U.S. soccer star Folarin Balogun has described how President Donald Trump’s interference destabilized his World Cup teammates.
Balogun, a Londoner who is eligible for the American team because of birthright citizenship, scored three goals as the United States reached the round of 16 before being knocked out by Belgium.
The 25-year-old was only able to play in that game because FIFA, soccer’s governing body, overturned his red-card suspension after Trump called its president, Gianni Infantino, which created a furor and generated global headlines.
Now, the striker, who plays his club soccer in France, has spoken out. “My initial reaction was that I was happy to be back in the team. But when I started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy,” he said on CBS Mornings on Tuesday.
He admitted that the controversy destabilized his teammates ahead of the vital game against Belgium, which they eventually lost 4-1.
“And I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves because it’s something that is so unique. But the closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could, but it was difficult—a lot of outside noise, and that’s hard to avoid.”
Trump openly admitted to pressuring his FIFA lackey, Infantino. “All I did was ask for a review—I didn’t say, ‘You have to do this,’” he told reporters. He admitted that prior to Balogun’s suspension, “I didn’t know what the hell a red card was.”
Afterward, he took a victory lap. He thanked FIFA on Truth Social for “reversing a great injustice.”
In a statement, the Royal Belgian Football Association had said it was “astonished” by FIFA’s decision to suspend the red card.
Balogun told CBS Mornings he was “confused” by the saga. “It was confusing because the team was practicing without me in the team, I’m almost just playing a supporting role to keep morale high,” he said.
It comes after Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House’s World Cup Task Force, conceded that the saga “potentially” distracted the players.
Balogun assured fans that, despite the distraction, the USMNT was focused going into the game against Belgium. “It was a difficult game against Belgium, and that can overshadow whether we were focused or not. But from me being inside the camp and inside the setup, I know we had full concentration going into the game.”
The Belgian team clearly used Trump’s intervention as motivation for their win against the U.S. Following their 4-1 victory, players mocked Trump by doing his infamous dance both on the field and later in the locker room.
The Belgian national team also delivered a brutal two-word jab on their official X account following Trump’s complaint.
“Overturn this,” they posted.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), meanwhile, has received an official complaint from the human rights organization FairSquare over the handling of the red card. It claims that Infantino has repeatedly violated the Olympic Charter and the IOC’s code of ethics, including in Balogun’s case.
Last month, 50 Members of the European Parliament urged the same committee to address the allegations.
