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Until last weekend, the World Cup had mostly been a refuge from the nightmare that is American politics. That changed when we learned that Donald Trump had called the president of tournament organizer FIFA in an apparent attempt to reverse the suspension of a star U.S. player. So today we’re breaking down the controversy roiling what was supposed to be our happy place.

Back up. Who got suspended and why? The U.S. made World Cup history last week, becoming one of the tournament’s final 16 teams for the first time in decades after beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 2–0. But the victory came with an asterisk: Folarin Balogun, a Brooklyn-born striker who leads the team in goals, got a red card for fouling an opposing player. The foul came with a one-game suspension, barring Balogun from playing against Belgium tonight at 8 Eastern.

And so Trump … did what?According to the........

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