Donald Trump confesses to pressuring FIFA over red card | LBC callers react

Less sensational, though, has been this decision by FIFA to allow a suspended US player to play in their Round of 16 match tonight, something that the England manager, Thomas Tuchel, was asked about yesterday, because during the game against Mexico, England also had a player sent off.

Where does it start and where does it end now?

Where does this end now?The story relates to a United States player called Folloran Belegun, who has perhaps been one of their better players in the tournament.Worth saying, too, for context, the United States are meant to be playing Belgium tonight in their Round of 16 knockout game.Belegun was sent off in their last match, in the US's last match against Bosnia, which incurs a one -match suspension.But...Following a call between Gianni Infantino, the boss of FIFA, who handed out to President Trump an award to say the FIFA Peace Prize, following a call between him and President Trump, FIFA has taken the absolutely unheard of, never before enacted step of not rescinding the red card, which has happened, but saying the suspension of the player himself has now been suspended.

Even Sepp Blatter, himself banned from football for ethical breaches and acquitted of fraud, says this is a step too far for the organisation.UEFA, the European Football Association, has said, we express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.What I'm about to play you made me wonder whether or not we're living in a simulation, whether we are living in a parallel universe.Frankly,as the sun rose at 4 .30 this morning on an England victory that took forever, with every minute the last one, the 90th minute played out over 90, well, 101 minutes, that felt rather surreal.This goes further than that.

And this is not a story just about the ins and outs of a particular football team, about the rules governing the game.You might not care about football, but this story still matters, because this now speaks to how absolute power corrupts absolutely and how our American friends, newly minted at 250 years old, seem to have totally jettisoned any attempt at moral exceptionalism.Another example of how the shining city on the hill being left not glittering but covered in thick algae and apparently unashamed to revel in it.Politics and sport have collided this afternoon, and the result is not pretty.President Trump has been speaking from the Oval Office about his attempts to pressure FIFA to allow what he calls the best player on the US team to play in their round of 16 match tonight, having been sent off in their previous game, normally incurring at least a one -match ban.Folks, pin your ears back.

This will leave your jaw on the floor.

I did.I spoke to Johnny, who's highly respected.who's produced the most successful World Cup in history by, they say, four times.This isn't just a success.I actually said, Johnny, we've got all these games.Each one is turning out to be a Super Bowl.

And we have all these games.You know, when you think of it, every game is like a Super Bowl.Yes, I watched last night.What a game that was with Mexico and England.I mean, two countries.I don't know the players, although I think Kane is a great player.

See, I played golf with him, and I like him a lot.He's a good golfer.So I saw the play.and I'm a person that loves sports and was a good athlete.And I understand sports really well, really well.And that wasn't a foul, that wasn't even an infraction.

That was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other.You can't take your foot and properly place it on somebody else's foot when you're going.No, these were two great athletes that got tangled up and this referee who is a little bit suspect.If you check his past, I don't wanna say that because I don't like to create controversy.But very suspect.If you'd like, I'll provide you with the past.

He made a call that nobody could believe.Even people on the other side, they say, we got lucky, wow.And it's very interesting, they say they don't show him in slow motion.And I never realized that, I never heard of that before.that they're not allowed to review in slow motion because it's so different.Because you'll take one little quarter of a second and you'll see that a hand is touching a neck or you see something.

Whereas when you see it in fast motion, it will look like two guys collided, which is really what happened.They got sort of entangled.He didn't do anything wrong and he's our best player or one of our best players, a very vital player.And he gave him a red card.I didn't know what that meant.I didn't think it meant much.

Then I started hearing that that means he can't play in the next game, at least in the next game.I said, boy, that's a big, if it happened to another player, it would have been unfair.But when they take your best player or just about, they have some great players, and they say you can't play.That's very unfair.It's one thing to penalize somebody for the game, but how do you penalize somebody forgame that hasn't been played yet?

It's very unfair.You can't do that.So yes, I asked for a review by FIFA.I spoke to a man who's highly respected, and by the way, whose level of respect has gone up tenfold.But all I did, all I did, I asked for a review cuz I didn't think it was a foul.And again, I'm good at this stuff.

I didn't think it was a foul.I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled.That was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that would be different.And I think it's a terrible, if they wouldn't allow a top player, maybe the best, maybe among the best players on the team to play, I think it would have had a big stain.And I related just that for you.I didn't tell him what to do.

I can't tell him what to do.But and I don't believe he made the decision.I think it was a committee that made the decision.And they made the right decision because number one, it wasn't a foul.And you want to see a game with your best players.You don't want to say, how would you feel if I took, we take Messi out with Lowe.

He ran into somebody or we took Ronaldo.Ronaldo, you bumped into somebody.We're going to take you out of a game.He's great.Well, Harry Kane, Harry Kane, we're gonna take you out of the game, Harry, because you happen to hit somebody a little bit harder than, you can't do that.If you would have taken him out, I think it would have really stained this incredible champion.

