Few things in life can remind the world’s greatest power that there are limits to having its way. Ninety minutes on a football pitch, as Belgium’s 4-1 victory over the United States in the World Cup Round of 16 earlier today demonstrated, remains one of them.

Before those 90 minutes, however, Washington did what Washington has done so often over the decades. Donald Trump personally urged FIFA to review the Red Card shown to Folarin Balogun in the previous game, which rendered the American striker ineligible to play in the pre-quarters.

The dismissal, during the US’s Round of 32 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, was undoubtedly harsh. FIFA’s own disciplinary code, however, does not permit appeals against straight Red Cards. Trump, who by his own admission did not know what a Red Card meant, had other ideas.

Thank God he confessed. Otherwise, we would have had to believe that FIFA decided to overturn Balogun’s suspension entirely of its own accord — a story almost as believable as FIFA President Gianni Infantino awarding Trump a........

© Indian Express