Red or Green Card?: The World Cup Reveals Yet Another Hypocrisy of the Trump Administration

If you’ve been paying attention to the World Cup this year, you’ll know that the United States went out in an embarrassing defeat against Belgium in the round of sixteen. The Belgium team scored a whopping four points against the U.S.’s one measly goal, ending the team’s dreams of bringing home the coveted trophy. Despite this game exposing the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team’s (USMNT) tactical weaknesses, I am not a sports analyst, and I will not be discussing the players’ performance nor the decisions made by Coach Mauricio Pochettino. Instead, I would like to turn your attention to a historic decision by FIFA: the reversal of the red card issued to U.S. player Folarin Balogun, who is widely considered the breakout star of the USMNT at the 2026 World Cup due to his outstanding performance as a striker, carrying his team to multiple victories in the group and knockout stages.

 

In the round of thirty-two’s U.S. versus Bosnia and Herzegovina game, Balogun was issued the red card after stepping on B&H’s Tarik Muharemovic on the back of his ankle. Whether this was deliberate remains unclear, and I would like to reiterate that I am not a sports analyst, so I will leave the question of whether the red card was warranted to the experts. Public reactions to the red card varied, with some believing there was obvious and serious foul play, while others claimed there was clear intent for the ball and it was a genuine accident on Balogun’s part. Among the noise, one thing was evident: there would be no possibility of overturning the red card, and Balogun would not play in the round of sixteen match against Belgium.

 

Or so we thought.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump, recipient of the FIFA Peace Prize—a prize established in 2025—spoke with FIFA President Gianni Infantino and, eventually, convinced him to rescind Balogun’s red card. The historic decision, as a red card had not been overturned at the World Cup in 64 years, sparked backlash and controversy among the public and other participating teams. Critics—including the Royal Belgian Football Association, the Union of European Football Associations, and the international human rights group FairSquare—argued that the decision was based on direct political intervention and violated FIFA’s ethical principles of political neutrality. Others, such as Coach Pochettino, praised FIFA’s choice, citing that “99.9% of people agree there was an unfair red card,” a statistic that has yet to be verified. 

 

In my opinion, President Trump’s lobbying of Infantino to rescind the red card was both interesting and hypocritical, given his political views. Why, you ask? To answer this question, we must explore who Folarin Balogun is outside of football. Balogun was born to parents of Yoruba Nigerian heritage living in London, England. While visiting New York, his mother, Florence, was prevented from flying back to London due to being too advanced in her pregnancy. As a result, Balogun was born in Brooklyn, New York, granting him birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. Now, I am not questioning Balogun’s citizenship status: he is an American, just as you and I are. But President Trump certainly did. 

 

In 2025, President Trump signed an executive order stating that individuals born in the U.S. would not automatically receive citizenship unless at least one parent was a citizen or a lawful permanent resident. Civil rights groups, such as the ACLU and NAACP, sued over the decision, arguing that the order was unconstitutional because it violated the 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court eventually ruled against the Trump Administration, but the executive order ultimately uncovered the administration’s beliefs regarding who should be considered truly American and who should not.

 

It is also noteworthy that the 2026 World Cup has been the subject of multiple controversies, one of which concerns the Trump administration's travel bans and restrictions that have affected many players, officials, and visiting fans’ ability to enter the U.S. Somehow, these restrictions have impacted individuals from countries such as Iraq, Iran, Somalia, and Morocco, while it appears that European nations where the majority are of White descent have faced minimal to no issues. “It looks more like a World Cup of exclusion rather than inclusion,” says Professor Jules Boykoff, author of Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing and the FIFA Greed Machine.

 

All in all, the events of this year’s World Cup, including the overturning of Balogun’s red card, reveal another facet of the blatant hypocrisy of the Trump administration when it comes to immigration policy and citizenship rights. They have fought tirelessly and recklessly to eradicate immigrants and those they consider to be “un-American,” which, again, seems to only apply to people of color, as evidenced by the Supreme Court ruling that ICE may use “apparent race” as a reason to make immigration stops. The administration has even gone as far as to violate the sanctity of our Constitution by proposing that birthright citizenship should cease to exist, and nonetheless, when a birthright citizen might benefit Trump’s image and reputation—and therefore that of the U.S.—he is quick to show his support, using his influence to override previously established regulations to get his way. It is shameful that FIFA is so willing to bend the rules and succumb to Trump’s will to avoid a large-scale temper tantrum from this disgrace of a leader. I implore you to realize from these events that this administration truly only cares about what benefits them and will go against what they claim to believe in when it stands to gain something (such as marriage to an immigrant or birthright citizen, to add another example).  

 

After all that I’ve discussed, I will end with this final note: how ironic that the type of person the Trump administration declares is harming our country and has tried to eliminate is the star player of this year’s USMNT and the reason they got as far as they did in the 2026 World Cup.