone call, one reversed suspension and one gloating social media post), Donald Trump corrupted international sport for a generation.
After America’s star striker was sent off with a red card in its match against Bosnia and Herzegovina – which carries an automatic one-match ban – Trump made a personal phone call to Fifa President Gianni Infantino. Within hours, a Fifa panel announced that Folarin Balogun’s ban would be suspended. America was thrashed anyway.
Trump claims he merely asked for a review. Of course, granting him the benefit of the doubt on sporting integrity requires ignoring a lifetime of evidence. This is a man famous among golf partners for shaving strokes, claiming championships at tournaments he never entered, and celebrating holes-in-one that witnesses swear never happened.
Shorts
But let me be more generous to the White House than it deserves. Suppose the US President’s call was casual, and Fifa’s panel would have reached the same result without presidential input. It still doesn’t matter. Confidence in sport does not run on the facts of any single ruling. Mostly it runs on the belief that outcomes are not for sale and, in turn, that referees do not answer to gamblers or gangsters or corrupted presidents.
