Dark history behind bitter WC feud<\/a><\/p>\nOlise escapes red after HORROR tackle | 00:21<\/p>\n
\ufeff\u2018MORE PRESSURE THAN WE NEEDED\u2019: US STAR\u2019S ADMISSION OVER RED CARD CONTROVERSY<\/p>\n
Folarin Balogun admitted Tuesday that the suspension of his red card in the World Cup after President Donald Trump intervened put added pressure on the US team.<\/p>\n
Balogun said in an interview with CBS he was \u201cdefinitely in shock\u201d when he was sent off for treading on the foot of a Bosnia-Herzegovina defender in his side\u2019s 2-0 group-stage win.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen something is not intentional it should never be a red card,\u201d he said. But days before the next match, the last-16 knockout game against Belgium, world football\u2019s governing body FIFA announced the red card had been suspended, clearing the way for Balogun to play.<\/p>\n
Trump then admitted he had called FIFA president Gianni Infantino to ask for the card to be reviewed.<\/p>\n
It has since been reported that human rights non-profit FairSquare reported Infantino to the International Olympic Committee over the incident.<\/p>\n
FairSquare allege Infaninto, who became an IOC member in 2020, has repeatedly breached the Olympic Charter and the IOC\u2019s code of ethics.<\/p>\n
“Yes, I asked for a review by FIFA” | 01:29<\/p>\n
The US went on to lose 4-1 to Belgium and Balogun made little impact despite starting the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just an unfortunate situation and it put a lot more pressure on us than we needed,\u201d said Balogun, 25.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team but when I kind of started to reflect on it, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy.\u201d He added: \u201cI could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves because it\u2019s something that\u2019s so unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe closer it got to the game I just tried to focus as best as I could. It was difficult, a lot of outside noise, and that\u2019s hard to avoid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bellingham wins it for the Three Lions! | 00:26<\/p>\n
KANE NOT DRAWN IN BY LONG-STANDING RIVALRY<\/p>\n
Harry Kane said England will not be distracted by the emotional baggage surrounding their blockbuster World Cup semi-final against Argentina on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The history of matches between the nations is peppered with incidents, set against a lingering sovereignty dispute over the Falkland Islands, known in Spanish as the Malvinas, in the South Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n
The most storied encounter between the teams was a 2-1 victory for Argentina at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico featuring two goals from Diego Maradona — one the infamous \u201cHand of God\u201d goal and the other a dazzling solo effort considered one of the best ever.<\/p>\n
Twelve years later David Beckham was sent off at France \u201898 as Argentina won on penalties.<\/p>\n
England captain Kane was asked in an interview with ITV whether managing the emotion around the match in Atlanta would be challenging.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes and no,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s not something you want to focus too much on, surrounding the history.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s all part of it and that\u2019s what you guys (in the media) will talk about, the fans will be involved in.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut from a player\u2019s point of view it\u2019s us against a great team, who are smart, who are tactical, who know how to buy fouls, know how to slow the game down — like many different teams you come up against throughout your whole career.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it\u2019s England versus Argentina, it\u2019s two of the biggest nations going toe to toe. Two giants in the semi-final of a World Cup. The rest of it is just a small part for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Argentina advance to World Cup semis | 01:33<\/p>\n
– Kane v Messi –<\/p>\n
The Bayern Munich forward comes up against Golden Boot rival Lionel Messi, who is facing England for the first time in his long career.<\/p>\n
The Argentinian maestro, 39, has eight goals so far, two more than Kane, but the England forward said his team would be focused on Argentina as a team rather than on their star player.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know how good a player he is, we know what he\u2019s done in the game, how consistent he\u2019s been for so long,\u201d said Kane, who was top scorer at the 2018 World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the game is against Argentina, not against Lionel Messi. So yeah, we have a lot of preparation to do. We\u2019re coming up against a great unit, a great team with fantastic players.\u201d Kane, 32, downplayed the disagreement between manager Thomas Tuchel and midfielder Jude Bellingham after the German criticised England\u2019s performance in the quarter-final against Norway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know what we have, we know the togetherness we have, we all push each other, we all drive each other,\u201d said the skipper.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean we have to agree on every situation, all the time. I think that\u2019s what makes the boss so unique and so great, because he wears his heart on his sleeve, he\u2019s emotional, he says it how it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes in the moment it might be hard to take, but when you actually digest it and explain it, we\u2019re all professionals, we\u2019re all here because we\u2019ve been pushed to a level that we can take.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can take criticism. We can take it on the chin, it improves us, it makes us better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FIFA will break its own rules with a half an hour half-time break in the World Cup final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-800931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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