July 6, 2026
NEW: Trump Admits To Asking FIFA President For Red Card Review: “I Didn’t Think It Was A Foul”
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RSS Feed President Trump was questioned at the Oval Office about the major controversy swirling around tonight’s World Cup matchup between the United States and Belgium. Trump said he personally asked FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review the play and the referee’s decision to issue USA star striker Folarin Balogun a red card, meaning he wouldn’t be eligible to play in tonight’s game. Trump added that he knows sports, although he also admitted he didn’t know what a red card was, but claims that he didn’t think what occurred was a foul, but instead was just “two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other.”
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is a Monday, July sixth, and right now we have a breaking news update on the story that everybody is talking about. The update is that now President Trump is talking about it and he has yes confirmed that he personally got on the phone with the FIFA president and asked them to get our guy back on the field tonight.
00:00:23
Speaker 1: Thing with that. Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Rose.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: This is this is something that everybody continues to talk about, and the President is going to put this robes. He didn't He didn't help the situation, did he.
00:00:34
Speaker 3: I don't think so, because when he described what happened, he was contradicting himself a couple of times, which we'll get into. But he did make it very clear he is like, all I did was asked for a review. I didn't say you have to do this. But he did say that the FIFA president agreed with him. Didn't think it was a foul either. He let us in on that and a lot more about the conversation. He absolutely confirmed he.
00:01:01
Speaker 1: He said the FIFA guy agreed with him.
00:01:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, he said, Trump said, adding that he didn't think it was a foul. He didn't do anything wrong.
00:01:10
Speaker 2: Oh well, he again, he's been known to, i guess, say publicly things that have been said to him privately, and I'm sure nobody in FIFA appreciates that. But the President said a whole lot robes. He was in the press and not this wasn't a press conference. He was in the White House, like he in the oval office of the office often does talking about something else. Trump accounts he starts getting asked questions, and he obviously was asked about this Ropes. This His logic is reasoning there, this is going to be heard around the world, and we're gonna let you play you a two minute clip of it. Ropes is going to be heard in such a way that whatever you thought about us the first time around when you heard about this, this makes it sound worse. We sound like a bunch of Americans who aren't a part of this beautiful game, who are telling everybody, Nope, that ain't fair. You need to change your rules. Roesay is how this is the message. This is how it came out from the President.
00:02:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, we were a little confused, because look, we aren't and he made it very clear soccer isn't America's.
00:02:09
Speaker 1: Game, and we know this, that's okay, that's one.
00:02:10
Speaker 3: Hundred percent true. But I thought there was one one point in particular where the President said, it's one thing to penalize somebody for the game, but how do you penalize them for a game that hasn't even been played yet. It's very unfair. That's called a red card. That's the way the game is played. You aren't just penalized for the game you're in while you committed the foul that prompted the red card. No, you're also penalized for the following game.
00:02:37
Speaker 2: And that logic robes makes us sound like we don't respect the game, and that this thing that we he just said, it's not our thing. It's not the most popular thing. But we can tell you better how to do it.
00:02:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't like your rules.
00:02:51
Speaker 1: We don't like your rules.
00:02:52
Speaker 3: Our rules make more sense, Our rules are more fair.
00:02:55
Speaker 2: That's that's how it came off. That's how it came about. I think you all know this, you know story by now. But the Pho Balagrin one of our biggest stars. He is the leading score getter, leading scorer for the US team in the World Cup. He's a striker, twenty five year old. He's a stud got his red card against Bosnia. That means he's supposed to be suspended the next game. FIFA came back and said, nope, we're gonna lift that suspension and let him play tonight against Belgium. That was only happened Robes after the president made a call to the FIFA president. That call was last Thursday. We didn't find out about it until yesterday. And that is now why, that is why now Robes the story is of now international intrigue and anger because of what roobes. This is not just fair play on the field. This looks like political influence into the outcome of the World Cup.
00:03:51
Speaker 3: Which is a big deals and a bigger deal. I think it's fair to say to just about every country outside of the United States than it is even to us. We don't understand the history, we don't understand the passion, we don't understand the game in the same way that what it means to the people, what it means to the countries whose players are now playing on our land, and the fact that we're displaying arrogance and a lack of understanding and a lot of entitlement. I think we look with that entitlement, arrogance, and a lack of understanding all swirled into this controversy that certainly isn't helping our standing in the world whatsoever.
00:04:40
Speaker 1: Robes.
00:04:41
Speaker 2: Don't we always say, yeah, that reads like the things now in this that goes along to or with what many people might think about America.
00:04:48
Speaker 3: This is American culture, whether you like it or not. Arrogance and entitlement, Robes, it's how it comes off.
