In a decision that should affix an asterisk to any US Men’s World Cup victories going forward, FIFA, the ruling body of international soccer, has decided to “suspend” a red card that a game official issued to the USMNT’s best player, Folarin Balogun, in the team’s 2-0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina. This makes Balogun eligible for the round of 16 match tonight against Belgium.

Soon after scoring his team’s opening goal—and nearly hitting in two others—Balogun stepped on the ankle of Bosnian Tarik Muharemović while going for the ball. It appeared inadvertent—no worse than a dozen other collisions that didn’t draw a red card. The call was widely seen as overly harsh, but he did foul. All in all, the referee’s call was nothing too out of the ordinary.

Afterward, Balogun was crushed. In a classy response, he said, “I never want to react out of anger and out of emotion. There’s still lots of people we’re inspiring, little kids, boys and girls who are watching, and we have to show them the correct way to handle things, even when you think it’s unjust.” He kept his calm knowing that this suspension could doom his squad to a loss this evening. 

I think the referee made a bad call—yet, the call was made. It was upheld by replay review and that’s just the way sports go sometimes—that is unless the people behind the curtain are compromised and corrupt. Then you get to make the rules up as you go along. 

FIFA leader Gianni Infantino has spent much of the last four years shining Donald Trump’s shoes and kissing his ass. Infantino invented a FIFA Peace Prize to bestow onto Trump, lent FIFA’s name to the USA/Israel genocide in Gaza by signing a strategic partnership with Trump’s so-called Board of Peace, and flatters Trump endlessly. From a distance, it certainly seems like Infantino is a dog who barks on command. The New York Times, among other outlets, has reported that the White House reached out to Infantino regarding the suspension. Then Infantino and FIFA waited until after the Independence Day festivities to drop the news on the soccer world. Trump immediately put himself at the center of it, posting, “Thank you to Fifa for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice.” Trump has practiced sleazy backroom corruption his entire life, but now in his senescence, he wants to be valorized for it—to be treated like a statesman for the behavior of a sleazy  mobster. 

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Trump put the screws to Infantino and then FIFA discovered Article 27 of the disciplinary code, which allows the ruling body to step in for any decision other than match-fixing and reverse the decisions of referees and replay officials. Ironically, “match-fixing” is exactly what Infantino is doing by dramatically altering the game between the USMNT and Belgium.

As for Belgium, the Royal Belgian Football Association is furious and calling for an immediate investigation over how such an interference could be allowed. UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) issued its own statement that Infantino had crossed a “red line,” saying, “We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.” Belgian coach Rudi Garcia thought the reversal was a prank.

This is a likable US team—a team made up of immigrants, the children of immigrants, birthright citizens, and players with Tommie Smith and John Carlos tattoos who speak with pride about how their team is a true representation of America. But it is now being given an unfair edge. The system is seemingly rigged in its favor, because the greasy gangster in the White House wants it that way. One can’t help but recall the 1978 Argentina World Cup when FIFA is believed to have been party to match-fixing so the host country, led by a military dictatorship, could win it all. Then and now, FIFA is an organization of lickspittles with an outsized affection for authoritarians. Balogun should not have been suspended, but bad calls are a part of sports. What should never be a part of sports—although such actions dot its history—are oligarchs and autocrats ordering their toadies to rig the rules. That history is core to FIFA, and now it’s as American as apple pie.