We gotta have our best players, and Belgium's got a great team, by the way.We gotta have our best players, and they have to have their best.And if we win or we lose, it's fair.Otherwise, let's say we lost him and we lose the game.It would be a terrible thing.So I think they made a really brilliant decision.

I think the refereescall was horrible.And nobody talks about that.They talk about the red card like it's fine.Nobody talks, the referee's decision to red card.I didn't know what the hell a red card was.

When I found out, I said, you gotta be kidding.This guy just hands up, okay, your best player is not gonna play next week or in the next game.I said, wow, that's a lot of power.That's terrible.But then I looked at his past, and it wasn't so great.

A man who starts by saying, I know everything there is to know about this sport, I really know what I'm talking about.Admitting on multiple occasions he had no idea what the implication of a red card was in football.Not sure he knows the game back to front.Is there a more corrupt pathetic, anti -sport, anti -fair -play, utterly contemptuous organisation than FIFA.First they hand the Peace Prize out to Donald Trump, whoop -dee -doo.Then they destroy the rules of the game on the say -so of the President of the host country who hasn't got a clue what he's on about.

It is absolutely risible stuff, this.Is it not?and speaks not just to a football match, not just to the rules of the game, not just to the integrity of a sport loved by hundreds and hundreds of millions of people all over the world at their biggest marquee event for that sport all over the world, but to the corruption of absolute power and the inability of America generally, not just the President of the United States, but even the US men's football team is saying, hey, great decision.to jettison any idea of moral exceptionalism.They're not going to play the moral high card here.They're not going to think actually the rules are bigger than us.

No, they're going to accept it, because that's what they've become.That is America in a nutshell.Happy birthday.There's no other word for it.We've just heard a description from the President of the United States once.side issue, he played golf with Harry Kane.

I wonder when they did that.Harry Kane's a very good golfer, by the way.And two, we've just heard from the President of the United States a description of corruption in action.That's what it is, isn't it?a decision made by FIFA to reinstate a player who'd previously been suspended based on the rules of the game, with no oversight, no explanation, no transparency about how that's happened, other than the President of the United States rang the boss of FIFA to say, I think you've got this one wrong, and it'd be a great shame to ruin the tournament, Gianni, if you don't put this player back on the pitch.Now, Caroline says this, and I have a lot of time for this, and Caroline, I understand why you would say this.

Tom, I get the whole principle of the matter, but as a non -football fan, really don't care.Carolina completely understand.USA vs Belgium in a round of 16 game at a World Cup.You don't care.I understand that point.It's not just the football though, is it?

This is another example of a Trump administration being able to ride roughshod over rules, conventions, norms, in order to get what they want.Look at the story last week about Trump and money.The amount of money that the Trump family has made during the course of Trump's presidency.Completely unheard of, not normal, requiring of great scrutiny, not able to get it particularly.It's another example of the way in which the Trump administration wields power, but not also that, the way in which the Trump administration is acquiesced to, this time by FIFA, who, let's be honest, have had a long history of allegations of corruption.03456060973.

Martin's in Wakefield.Martin.

Hi Tom.I think Trump has every right to intervene and to express his opinions on the matter.I think ultimately sport to never be completely non -political i think there's always going to be political matters going on and you know i was just thinking about the way in whichthe Jockrabbit Society were involved in Australia when there was this big hoo -ha about the vaccine and the government of Australia really made it into a bit of a political football, so to speak.And so I think, you know, Donald Trump recognises that when an injustice takes place in America, when maybe a top player is unfairly treated, then he can intervene and he can, you know, air his beliefs publicly.

He feels that the player is unfairly treated.The professionals in the sport didn't feel that, and FIFA has the right, as other footballing bodies do, to rescind a red card post the event, to take it away, to realise they've made a catastrophic error.They haven't done that.

Well, as I understand it, if there is a red card, they can sort of overturn it if they feel as if it's...

They can rescind it, absolutely, but they haven't done that.They've just said, nah, the suspension doesn't count.

Well, yeah, I mean, they've adjusted things to allow the guy to play, but...

Yeah, Martin, they've changed the rules of the sport on the say -so of the President of the United States, who openly admits he doesn't know what a red card is.Why have they done that?

I suppose because, you know, Trump has a lot of weight in terms of what he believes.

OK, so where do we now draw the line?The King has a lot of weight in a lot of different matters and is quite friendly with the President of the United States.If the King decided to ring up the President and say, do you mind, you've got a good in with Gianni, do you mind putting a word in to say Jarelle Quancer should be available for England's next game, should have his suspension overturned?What happens to the rules now?

I suppose they look at each individual instance on its own merits and they feel as if it's an injustice.I suppose what politicians can do is they can highlight an injustice when they think it's taken place and if Trump feels as if it was an injustice that this player hasn't acted aggressively.

