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Mohamed Fahmy: FIFA shouldn't be taking requests from Trump

FIFA committee took the unprecedented step of overturning a US player's automatic one-match suspension after Trump's requested a review

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FIFA’s last-minute decision to overturn the one-game suspension of the U.S. national team’s leading scorer — following President Donald Trump’s public intervention — didn’t just alter the course of the World Cup. It once again cast a harsh spotlight on soccer’s governing body. What should have been a story about the beautiful game has instead become another chapter in FIFA’s long history of controversial decisions, political pressure and allegations of corruption.

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You don’t have to agree with the referee’s decision to send off U.S. striker Folarin Balogun after he received a red card for his aggressive foul in the match against Bosnia and Herzgovina to recognize that something is deeply wrong with what followed. FIFA’s disciplinary committee took the unprecedented step of overturning his automatic one-match suspension after Trump intervened with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, clearing the way for Balogun to play in the United States’ knockout-stage match against Belgium. More than the red card itself, that extraordinary reversal is what should concern soccer fans.

Mohamed Fahmy: FIFA shouldn't be taking requests from Trump Back to video

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From the Oval Office, Trump wasted little time politicizing the incident, publicly berating the referee and escalating the controversy. He went so far as to declare that if the U.S. team lost without its full squad, “I say it was........

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