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Former USA footballer Megan Rapinoe says Donald Trump threw the men’s team ‘off their game’ and gave Belgium extra motivation to knock the co-hosts out of this summer’s World Cup.
Trump inserted himself at the centre of the USA’s World Cup story after Folarin Balogun was shown a red card for a foul on Tarik Muharemovic in the side’s group-stage victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The sending off meant the Monaco striker, formerly of Arsenal, had been due to miss the USA’s all-important round-of-16 tie with Belgium through suspension.
However, Balogun’s one-match ban was subsequently suspended for a year by FIFA, a decision which left the Belgian Football Association ‘astonished’ and ‘investigating potential options’.
It later emerged that United States President Trump had spoken privately with FIFA chief Gianni Infantino on the phone, encouraging the governing body to ‘review’ their initial call.
FIFA would go on to dismiss Belgium’s appeal to overturn the decision and Balogun was given the all clear to start in Seattle, only for Mauricio Pochettino’s men to crash out of the tournament with a thumping 4-1 defeat.
Speaking after Belgium’s win, Youri Tielemans admitted the controversy surrounding Balogun’s ban being temporarily lifted had provided the Red Devils with even more incentive to perform.
‘Let’s be honest: we held a meeting when we heard the news. We told ourselves we needed to do our talking on the pitch,’ the Belgium and Manchester United midfielder said.
‘That’s what we did today. I’m very proud of the team.’
Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, meanwhile, claimed the team had faced a ‘lack of respect’ in the days leading up to the contest.
‘People said they could easily beat us, but I think we’ve just proven today that we really are a good team. We played a great match.’
Belgium would go on to suffer defeat to Spain in the next round, with Mikel Merino scoring late on to help steer La Roja into the semi-finals en route to a second World Cup triumph.
But the criticism surrounding FIFA’s handling of Balogun’s red card remains as strong as ever – and USA women’s hero Rapinoe made her feelings clear while featuring as a guest on The Daily Show on Wednesday.
Asked how Trump’s intervention may have affected the national team, the former USA and Seattle Reign midfielder replied: ‘Certainly not well!
‘It didn’t give them the boost, maybe, that were thinking it would or that Trump was hoping that it would.
‘I don’t know, it seemed like it kind of threw them off their game.
‘Whether it was meant to be a red card or not, I don’t know, I’m not a ref, and I don’t even know the rules! I feel like people are always… so many people are asking me, “What about this?”, guys… I don’t know.
‘But it didn’t go well. They had such a good vibe. I feel like they had the underdog vibe going and then you-know-who [Trump] got involved and everyone was like, “Nope! No, we don’t like it!”
‘And obviously Belgium was like, “No, we absolutely can’t lose to this team now!””
Rapinoe joked that the USA women’s team had grown used to dealing with and ‘handling’ the kind of pressure and outside noise that their male counterparts faced across the World Cup.
‘We’re like, “Bring it, bring it on!”, we can handle that,’ she added.
‘Yeah, they [the men’s team] aren’t getting asked about like abortion bans in their press conferences…
‘So this is like old hat to us. We’re good.’
It’s not the first time that Rapinoe has used her platform and following to openly criticise the United States president.
Two years earlier, Rapinoe had said that the fight to secure equal pay for women representing the US national team was the most cherished memory she took away from her international career.
Asked if there had been a particular moment in her life or career that had inspired her to use her voice try make a difference in the world, Rapinoe responded: ‘I think being gay is part of it.
‘I’m like, “Okay, something’s up here”, and I have a brother who was formerly incarcerated so I feel like from a young age I had started to get an education on what our present system was like and what it does and doesn’t do for people.
‘And then I think going into sports and going into women’s sport, something wasn’t adding up here, so a couple of different convergences in my life.
‘My yeah, definitely being and woman and being gay… I gotta get in there! I gotta get in there.’
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