"Everyone was like, nope. No. We don't like it. And then, obviously, Belgium was like, 'No, we absolutely can't lose to this team now.'" That's Megan Rapinoe's verdict on how Donald Trump's interference in the Folarin Balogun red card controversy may have torpedoed the US men's team's World Cup run.
Speaking on The Daily Show, the two-time Women's World Cup winner didn't spare words. The USMNT had something real going into the tournament — genuine underdog energy, a squad with nothing to lose. Then Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino to demand a review of Balogun's red card in their Round of 32 match. The card was eventually rescinded. And from that moment, the vibe shifted.
The distraction that couldn't be tuned out
Rapinoe expanded on the theme in her podcast, framing it as a compounding distraction rather than a single incident. "Whether it was this red card situation, whether it was being in a public discourse with this president, all of the shenanigans and chaos that comes with the feelings on both sides of that — it's just a lot to contend with," she said.
Balogun himself backed this up. He told CBS that once the card was rescinded and he was reintegrated into the squad, he could sense the tension. "I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy, and I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves," he said. "The closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could, but it was difficult. A lot of outside noise and that's hard to avoid."
That's a player admitting, plainly, that external noise got in. For a young squad without senior players experienced in managing that kind of pressure — something Rapinoe pointed out directly — it was a difficult situation to absorb mid-tournament.
The White House sees it differently
Predictably, Trump's team pushed back hard. White House spokesman Davis Ingle called the 2026 tournament "one of the greatest and most successful sporting events in history" and credited Trump's "bold vision and decisive leadership" for its success in revenue and logistics.
Which may well be fair on the organizational front. But running a successful tournament and helping a team win inside it are two different things. The USMNT lost to Belgium in the Round of 16, and their exit came wrapped in exactly the kind of political theatre that tends to hollow out a dressing room's focus. Whether Trump's call helped or hurt Balogun on paper, Balogun's own words make clear what it did to the squad in practice.
