The tale of Garrincha’s ejection during the 1962 World Cup has become a legendary narrative. The iconic Brazilian was dismissed in the semi-final for retaliating against a rival player, yet at the time, the governing body did not enforce an automatic one-game ban. Consequently, a disciplinary panel gathered the following day to determine whether he would be available for the championship match.
According to popular lore, the assistant referee who possessed the clearest view of the infraction received a payment and vanished, while the leader of the host nation, Chile, contacted the sport’s governing body to plead for leniency. He argued that maintaining one of the competition’s most thrilling talents on the pitch was essential. Garrincha faced no further punishment, and a few days later, Brazil claimed their second World Cup title.
This type of implausible story feels like a relic of a distant era, but revelations on Sunday served as a stark reminder that such times are not entirely behind us. On the eve of the US men’s national team’s round-of-16 clash with Belgium, the former president had reportedly made a series of calls to Gianni Infantino, as the national federation attempted to overturn the single-match suspension handed to American forward Folarin Balogun.
Balogun was dismissed during the team’s 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday after accidentally stepping on an opponent’s ankle while competing for the ball. The decision to issue a red card was contentious, debated endlessly, with a broad consensus viewing the call, which stemmed from a video review, as excessively harsh. The player, head coach Mauricio Pochettino, and a host of others voiced their frustration, but initially seemed resigned to the ban. While American supporters were furious, many had reluctantly come to terms with facing Belgium without their primary striker.
That was precisely when the former president intervened. The federation had been conducting its own advocacy, and the ban was swiftly deferred until after the competition concludes. The governing body had previously taken similar action for players like Cristiano Ronaldo who incurred suspensions before the tournament began, but doing so during the World Cup itself is an unprecedented move.
The reaction has been a mixture of jubilation and fury. A number of US supporters are understandably delighted, as is Pochettino, who confirmed this sentiment on Sunday. Belgium’s head coach, Rudi Garcia, was enraged, informing journalists that he was unaware April Fools’ Day had been moved to July. The Belgian football association confirmed it is exploring potential legal avenues.
The governing body naturally provides its own reasoning, though it sheds little light on the matter. It merely references a clause in its own regulations that permits such a ruling. Officials offered a similar response when pressed by various news agencies regarding the reported phone calls, maintaining that the very structure of its disciplinary system renders it impossible for external pressure to influence an outcome.
Expecting anyone to accept that the organization is impervious to the former president’s influence is preposterous. It is equivalent to asking the public to believe he was granted a “peace prize” based solely on his achievements. The relationship between Infantino and the former president has long been a close, symbiotic one, where the politician receives the kind of flattering adulation he craves, and the official secures access to the globe’s largest commercial marketplace for the sport’s primary source of revenue.
What the former president fails to grasp—or perhaps he is simply indifferent—is that this exertion of power has done a major disservice to American soccer as a whole.
The national team reached this stage of the competition on its own merit, propelled by three outstanding displays and one mediocre one to the knockout rounds. Balogun has, by all accounts, been the squad’s most outstanding performer during this stretch.
Still, even absent the Monaco-based forward, numerous analysts and betting markets had already favored the US to triumph over Belgium. The perception that the Americans have now received an unjust benefit—and they clearly have—stains any potential progress. This is apparent domestically but resonates far more internationally, where the political figure has become the latest embodiment of a stereotype, seen as expecting special favors.
It is also a disheartening turn for the nation’s fans, many of whom have pushed back fiercely against the notion that their country is a footballing hinterland lacking in skill and stature compared to others. The US has performed admirably at this tournament to discredit that idea, yet a victory on Monday may be viewed as one orchestrated by the sport’s administrators.
Norway’s head coach Ståle Solbakken seemed to voice this exact sentiment, suggesting a win would be tainted.
“I believe that is a significant misstep by the federation,” he told the media following his team’s surprising 2-0 win over Brazil on Sunday. “A dreadful, dreadful, dreadful, dreadful, dreadful call. I sympathize with the United States, because even if they are victorious, this cloud will forever hang over the match. Damaging for the sport. A terrible ruling by the federation.”
The politician’s involvement also sullies what had, by most accounts, been an effective World Cup. Pre-tournament discussions focused heavily on numerous challenges: the cost of tickets, visa complications, structural and organizational worries, and even the possible appearance of border enforcement personnel at venues. Some voices advocated for relocating the event. Though some of these problems undoubtedly materialized—the appalling treatment of the Iranian squad serves as clear evidence—the overall perception of the competition has largely been positive.
Now, the former president has executed a quintessentially American maneuver: wielding excessive, intrusive, and unrequested influence to achieve his desired outcome. On Sunday, he celebrated the news of Balogun’s cleared suspension via his social media platform, expressing gratitude to the governing body for remedying what he termed a “severe miscarriage of justice.”
What he may fail to realize is that he has perpetrated a different kind of injustice, one that could prove far harder to set right.
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