00:04:53
Speaker 2: Now and again, folks, we know there are plenty people here in the US who follow soccer closely, Yes, who love the game, who can tell you every player who plays for some club in London. I don't know, Robes, they can tell you everything. That's we're not saying that we are enjoying soccer. We have to Ropes. It's not it's okay to say out loud, this isn't our sport.
00:05:16
Speaker 1: It just isn't.
00:05:18
Speaker 2: We know it's it's not. We don't seem to be respecting right now, Robes, the sport that is adored everywhere else. Robes, they're talking. Did you see the Brazilian players on the field after they lost to Norway?
00:05:35
Speaker 3: Yes?
00:05:35
Speaker 1: Did you see that?
00:05:37
Speaker 3: I did?
00:05:37
Speaker 2: That's they haven't won a World Cup in the past six World Cups. It's about to be the.
00:05:43
Speaker 1: End of the world.
00:05:45
Speaker 2: We haven't gotten past the quarterfinals in our history and we happy just to be here.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: That's the difference Robes. We don't expect to win.
00:05:54
Speaker 2: They do, and they ain't won in thirty years, and now it's the end of the world for them.
00:06:00
Speaker 1: It's just this is we.
00:06:03
Speaker 2: Have now brought their game to our land, and what have we done with it?
00:06:10
Speaker 3: Disrespected it?
00:06:12
Speaker 2: This our attitude towards it. We won't flow to play tonight, yes obviously, but Roles.
00:06:18
Speaker 1: Not like that.
00:06:19
Speaker 3: This sucks because now if he does what we know he is capable of, and if he leads Team USA to victory, it's going to be bittersweet. It's going to have us stink on it, going to be able to shake it, and so it takes away from any victory we might actually have tonight, which actually sucks. Look, so many people, including us, have plans for tonight. We have a place we're going to, a neighborhood spot, and we've been so excited and we were, yes, obviously disappointed that Baligan wasn't going to be playing. We were absolutely nervous that Baligan wasn't playing. But them's the breaks, as you like to say, those are the rules. And for President Trump to say this is what he said. If Belgium had defeated the United States without Balligan playing, it would have been seen as rigged. What if they won with Balligan suspended, it would have been seen as rigged. No, that would have been what.
00:07:18
Speaker 1: The rules were.
00:07:20
Speaker 3: That would have been what was supposed to happen. Now it looks rigged. Now if we win, it doesn't we don't really get to celebrate. We can, but it won't be acknowledged the way it would have been by other countries, by people who love the game.
00:07:38
Speaker 2: And Robes I think, right say we I'm going through all these scenarios. What if we win, what if we lose, what if he scores, what if he doesn't. I'm thinking about all these scenarios. And that's just not the point. So much of this debate is happening because I think overwhelmingly the call was questionable. Now, even if Robes you don't completely agree that it shouldn't have been a red card, everybody agrees that it was a questionable red card at least, but still there are plenty robes. The experts out there who will say this was a little much for a red card, I believe them. But referees have discretion, and that's the way he saw it. He went over to the monitor and even reviewed it. And this is still where we let other people looked at that play. Other officials were looking at this play. So I don't want to debate that because we're not those experts.
00:08:38
Speaker 3: But Trump is calling into question the integrity and credibility of said referee who made the call.
00:08:43
Speaker 2: And that is that's awful as well. That's the playbook, right, somebody does something you don't like, then you automatically attack that person. Here is the President in the White House just a short time ago, making comments. This one goes about two minutes. We might stop in between depending on what we hear here.
00:08:57
Speaker 1: But this was the president.
00:08:58
Speaker 2: I answering a question about the phone call with the FIFA president.
00:09:04
Speaker 4: But all I did, all I did I asked for a review because I didn't think it was a foul. And you know, again, I'm good at this stuff. I didn't think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that qush into each other and got entangled. That was not a that was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that you know, would be different, and I think it's I think it's a terrible If they wouldn't allow, you know, 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 field. 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 you know, we take Messi out Lo you know he ran it to 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 Kine, We're going to take you out of the game, Harry because you happen to hit somebody a little bit harder than you can't. You can't do that. If you would have taken him out. I think I think it would have really stained this incredible champion. We got to have our best players and they've got Belgium's got a great team. By the way, we 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 referees call was horrible, and nobody talks about that. They talk about the red card like it's fine. Nobody talks about the referees decision to red card. I didn't know what the hell of red card was. When I found out, I said, you got to be kidding. This guy just hands up. Okay, your best player is not going to play next weccord 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.
