Belgium Ousts USA From World Cup In 4-1 Rout

Everything the Felon touches or tries to influence ends up degraded, including the world's view of American and frequently Americans themselves.  Be it the Felon's supposed renovations to the Reflecting Pool, the garish decorations added to the Oval Office and other Washington structures, or the Felon's horrid treatment of long time allies and trading partners, the end result is America is reduced. His inappropriate intervention in the suspension of U.S. forward Folarin Balogun is yet another example of the Felon's inability to realize that his efforts often result in the opposite of what he intends. While FIFA boss, Gianni Infantino, at the Felon's bidding reversed the suspension and allowed Balogun to play in yesterday's game, the result was a large portion of the world rooting for Belgium and seemingly a supercharged Belgian team that soundly beat the American team 4 to 1. Had the American team won, its victory would have been tainted, not that the Felon would care given his obsession with "winning" at any costs, including jettisoning sportsmanship, honor and integrity. I suspect much of the world is thrilled by the Belgian victory and I feel sorry for the American team members who win or lose were merely the collateral damage of the Felon's sick ambition and ego. A column in the New York Times looks at the Felon's intervention:

According to soccer’s rules, as interpreted by most people who actually understand them, the red card decision against Mr. Balogun might have been wrong, but it should not have been reversible.

That’s until Mr. Trump called Mr. Infantino and suggested that the rule of law in soccer, just like the rule of law in the United States, doesn’t apply to him. According to the rarely used Article 27, which allows FIFA to suspend a disciplinary measure, the incorrect ruling that could not be corrected was in fact correctable.

Mr. Trump, of course, bragged about beating the charges and getting Mr. Balogun back for the critical knockout match against Belgium in Seattle. Mr. Balogun, it should be noted, is a Brooklyn-born player who was raised in England and plays in France for A.C. Monaco. He’s an American citizen by birthright, the kind of person targeted by the case the president lost last week in the Supreme Court.

We’re the fools to think that Mr. Infantino, a supposed reformer after the scandal-filled regime of his predecessor Sepp Blatter, would make FIFA more aboveboard. His organization has handed soccer’s biggest tournament to both Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the petro-potentates of Qatar, and Mr. Infantino has turned the whole thing into an ever more gigantic money machine. He presented Mr. Trump with the first FIFA Peace Prize, after all; nearly three months later, of course, the peace prize winner would start a war with Iran by bombing schoolchildren. A friend noted that he has now won the FIFA Appease Prize, too.

This is a very good American team playing in what has been, to this point, a wildly successful, fairly played tournament. We can compete with just about anyone, although it’s also fair to say we are still not part of the elite, the way Belgium is.

A victory over Belgium would indeed be a measure of achievement, another mile marker passed on the journey of progress the sport has made in the United States. And perhaps one forever tarnished by our commander in cheat.

A piece at NBC Sports continues the theme:

Some will dance around it. I’ll say it. The intervention of the president in the suspension of U.S. striker Flo Balogun’s suspension for the game killed the vibe. It removed the justifiable chip on the U.S. team’s shoulder arising from an unwarranted red card on Balogun and shifted it to Belgium’s squad. The Belgian players had something extra. The U.S. team simply couldn’t match it.

Would it have been any different if the Commander-in-Chief hadn’t tried to twist the arm of FIFA president Gianni Infantino? There’s no way to know. But it couldn’t have been any worse than it was tonight for the U.S. team.

And so the man who would have claimed full credit if the U.S. had won deserves at least some of the blame for the loss. He lit a fire for the Belgian team that it otherwise wouldn’t have had.

There’s no way to prove it objectively. But if you followed the story and watched all of the game, it’s a conclusion that is hard not to reach.