{"id":785821,"date":"2026-07-07T10:13:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/785821\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T10:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:13:25","slug":"america-rigs-the-world-cup-then-bows-out-as-a-laughingstock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/785821\/","title":{"rendered":"America rigs the World Cup, then bows out as a laughingstock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Belgium forward Charles De Ketelaere bowls over United States defender Tim Ream to score his second goal in the World Cup round of 16 in Seattle on Monday.Albert Gea\/Reuters<\/p>\n

I can think of only one thing more satiric than the only country on Earth that still routinely makes fun of soccer fixing the world\u2019s biggest soccer tournament in their own favour. That would be fixing it and losing anyway. <\/p>\n

Say this much for Donald Trump \u2013 he did what he could. He made the call to FIFA and got forward Folarin Balogun\u2019s red card rescinded<\/a>. Not that anyone can prove it. It\u2019s one of those bend the nose and say no more type things. <\/p>\n

Everybody got angry about it, especially Belgium, who had to play the U.S. on Monday night. One can only imagine the rage at (don\u2019t call them French) Fries HQ as they realized they would have to face Balogun. This would be after they\u2019d called up some YouTube clips to jog their memory about who Balogun is. <\/p>\n

Until three weeks ago, most people had no idea that Balogun is a) American by birthright citizenship and b) alive. He plays in France for Monaco who, even by France\u2019s middling standards, are pretty average. <\/p>\n

Then Balogun showed up at the World Cup, scored a couple of goals, and all of a sudden he\u2019s Johan Cruyff. America can\u2019t make it without him, this guy none of them had ever heard of before. Cue Watergate version infinity. <\/p>\n

Poor Balogun. He didn\u2019t ask for any of this. On Monday, he played like a man who can see two possible futures for himself. In one, he\u2019s tied to Trump like a tin can for the rest of his career, the President\u2019s pet soccer player. In the other, he goes back to the Riviera and forgets any of this happened. Balogun chose door number two. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

American striker Folarin Balogun wasn’t suspended for Monday’s match despite his ejection from the U.S.’s previous fixture, a 2-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32.Ted S. Warren\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

As it turned out, scoring goals was not the U.S. team\u2019s biggest problem. Preventing them was. Belgium \u2013 a team that is often an odd combo of over-talented and underpowered \u2013 stuck four<\/a> by the Americans. It ended 4-1. <\/p>\n

The really delicious part is that after doing everything wrong for a year and a half, America was getting it all right at the World Cup. <\/p>\n

Ahead of the tournament, the prevailing narrative was that everyone would be terrified to travel to the U.S., lest they be swept up in an ICE dragnet. Aside from that, too expensive, too big and too unwelcoming. <\/p>\n

People came anyway, and a strange thing happened. Once ensconced in Kansas City and Atlanta, European fans began to carry back tales of rural chain restaurants and the strange beauty of tract housing. Every summer, the kids discover some cool, new thing. This year, it was Flyover Country. <\/p>\n

Canada just had its best World Cup ever. Ask us your questions<\/a><\/p>\n

Unused to thinking of themselves from the viewpoint of strangers \u2013 probably the reason they so often get things so wrong \u2013 Americans didn\u2019t know what to make of this. But pretty quickly, they leaned into it. Football wasn\u2019t getting them anywhere with their global neighbours. Maybe futbol could do the trick? The team was winning, the stadiums were a hit, the world was digging them. The World Cup was a PR winner.<\/p>\n

And then, as it so often does, America America\u2019d itself. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t blame Trump. He just did what Americans expect management to do when they are in danger of losing. At anything. <\/p>\n

Remember when Italy lost a playoff to get into this tournament, and a U.S. official suggested fixing that, also by making a call? Italians reacted with disgust<\/a>. Top government officials lined up to slate the idea \u2013 \u201cshameful,\u201d \u201cI would feel offended.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said the sports minister: \u201c[Readmittance] is, firstly, not possible, and, secondly, not appropriate. I don\u2019t know which comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: Ronaldo\u2019s World Cup exit settles the GOAT debate once and for all<\/a><\/p>\n

What did Americans do when Trump jumped the queue on their behalf? Nothing. The coach waved it away, saying Balogun had already been \u201cpunished enough\u201d (by not being punished at all). The players hid. All the new celebrity soccer fans got all bipartisan. Why ruin the vibe? <\/p>\n

Everyone else made a face like, \u201cOh, that guy. He\u2019s the worst,\u201d and then happily accepted their cut of the backhander he\u2019d just negotiated for them.<\/p>\n

Because that is the American way. The modern twist is that you don\u2019t have to bother finding a back room to do it in. You can do it in the front room, or the Oval Office. The system is there to be gamed. Only suckers, losers and foreigners play by its rules. <\/p>\n

What the U.S. forgot in its rush to forget was that this con was never paying off. After Belgium, it was Spain. After Spain, it was France. The only way this was getting fixed right was convincing Gianni Infantino to announce that he\u2019d just found Lionel Messi\u2019s and Erling Haaland\u2019s real birth certificates \u2013 twins, born in Boise, Idaho, separated at birth. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

FIFA President Gianni Infantino, front centre, watches the Belgium-United States match in Seattle.Nick Didlick\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s play time machines. Balogun\u2019s iffy red card stands, as it should have. The U.S. goes out and gets hammered by the same score. What do people say? Tough break. Poor Balogun. They handled it with class. Great tournament though. Terrible government, but maybe we\u2019ve been too hard on the rest of them. <\/p>\n

Now what happens? The U.S. goes out, gets hammered and people don\u2019t just resent them, they\u2019re laughing at them. They are a punchline. All the goodwill they\u2019d earned in the first few weeks of this tournament has evaporated. They aren\u2019t just cheaters. They\u2019re bad cheaters.<\/p>\n

Most World Cups are remembered for one thing, often something silly \u2013 Ronaldo\u2019s pie chart haircut or Zinedine Zidane\u2019s headbutt in the final. <\/p>\n

This one will be remembered for Trump gleefully admitting the crime, followed a few hours later by 4-1. <\/p>\n

This is the sort of small humiliation that lingers longer in the collective memory than sweeping policy insults. You can\u2019t get people worked up for very long about tariffs. They\u2019re too math-y. But rigging the World Cup? People will never forget you did that, and how badly you screwed it up. <\/p>\n

So congratulations America, you\u2019ve really run the table in this one. You were at your best, then your worst, and then your most hilarious. <\/p>\n

Canada’s historic World Cup run is over. Ask us your questions<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, July 8 at 1 p.m. ET, sports writers Cathal Kelly, Paul Attfield, Neil Davidson and David Ebner will be live answering your questions about the World Cup, Canada\u2019s showing and where the team goes from here. Submit your questions in the box below or e-mail us at audience@globeandmail.com<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Belgium forward Charles De Ketelaere bowls over United States defender Tim Ream to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,2922,561,82,8023],"class_list":["post-785821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-noastack","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-topstory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}