00:11:11
Speaker 3: Okay, I think there's a lot to unpass there. And the first thing that stood out to me and I think to anybody, And like I said, I am not a huge soccer. I don't know all the ins and outs. I've watched enough of that, I have a general idea, and yeah, if Messi or Ronaldo or any other team's best player does something egregious, they too will get a red card. Yes, and they too will be suspended, not just for the game they're in, but for the next game. So what he said wasn't even true yet that is fair. That is what happens.
00:11:46
Speaker 2: Those are the rules we sounded. That was the part, Robes. That sounded so bad. To have the president, the number one, the most visible US citizen, right up there saying what's right, what's wrong?
00:12:02
Speaker 1: Was fair?
00:12:02
Speaker 2: What is and what isn't? And then to say I didn't even know what a red card was. Hearing that somewhere else, can you imagine, Robes, I am preaching to you about what's wrong with this game that I don't even understand. I didn't even know what a red card was. Robes, there's a lot If you don't necessarily understand an off sides call, we can listen. If you don't necessarily understand why the file and the box ends up in a penalty and the file outside the box doesn't.
00:12:31
Speaker 1: Give you some credit.
00:12:32
Speaker 2: But Robes, red and yellow cards are pretty that's pretty basic.
00:12:35
Speaker 3: I will say even I knew what a red and a yellow card is, and certainly you would think before he got up and spoke, or at least even made the call to the FIFA president, he would ask for an understanding of what those two things are. You can't fault him maybe for not knowing it initially, but you would at least expect the president of the United States to get a little background information on those very important points before making a phone call and certainly before answering a question in front of the world.
00:13:02
Speaker 2: I was surprised you admitted that I didn't know what it was, like he's dismissing it. It is a very important integral part that can shape a game. It's critical, and folks don't know. Once you get a red card, that player comes off the field. He's not allowed to be replaced. It's that big of a deal. It's that egregious. They don't just hand them out like candy necessarily, bro, but it.
00:13:25
Speaker 1: Is a very serious violation that changed the shape we've seen anything.
00:13:28
Speaker 3: It can be a game changer, it can be a game ender for a team. To lose a player on the field, you just can't defend or be on the offense in the same way period.
00:13:36
Speaker 2: So wrote I would say to someone who didn't know what soccer was, for them to hear that our player a star player, what do.
00:13:44
Speaker 1: You mean he can't play the next game?
00:13:46
Speaker 3: That's a fair question. In fact, there have been plenty of articles saying why can't he play? What is a red card? People? There are? I have seen plenty of articles, given what happened in last week's game, to explain to Americans who aren't as well versed in soccer as to why our best player can't play.
00:14:03
Speaker 1: That is completely fair.
00:14:05
Speaker 2: But then once you get caught up and you understand somebody explains it to you, you still pick up the phone and call the FIFA president and said this is wrong.
00:14:15
Speaker 1: It's just robes. I hate how this is making us look.
00:14:19
Speaker 2: And now this game and this guy who's having a star turn right now in the World Cup is being talked about and for all the wrong reasons, in the wrong way, rhobes, Is he going to play tonight?
00:14:32
Speaker 3: I actually was going to ask you that same thing. What is he thinking? What does he want to do? Clearly this is the last I can't imagine he wants to be in this controversial position. As a soccer player.
00:14:44
Speaker 2: Okay, but you know who has helped yes Flow himself, Flow Baligan. The kid, I say, the kid, the player at the center of this whole controversy. I think he has probably shown us better than anybody how we should handle it all. Stay here, all right, We'll continue here on this breaking news update on the story that everybody's talking about Robes. The red card suspension was lifted from the for the US star Flow Balligan. But the story now is that President Trump has absolutely he's come out. He has admitted that he made the call for a review. You said, I guess it's important to note he was trying to make so clear Robes that I didn't tell him what to do.
00:15:32
Speaker 1: I just how did he put I just asked for it.
00:15:34
Speaker 3: I just asked for a review. And he said it wasn't even Johnny, the FIFA president who made the call. He said it was a committee. And I was even asking you. You said, there were eighteen people on this committee. And look, normally we get an answer as to who voted for it and who voted against it, and maybe even some reasoning why we didn't get anything. There was almost, well not almost, there was no transparency correct in the committee's decision to verse this field, decision to hand our guy the red card, So we don't really know how it happened, who voted for what, and I think maybe that should be I'm not in a position to tell FIFA what to do, but I would think maybe to help at least give some insight or there's that word transparency again, to calm some folks down, to see exactly what went down and what the reasoning was, and maybe that could help alleviate some of the outrage that's out there.
