Dave Portnoy mocked Europeans for “crying” about FIFA suspending the red-card ban USMNT star Folarin Balogun received in the World Cup Round of 32, allowing him to play Monday night against Belgium.
The Barstool Sports founder said he’s never seen complaining like this, except during Deflategate and Michigan’s Connor Stalions scandal.
“The crying, the Euro tears, the sheer whimpery of Europe regarding this decision, everything from Belgium is lawyering up, Belgium shouldn’t play, UEFA, ‘This is illegal. You can’t do this.’ And it all stems from one thing and one thing only,” Portnoy said during FS1’s “Wake Up Barstool” on Monday.
“People say, ‘Oh, you don’t like Trump,’ and this and that. No, no, no, no. They don’t like that we’re getting good at soccer, boys. Europe is petrified because if we’re good at soccer, they got nothing.
“We’re bigger than they are, we’re badder than they are, we bail them out in every world war. We are the United States. We’re the bully, we’re the tough guy, and this is the one sport we’ve never paid attention to. We went up, we ripped hockey from Canada and shoved them in a locker. Now, if we take soccer from the rest of the world, they got nothing.”
Portnoy was the first to mention the Balogun red card being suspended, saying “a certain red card may be soon overturned” in an X post Sunday morning.
During Monday’s “Wake Up Barstool,” another member of the show, Troopz, asked if President Donald Trump was Portnoy’s source, which he did not deny.
Trump played a role in Balogun’s ability to play against Belgium, calling FIFA president Giannni Infantino about the ruling, though he claimed he had “nothing to do with the decision.”
“Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues,” Infantino said.
Portnoy was referring to European fans, but UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations, also released a statement complaining about the suspended red card, calling the decision “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.”
