Donald Trump has been the talk of the World Cup after the Folarin Balogun decision, but one of his White House officials is hard at work to defend him.
President Donald Trump sparked global controversy by personally calling FIFA President Gianni Infantino to lift US striker Folarin Balogun’s red card suspension.
FIFA’s unprecedented decision to let Balogun play against Belgium triggered intense backlash from UEFA.
Motivated by Trump’s political interference, Belgium’s players took their revenge both on and off the pitch. Following their victory over the United States, squad members celebrated by performing Trump’s signature swaying dance in the locker room to the tune of ‘Y.M.C.A.
And it didn’t stop there, as the official Belgium social media channels joined the trolling, posting the footage with the caption, ‘overturn this.’
However, it’s not just Trump who’s coming under the microscope, as UK prime minister Keir Starmer has also caught a stray.
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Andrew Guilani claims Keir Starmer should have allowed the England v Mexico game to be moved
Executive Director of the White House Task Force for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Andrew Giuliani, has been talking to Simon Jordan and Jim White on TalkSPORT, where he defended his man, Donald Trump, after all the controversy.
His main point was focused on Keir Starmer, after it came out that the UK prime minister stepped in to stop England’s game with Mexico having its kick-off time moved.
“Well, I would go and point to something I think is a much graver decision that was made just a couple of days ago, and Keir Starmer’s intervention through diplomatic channels of not allowing the Mexico-England match time to be moved.
“In the round of 32 after the match, three Mexicans died in the celebration, and there were discussions about moving that match time from the evening to noon, so then that way you would have less risk of life to Mexicans.
“That’s far graver when you actually think about the consequences, the potential consequences, that anything that happens on the pitch right there.
“So I would point you to that and see the immediate precedence in heads of state looking at something that happens potentially on the pitch.”
So you’re telling me that Keir Starmer stopped that game from being moved?
“I’m telling you that the English government intervened to not have that match be moved.”
Both examples are completely unwarranted on the World Cup stage. It should be a competition free of politics and interventions, not a competition to see who can display the most power.
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