00:16:29
Speaker 2: But here's the other Yes, transparency be great. We'd love to hear how this came about. Here is the thing, Robes. As soon as he got that red card, it might have been one of the first things I said to you, Oh God, because immediately when I saw that, oh my god, if we continue in this tournament, really gonna need this guy for the next game, thought we could get by Bosnia. We're playing well. But that is immediate panic. As soon as I saw this thing come out, Robes, can you imagine how he felt in that moment?
00:16:58
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, no yet that you would feel tremendous guilt and frustration. But at the same time that the way it went down at first, he didn't get anything correct, and even the broadcasters were saying, wow, he got lucky that that should have been a yellow card.
00:17:15
Speaker 1: I forgot in the moment.
00:17:16
Speaker 3: We actually initially afterwards, the immediate call on the field was nothing. There was no card whatsoever, and it was upon review that the red card came out. And that shocked I think just about everybody who was watching the game, including the folks who were the you know, the broadcasters who know more than all of us, who watched game after game after game.
00:17:36
Speaker 1: You're right there.
00:17:37
Speaker 2: I forgot, And there was debate by the analyst live at the time, and so oh he might be in trouble, Like it was, It wasn't such a far fetched, ridiculous I can't believe this call was made kind of a thing. It wasn't so that he needs to be investigated, kind of a situation ropes. It looked like a bad call when it comes to intent, But as far as the injury goes, and as far as hurting the guy, he inflicts some pretty significant pain. We know they fake can roll around.
00:18:04
Speaker 3: Both of them were rolling around in sane initially, but yes.
00:18:07
Speaker 1: One stayed down longer. Da Okay, but here's it.
00:18:10
Speaker 2: I'm gonna show these to you, Rob, But I didn't put it in that thing, but I'm gonna show it to you. Baligan himself will leave on this high note and a happy note. We's mention first Belgium has appealed. Yes, okay, So we're waiting. We're hours away, I guess from this game, and we're waiting to see if the guy is still going to play.
00:18:27
Speaker 1: I guess.
00:18:27
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens to that Rose Baligan afterwards. He stayed cool, He didn't yell, he didn't scream. He shook hands with the referees afterwards, and Rose, let me show you and let me give this to you, and this will make you feel good about the story and whatever happens to him. His comments afterwards, quote, there's still lots of people we're inspiring, little kids, boys and girls who are watching, and we have to show them the correct way to handle things, even when you think it's unjust what the actual hell? Wow, don't talk about being a fan of his, that's huge. Talk about being a fan of his. But he didn't end it their robes, but he was He was asked about his reaction and his emotions and why he the guy who seemed to ropes hath more than anybody to lose in that moment with that red car. It means he's going to give He's going to miss a game, He's going to miss a chance to be to get endorsement opportunities. This is his chance to be a star. He should have been madder than anybody. But that's now how he went about it. This or his comments, right.
00:19:27
Speaker 3: Wow, he said this. The most important thing for me is to give the correct example to people watching. I'm aware that the World Cup might be the first time a lot of American viewers are tuning in, so it's important just to show people whatever things happen to you, good or bad, just continue to be yourself. That is something to applaud And certainly, yes, I mean these are the moments where lessons are learned that you can apply to anything in your life, and sports is one of those moments where yes, it isn't fair, and guess what. Life isn't fair. It never is going to be fair, and how you handle it that is the measure of your character. How you react to it when things are unjust and Unfortunately, even though he may have led a shining example with his words and his actions following something that I think a lot of folks look and I, again my untrained eye, I was annoyed. I was like that that was not as little as I know. It still seemed outrageous that he got a red card. It still seemed outrageous that he wasn't going to be able to play in the following game. And yet if he can show a measured response and a respect for the rules, whether you like them or not, or whether or not you even think they were applied fairly or not, it's just it's so frustrating to now have it turn into what it is, and he is at the center of it, despite all of his good intent and his good will. I'm just curious how he's going to handle it, because you know, tonight, if he plays, he will be booed. I mean it will. It's I'm afraid it's going to get nasty.
00:20:57
Speaker 2: They might target him even to the point of annoying, like they might try to beat him up a little bit out there. I mean physically, it's in terms of the rules of the game.
00:21:06
Speaker 1: But Rose, we don't know how that's going to go.
00:21:08
Speaker 2: But I talk to you all the time watching NBA players, and then I watch college games and I say, they're learning. These college guys are reacting to the referees the exact same way I see NBA guys do. Like an example is being set Robes he is. I love what he said. What if some little soccer kid watches him throw a fit? So next time he goes this little league game he didn't like a call from the referee. He does what he saw his hero do. Well, can he do what his hero did now and just calmly and coolly accept Robes He's the hero America needs right now, you know what?