Trump might feel that but Martin it might not actually be true.

Well I mean anyone can sort of look up the clip online and they can see that actually it wasn't a deliberate aggressive act and I think he was treated quite unfairly.

In which case FIFA rescinds the red card but they haven't done that they've just changed the rules to mean he's not suspended on the say -so of the President of the United States in a way that is completely lacking in transparency or precedent.

Yeah I mean it is ultimately a game and I don't get too into sort of But I think if it's an injustice that he was given a red card, they should absolutely rescind it.And so they should have done it properly.But I don't have too much against Trump, you know, airing his opinions and, you know, saying so when he thinks an injustice has taken place.

But an organisation like FIFA should say OK, even if they literally disagree.Do you think that's fine?You think that's good?

I think it's fine for them to look at the individual incidents, and if they feel there's been some unfairness done, then I think, yeah, they can absolutely look at it.

But they haven't done that, Martin.Just to be really clear about it.I know you're not a football fan, that's fine, sir.They haven't done that.They were happy with the red card, because it happened ages ago, or happened on Wednesday.So ever since Wednesday, they've been OK with it.

They've not rescinded it.They've not said, in hindsight, we made an error.Until the President of the United States rang three times, they thought it was OK.

Yeah, I mean, I guess that's the thing about Trump.He gets things done, he makes stuff happen, and it may not be the most elegant way of rescinding the outcome, but it's at least a fair consequence, considering he...

To what extent, Martin, do you think Keir Starmer has FIFA'd President Trump, in that Trump rings, Keir Starmer says yes, and up until the Iran war, we acquiesced to Trump on lots of different things.We bent the rules too.

I don't know about that.I suppose, you know, Keir Starmer wants to be in his good books because they're such a powerful trading ally and, you know, you want to make, you know, reasonable relations with the US, but...yeah, that's a fair point.

Martin, thank you.Bizarre.David's the first time calling Bicester.David.Hi.

Hi, Tom.What do you think?Oh, I couldn't disagree, or disagree more with what's just been on from Martin.I think now that football's, this could break football, and I think UEFA need to take some action and threaten to withdraw.I think the threat itself may well change the opinions of some of those in Fantino, etc. I mean, you've got Sepp Blatter coming out and saying that, you know, they're corrupt.One of the most corrupt presidents that FIFA has ever had.

He was acquitted of fraud, but he was banned from involvement in football for ethical misgivings.

The other thing that I would say is that if I was a football player who'd been sent off at the World Cup, All the previous red cards, I'd sue for discrimination, for loss of earnings, damage to my profile.You know, this is just one step too far.And I think the common man may well just turn around.

So who's in the wrong here?Is Trump in the wrong for pressuring FIFA?Or is FIFA in the wrong for giving in?Should Trump have pressured them at all?Or is this another example of an organisation, and sometimes we've seen countries do this too, give in?Give ground?

Not put the principal higher than the president?

Well, I think it's an independent organisation, which has nothing to do with Trump.I get that he's phoning up.What happens if King Charles phones up and says, can yourescind the card for the England player that was sent off last night?Quanta?Quanta.

Quanta.Sorry, I'm Scottish.

No, I'm surprised you care, David, to be honest, if you're Scottish.I do care.

I live in England and have done for 50 years.But I think now it's too much interference.I know it's too late.but there's trouble ahead for FIFA and then for Tino.

And it tells the story again in part of the presidency, doesn't it?And there's a difference between Trump complaining about it and being told, nah, you're all right, you don't know what you're talking about, Mr President, you don't know what a red card is, you haven't heard of football before all this, and the body that he's complaining to actually giving in on it.David, thank you.Richard's in Ryegate.Richard.

Tom, go for it.You're saying everything and more.This is a potentially disaster.Your Scottish last caller's got it right, but here's a couple of things.I mean, we've got a red card for a reason, haven't we?I mean, I'm old enough to remember watching George Best getting hacked down.

There really wasn't...The defenders back in the day knew they had a couple of free shots, and it was up to him to dodge them.We now get a red card, which allows players to play.The automatic one -match ban is also there for a reason.Because unless you discourage it, people will take advantage on the pitch.They'll play for the...

Which just throws the whole thing into doubt, doesn't it?Which Trump has been very capable of doing on a whole slew of different issues.

Well, the fact he's a soft red, I agree with.It was a soft red.On another day, maybe it had been given a yellow card.It doesn't matter.Last night, we gotMexico scored from a soft free kick, didn't they?

On another day that might not have been given.

So who's in the wrong, Richard?Sorry to drag you away from there.Who's in the wrong?Is it Trump for complaining or FIFA for giving in?Well, both.

FIFA is now as corrupt as Trump.You couldn't You listen to him talk and you think he seems to believe what he's saying.

Someone at the governing body of the World Organisation of Football might have said, you clearly don't know what you're talking about.