Transcription
The U.S. has a huge World Cup showdown, of course, tonight with Belgium, and now one of their stars will be on the pitch after FIFA on Sunday shocked the tournament by sidelining the suspension of U.S. soccer star following who was supposed to sit out due to that red card in the previous game.
FIFA's decision puts President Trump's influence over the governing body under the microscope, as the US is one of the host countries involved. CNN's Julie Benbrook begins our coverage from the White House.
Well, his role in this stunning decision to allow him to play in this upcoming game on Monday is now under a microscope, as you mentioned. We are learning from a source familiar speaking with CNN that Trump spoke with FIFA president Gianni Infantino earlier in the week, and there was a discussion about this controversial red card. He asked Infantino to review it.
And then just today, Trump took to social media and he said this on Truth Social. He said, "Thank you, FIFA, for doing what is right and reversing a great injustice." Around that same time, soccer's governing body announced it was using an obscure rule to suspend automatic one-match ban for one year, allowing the striker to play in the round of 16.
Now, speaking with reporters earlier today, the U.S. coach said that they did believe that this call was fair and that they had suffered enough, been punished enough for playing the last 30 minutes of their last game with just ten players.
U.S. Soccer is formally reacting in a statement, and I want to pull that up for you now. They said, quote, "We accept the decision of the disciplinary committee and are pleased that player and again is eligible to compete tomorrow. Our full attention is focused on the round six, round of 16 match against Belgium in Seattle, and we look forward to the continued support of our amazing fans."
Now, their opponent is also responding. Let's get to that reaction here. They said, "The decision is in direct contradiction with the provisions of the FIFA World Cup 2026 competition regulations. In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at the FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament. The FA is investigating all potential options."
There will be a lot of scrutiny on this decision, especially as a host city, and then also looking into Trump's relationship, his close relationship with the FIFA president. It was just last year that FIFA awarded Trump a peace prize, a clear move, what most people think to be a clear move, to really be in Trump's favor. That was coming around the time that he had made it clear he was very disappointed that he did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
So, CNN, you know, according to the reporting, there's some reporting that Trump made a phone call. FIFA says this was an independent commission that made this decision. Eleanor, what are you hearing this morning?
Well, it's on brand for Trump to take issue with something and believe he can change it. We know that Howard Nick, the Commerce Secretary, was involved in the talks. He's the type of guy, he's the, "Let me call them. We talked to them. Let me see what I can do." And it also, I mean, as proof, I think, of this relationship between Trump and the FIFA president, the FIFA president created this FIFA Peace Prize to give to Trump, but he was upset about not getting the Nobel Peace Prize. And so, in some ways, this makes a lot of sense. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that it is president-shattering. It is, it was remarkable. I will say, Mario, that so much of what we have seen so far in the tournament, the president didn't seem to be all that interested. It felt delightfully non-political. Are those days now over, Mario?
Yes, those days are over. It was only a matter of time, right? I mean, we're two weeks or three weeks out from when the president visited the NBA Finals in New York, for example, as well. We know the president hosted a UFC fight on the White House grounds. He's a sports aficionado. The fact that this call was controversial, it did allow for the president. It gave the president an opportunity to kind of put his finger on the scale. Now, obviously, some of the, the criticism we've heard from opponents are that this is a bad precedent that could be set. But also, whether or not the US wins, rather than whether the US wins tonight or not, they may have asterisks now just based off of this action in terms of that.
It's interesting, I think, some of the comments that we heard from fans. I mean, certainly we heard, you know, coaches, managers speaking out here, but CNN spoke to some fans as well. Just take a listen to their tape.
You really want to hope that that's not the case. But with all the rumors about the FIFA president going around and the fact that Trump's got his nose in everything, I wouldn't be surprised if anybody gets a red card. Everybody has the right to go to the president and ask for help. I don't know, maybe there's some favorite nations. You know, when we look at, when we look at where we are at, Joey, you know, Mario mentioned, like, there is a question of whether this taints things. How does the White House look at this? Is this exactly the outcome that they may have wanted, that President Trump would want to be able to say, "Oh, I picked up the phone"?
Well, I think President Trump certainly enjoys that narrative that that maybe he did have something to do with this, this change. You know, the White House, a U.S. official says that the, the right outcome was ultimately picked here. The, officials, talked to me, said that Trump simply wanted to, quote, "better understand the rules for FIFA when it comes to appeals during the World Cup." But it's hard not to think that Trump's call to the FIFA president played a role. But, but, yeah, I mean, as, as others have said here, I mean, Trump loves nothing better than to use his contacts and to show that he can get a quick result. But, yeah, it's enraged Belgium in the process. And if the US does win, you know, I think you're going to see that ramped up further, especially if he were to score a goal tonight.
So, FIFA's decision here means the Americans will, of course, get their leading scorer back for this pivotal round of 16 showdown with Belgium tonight in Seattle. And posting this image of himself, no caption, shortly after learning he would play. Meantime, the Royal Belgian Football Association said in a statement they are investigating all available legal or all potential legal options.
Joining us now, Roger Bennett. He's the founder of Men in Blazers Media Network and author of the book "We Are the World Cup: A Personal History of the World's Greatest Sporting Event." It's great to have you. So, as I mentioned, you know, the Royal Belgian Football Association, they had also said they were astonished, currently investigating all potential legal options. And then we just heard this morning from the United European Football Association, which governs, it's the governing body of soccer in Europe, expressing our disbelief in such an unprecedented, incomprehensible, and unjustifiable decision. I mean, are there any other options, certainly any legal options, as the Royal Belgian Football Association is alluding to at this point?
This is why we watch football, Eric, because we love legislative courtroom drama. This is something that feels ripped from the watch. You hope home cooking is the best cooking. I mean, it's totally unprecedented. And I'm kind of torn between being an American fan, despite my accent, I love this nation like Kenny Powers loves this nation. And as an American fan, emotionally, I think this is the greatest thing ever. And as a rational fan of the football and the World Cup as an integral operation with rules and regulations in which it seems almost outlandish, insane that this man has been cleared, the very last, because of, as the New York Times is reporting, a White House phone call to the head of FIFA to repeal a ban that has no right to appeal against. So, again, a great goalscorer is free on the eve of probably the biggest game in modern U.S. men's national team football history. And it feels great for many American fans. We do have to ask ourselves, Erica, if it was the other way around, if we were playing France and Macron had put the call in to get him back, they had their best striker ready to play, or Saudi Arabia or Qatar had done something. How would we feel? And the crazy thing is, the US were doing so well in this tournament, we were playing so well. There is an element that going into battle today with valiant, not like this. This is going to score and stay the U.S. journey, in the long term, forever. Yeah. You're not the first to say it's basically it's going to be an asterisk, no matter what happens.
When we look at the matchup for tonight, Belgium, of course, beat the US in a friendly five-two back in March. What do you think the US chances are? This is a game with an echo in history. In 2014, in Brazil, the United States played at the same stage, Belgium. They were then at their peak. This was a game many viewers may remember. It's the Tim Howard game when he played these lights out, the most saves ever in a, in that World Cup game. We lost in agony at the end, unbelievably. For the Belgium players are still the core of their team. They're now in AG Corps, like a crime caper. All guys coming back for one more crime. So it's veteran experience against this young, very athletic United States team with Flo Bell again, asterisk. And I do believe this is the agony for me. I thought the US were going to win this. Whatever this major, major game, get through this stage, round of 16, in which we traditionally stumble. But it's going to be a matchup with extra layers. Football intrigue, courtroom drama, and that geopolitical level. Over the top of it, the World Cup contains multitudes.