00:21:41
Speaker 3: And I like that you got exactly what he said. We're going to end on that. That is the silver lining. We will be watching. We will be rooting him on, and we're also still waiting to see because yes, there is a chance he won't be on the field if Belgian's appeal somehow is heard by FIFA and they reverse the reversals, So a lot could still have between now and then set to play at eight pm Eastern time in Seattle. I guess that's five pm local time, So we will be waiting and we will be watching and with that everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is a Monday, July sixth, and right now we have a breaking news update on the story that everybody is talking about. The update is that now President Trump is talking about it and he has yes confirmed that he personally got on the phone with the FIFA president and asked them to get our guy back on the field tonight.
00:00:23
Speaker 1: Thing with that. Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Rose.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: This is this is something that everybody continues to talk about, and the President is going to put this robes. He didn't He didn't help the situation, did he.
00:00:34
Speaker 3: I don't think so, because when he described what happened, he was contradicting himself a couple of times, which we'll get into. But he did make it very clear he is like, all I did was asked for a review. I didn't say you have to do this. But he did say that the FIFA president agreed with him. Didn't think it was a foul either. He let us in on that and a lot more about the conversation. He absolutely confirmed he.
00:01:01
Speaker 1: He said the FIFA guy agreed with him.
00:01:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, he said, Trump said, adding that he didn't think it was a foul. He didn't do anything wrong.
00:01:10
Speaker 2: Oh well, he again, he's been known to, i guess, say publicly things that have been said to him privately, and I'm sure nobody in FIFA appreciates that. But the President said a whole lot robes. He was in the press and not this wasn't a press conference. He was in the White House, like he in the oval office of the office often does talking about something else. Trump accounts he starts getting asked questions, and he obviously was asked about this Ropes. This His logic is reasoning there, this is going to be heard around the world, and we're gonna let you play you a two minute clip of it. Ropes is going to be heard in such a way that whatever you thought about us the first time around when you heard about this, this makes it sound worse. We sound like a bunch of Americans who aren't a part of this beautiful game, who are telling everybody, Nope, that ain't fair. You need to change your rules. Roesay is how this is the message. This is how it came out from the President.
00:02:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, we were a little confused, because look, we aren't and he made it very clear soccer isn't America's.
00:02:09
Speaker 1: Game, and we know this, that's okay, that's one.
00:02:10
Speaker 3: Hundred percent true. But I thought there was one one point in particular where the President said, it's one thing to penalize somebody for the game, but how do you penalize them for a game that hasn't even been played yet. It's very unfair. That's called a red card. That's the way the game is played. You aren't just penalized for the game you're in while you committed the foul that prompted the red card. No, you're also penalized for the following game.
00:02:37
Speaker 2: And that logic robes makes us sound like we don't respect the game, and that this thing that we he just said, it's not our thing. It's not the most popular thing. But we can tell you better how to do it.
00:02:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't like your rules.
00:02:51
Speaker 1: We don't like your rules.
00:02:52
Speaker 3: Our rules make more sense, Our rules are more fair.
00:02:55
Speaker 2: That's that's how it came off. That's how it came about. I think you all know this, you know story by now. But the Pho Balagrin one of our biggest stars. He is the leading score getter, leading scorer for the US team in the World Cup. He's a striker, twenty five year old. He's a stud got his red card against Bosnia. That means he's supposed to be suspended the next game. FIFA came back and said, nope, we're gonna lift that suspension and let him play tonight against Belgium. That was only happened Robes after the president made a call to the FIFA president. That call was last Thursday. We didn't find out about it until yesterday. And that is now why, that is why now Robes the story is of now international intrigue and anger because of what roobes. This is not just fair play on the field. This looks like political influence into the outcome of the World Cup.
00:03:51
Speaker 3: Which is a big deals and a bigger deal. I think it's fair to say to just about every country outside of the United States than it is even to us. We don't understand the history, we don't understand the passion, we don't understand the game in the same way that what it means to the people, what it means to the countries whose players are now playing on our land, and the fact that we're displaying arrogance and a lack of understanding and a lot of entitlement. I think we look with that entitlement, arrogance, and a lack of understanding all swirled into this controversy that certainly isn't helping our standing in the world whatsoever.
00:04:40
Speaker 1: Robes.
00:04:41
Speaker 2: Don't we always say, yeah, that reads like the things now in this that goes along to or with what many people might think about America.
00:04:48
Speaker 3: This is American culture, whether you like it or not. Arrogance and entitlement, Robes, it's how it comes off.
00:04:53
Speaker 2: Now and again, folks, we know there are plenty people here in the US who follow soccer closely, Yes, who love the game, who can tell you every player who plays for some club in London. I don't know, Robes, they can tell you everything. That's we're not saying that we are enjoying soccer. We have to Ropes. It's not it's okay to say out loud, this isn't our sport.
00:05:16
Speaker 1: It just isn't.
00:05:18
Speaker 2: We know it's it's not. We don't seem to be respecting right now, Robes, the sport that is adored everywhere else. Robes, they're talking. Did you see the Brazilian players on the field after they lost to Norway?
00:05:35
Speaker 3: Yes?
00:05:35
Speaker 1: Did you see that?
00:05:37
Speaker 3: I did?
00:05:37
Speaker 2: That's they haven't won a World Cup in the past six World Cups. It's about to be the.
00:05:43
Speaker 1: End of the world.
00:05:45
Speaker 2: We haven't gotten past the quarterfinals in our history and we happy just to be here.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: That's the difference Robes. We don't expect to win.
00:05:54
Speaker 2: They do, and they ain't won in thirty years, and now it's the end of the world for them.
00:06:00
Speaker 1: It's just this is we.
00:06:03
Speaker 2: Have now brought their game to our land, and what have we done with it?
00:06:10
Speaker 3: Disrespected it?
00:06:12
Speaker 2: This our attitude towards it. We won't flow to play tonight, yes obviously, but Roles.
00:06:18
Speaker 1: Not like that.
00:06:19
Speaker 3: This sucks because now if he does what we know he is capable of, and if he leads Team USA to victory, it's going to be bittersweet. It's going to have us stink on it, going to be able to shake it, and so it takes away from any victory we might actually have tonight, which actually sucks. Look, so many people, including us, have plans for tonight. We have a place we're going to, a neighborhood spot, and we've been so excited and we were, yes, obviously disappointed that Baligan wasn't going to be playing. We were absolutely nervous that Baligan wasn't playing. But them's the breaks, as you like to say, those are the rules. And for President Trump to say this is what he said. If Belgium had defeated the United States without Balligan playing, it would have been seen as rigged. What if they won with Balligan suspended, it would have been seen as rigged. No, that would have been what.
00:07:18
Speaker 1: The rules were.
00:07:20
Speaker 3: That would have been what was supposed to happen. Now it looks rigged. Now if we win, it doesn't we don't really get to celebrate. We can, but it won't be acknowledged the way it would have been by other countries, by people who love the game.
00:07:38
Speaker 2: And Robes I think, right say we I'm going through all these scenarios. What if we win, what if we lose, what if he scores, what if he doesn't. I'm thinking about all these scenarios. And that's just not the point. So much of this debate is happening because I think overwhelmingly the call was questionable. Now, even if Robes you don't completely agree that it shouldn't have been a red card, everybody agrees that it was a questionable red card at least, but still there are plenty robes. The experts out there who will say this was a little much for a red card, I believe them. But referees have discretion, and that's the way he saw it. He went over to the monitor and even reviewed it. And this is still where we let other people looked at that play. Other officials were looking at this play. So I don't want to debate that because we're not those experts.
00:08:38
Speaker 3: But Trump is calling into question the integrity and credibility of said referee who made the call.
00:08:43
Speaker 2: And that is that's awful as well. That's the playbook, right, somebody does something you don't like, then you automatically attack that person. Here is the President in the White House just a short time ago, making comments. This one goes about two minutes. We might stop in between depending on what we hear here.
00:08:57
Speaker 1: But this was the president.
00:08:58
Speaker 2: I answering a question about the phone call with the FIFA president.
00:09:04
Speaker 4: But all I did, all I did I asked for a review because I didn't think it was a foul. And you know, again, I'm good at this stuff. I didn't think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that qush into each other and got entangled. That was not a that was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that you know, would be different, and I think it's I think it's a terrible If they wouldn't allow, you know, 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 field. 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 you know, we take Messi out Lo you know he ran it to 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 Kine, We're going to take you out of the game, Harry because you happen to hit somebody a little bit harder than you can't. You can't do that. If you would have taken him out. I think I think it would have really stained this incredible champion. We got to have our best players and they've got Belgium's got a great team. By the way, we 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 referees call was horrible, and nobody talks about that. They talk about the red card like it's fine. Nobody talks about the referees decision to red card. I didn't know what the hell of red card was. When I found out, I said, you got to be kidding. This guy just hands up. Okay, your best player is not going to play next weccord 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.
00:11:11
Speaker 3: Okay, I think there's a lot to unpass there. And the first thing that stood out to me and I think to anybody, And like I said, I am not a huge soccer. I don't know all the ins and outs. I've watched enough of that, I have a general idea, and yeah, if Messi or Ronaldo or any other team's best player does something egregious, they too will get a red card. Yes, and they too will be suspended, not just for the game they're in, but for the next game. So what he said wasn't even true yet that is fair. That is what happens.
00:11:46
Speaker 2: Those are the rules we sounded. That was the part, Robes. That sounded so bad. To have the president, the number one, the most visible US citizen, right up there saying what's right, what's wrong?
00:12:02
Speaker 1: Was fair?
00:12:02
Speaker 2: What is and what isn't? And then to say I didn't even know what a red card was. Hearing that somewhere else, can you imagine, Robes, I am preaching to you about what's wrong with this game that I don't even understand. I didn't even know what a red card was. Robes, there's a lot If you don't necessarily understand an off sides call, we can listen. If you don't necessarily understand why the file and the box ends up in a penalty and the file outside the box doesn't.
00:12:31
Speaker 1: Give you some credit.
00:12:32
Speaker 2: But Robes, red and yellow cards are pretty that's pretty basic.
00:12:35
Speaker 3: I will say even I knew what a red and a yellow card is, and certainly you would think before he got up and spoke, or at least even made the call to the FIFA president, he would ask for an understanding of what those two things are. You can't fault him maybe for not knowing it initially, but you would at least expect the president of the United States to get a little background information on those very important points before making a phone call and certainly before answering a question in front of the world.
00:13:02
Speaker 2: I was surprised you admitted that I didn't know what it was, like he's dismissing it. It is a very important integral part that can shape a game. It's critical, and folks don't know. Once you get a red card, that player comes off the field. He's not allowed to be replaced. It's that big of a deal. It's that egregious. They don't just hand them out like candy necessarily, bro, but it.
00:13:25
Speaker 1: Is a very serious violation that changed the shape we've seen anything.
00:13:28
Speaker 3: It can be a game changer, it can be a game ender for a team. To lose a player on the field, you just can't defend or be on the offense in the same way period.
00:13:36
Speaker 2: So wrote I would say to someone who didn't know what soccer was, for them to hear that our player a star player, what do.
00:13:44
Speaker 1: You mean he can't play the next game?
00:13:46
Speaker 3: That's a fair question. In fact, there have been plenty of articles saying why can't he play? What is a red card? People? There are? I have seen plenty of articles, given what happened in last week's game, to explain to Americans who aren't as well versed in soccer as to why our best player can't play.
00:14:03
Speaker 1: That is completely fair.
00:14:05
Speaker 2: But then once you get caught up and you understand somebody explains it to you, you still pick up the phone and call the FIFA president and said this is wrong.
00:14:15
Speaker 1: It's just robes. I hate how this is making us look.
00:14:19
Speaker 2: And now this game and this guy who's having a star turn right now in the World Cup is being talked about and for all the wrong reasons, in the wrong way, rhobes, Is he going to play tonight?
00:14:32
Speaker 3: I actually was going to ask you that same thing. What is he thinking? What does he want to do? Clearly this is the last I can't imagine he wants to be in this controversial position. As a soccer player.
00:14:44
Speaker 2: Okay, but you know who has helped yes Flow himself, Flow Baligan. The kid, I say, the kid, the player at the center of this whole controversy. I think he has probably shown us better than anybody how we should handle it all. Stay here, all right, We'll continue here on this breaking news update on the story that everybody's talking about Robes. The red card suspension was lifted from the for the US star Flow Balligan. But the story now is that President Trump has absolutely he's come out. He has admitted that he made the call for a review. You said, I guess it's important to note he was trying to make so clear Robes that I didn't tell him what to do.
00:15:32
Speaker 1: I just how did he put I just asked for it.
00:15:34
Speaker 3: I just asked for a review. And he said it wasn't even Johnny, the FIFA president who made the call. He said it was a committee. And I was even asking you. You said, there were eighteen people on this committee. And look, normally we get an answer as to who voted for it and who voted against it, and maybe even some reasoning why we didn't get anything. There was almost, well not almost, there was no transparency correct in the committee's decision to verse this field, decision to hand our guy the red card, So we don't really know how it happened, who voted for what, and I think maybe that should be I'm not in a position to tell FIFA what to do, but I would think maybe to help at least give some insight or there's that word transparency again, to calm some folks down, to see exactly what went down and what the reasoning was, and maybe that could help alleviate some of the outrage that's out there.
00:16:29
Speaker 2: But here's the other Yes, transparency be great. We'd love to hear how this came about. Here is the thing, Robes. As soon as he got that red card, it might have been one of the first things I said to you, Oh God, because immediately when I saw that, oh my god, if we continue in this tournament, really gonna need this guy for the next game, thought we could get by Bosnia. We're playing well. But that is immediate panic. As soon as I saw this thing come out, Robes, can you imagine how he felt in that moment?
00:16:58
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, no yet that you would feel tremendous guilt and frustration. But at the same time that the way it went down at first, he didn't get anything correct, and even the broadcasters were saying, wow, he got lucky that that should have been a yellow card.
00:17:15
Speaker 1: I forgot in the moment.
00:17:16
Speaker 3: We actually initially afterwards, the immediate call on the field was nothing. There was no card whatsoever, and it was upon review that the red card came out. And that shocked I think just about everybody who was watching the game, including the folks who were the you know, the broadcasters who know more than all of us, who watched game after game after game.
00:17:36
Speaker 1: You're right there.
00:17:37
Speaker 2: I forgot, And there was debate by the analyst live at the time, and so oh he might be in trouble, Like it was, It wasn't such a far fetched, ridiculous I can't believe this call was made kind of a thing. It wasn't so that he needs to be investigated, kind of a situation ropes. It looked like a bad call when it comes to intent, But as far as the injury goes, and as far as hurting the guy, he inflicts some pretty significant pain. We know they fake can roll around.
00:18:04
Speaker 3: Both of them were rolling around in sane initially, but yes.
00:18:07
Speaker 1: One stayed down longer. Da Okay, but here's it.
00:18:10
Speaker 2: I'm gonna show these to you, Rob, But I didn't put it in that thing, but I'm gonna show it to you. Baligan himself will leave on this high note and a happy note. We's mention first Belgium has appealed. Yes, okay, So we're waiting. We're hours away, I guess from this game, and we're waiting to see if the guy is still going to play.
00:18:27
Speaker 1: I guess.
00:18:27
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens to that Rose Baligan afterwards. He stayed cool, He didn't yell, he didn't scream. He shook hands with the referees afterwards, and Rose, let me show you and let me give this to you, and this will make you feel good about the story and whatever happens to him. His comments afterwards, quote, there's still lots of people we're inspiring, little kids, boys and girls who are watching, and we have to show them the correct way to handle things, even when you think it's unjust what the actual hell? Wow, don't talk about being a fan of his, that's huge. Talk about being a fan of his. But he didn't end it their robes, but he was He was asked about his reaction and his emotions and why he the guy who seemed to ropes hath more than anybody to lose in that moment with that red car. It means he's going to give He's going to miss a game, He's going to miss a chance to be to get endorsement opportunities. This is his chance to be a star. He should have been madder than anybody. But that's now how he went about it. This or his comments, right.
00:19:27
Speaker 3: Wow, he said this. The most important thing for me is to give the correct example to people watching. I'm aware that the World Cup might be the first time a lot of American viewers are tuning in, so it's important just to show people whatever things happen to you, good or bad, just continue to be yourself. That is something to applaud And certainly, yes, I mean these are the moments where lessons are learned that you can apply to anything in your life, and sports is one of those moments where yes, it isn't fair, and guess what. Life isn't fair. It never is going to be fair, and how you handle it that is the measure of your character. How you react to it when things are unjust and Unfortunately, even though he may have led a shining example with his words and his actions following something that I think a lot of folks look and I, again my untrained eye, I was annoyed. I was like that that was not as little as I know. It still seemed outrageous that he got a red card. It still seemed outrageous that he wasn't going to be able to play in the following game. And yet if he can show a measured response and a respect for the rules, whether you like them or not, or whether or not you even think they were applied fairly or not, it's just it's so frustrating to now have it turn into what it is, and he is at the center of it, despite all of his good intent and his good will. I'm just curious how he's going to handle it, because you know, tonight, if he plays, he will be booed. I mean it will. It's I'm afraid it's going to get nasty.
00:20:57
Speaker 2: They might target him even to the point of annoying, like they might try to beat him up a little bit out there. I mean physically, it's in terms of the rules of the game.
00:21:06
Speaker 1: But Rose, we don't know how that's going to go.
00:21:08
Speaker 2: But I talk to you all the time watching NBA players, and then I watch college games and I say, they're learning. These college guys are reacting to the referees the exact same way I see NBA guys do. Like an example is being set Robes he is. I love what he said. What if some little soccer kid watches him throw a fit? So next time he goes this little league game he didn't like a call from the referee. He does what he saw his hero do. Well, can he do what his hero did now and just calmly and coolly accept Robes He's the hero America needs right now, you know what?
00:21:41
Speaker 3: And I like that you got exactly what he said. We're going to end on that. That is the silver lining. We will be watching. We will be rooting him on, and we're also still waiting to see because yes, there is a chance he won't be on the field if Belgian's appeal somehow is heard by FIFA and they reverse the reversals, So a lot could still have between now and then set to play at eight pm Eastern time in Seattle. I guess that's five pm local time, So we will be waiting and we will be watching and with that everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.