FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — After Folarin Balogun admitted in a televised interview this week that his teammates had “a bit of nerves” after his red-card suspension was suspended, causing the biggest controversy of the World Cup, U.S. Soccer CEO J.T. Batson avoided saying whether the White House’s involvement in the situation was a mistake.
“The president is able to do what the president wants to do,” Batson told a small group of reporters, including The Post, on Thursday. “The president is the president of the United States. Obviously we’re incredibly grateful for all the support from all of our fans across the country, wherever they are, and we’re excited about that. And we know that’ll pay dividends going forward.”
The Post’s Mark Cannizzaro reported exclusively that Batson, along with federation COO Dan Helfrich — who was part of Thursday’s roundtable — helped lead U.S. Soccer in fighting the Balogun ruling based on the incorrect application of VAR, threatening legal action.
President Trump’s involvement, which included a call to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, caused a perception that the U.S. had received a political favor. That created global outrage over the situation, and became a rallying cry that motivated Belgium.
It also seemed to affect the USMNT, which played a nervous game in a 4-1 loss to Belgium in front of a record-setting television audience.
“My initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team, but when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy,” Balogun told “CBS This Morning” in his first interview following the World Cup. “And I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves, because it’s something that is so unique.
“But the closer we got to the game, I just tried to focus as best as I could, but it was difficult. A lot of outside noise, and that’s hard to avoid.”
Batson said the immense attention the situation created was ultimately a positive for the growth of the sport.
“I think the outpouring of support was incredible,” he said. “And at many points along the way, my phone blew up when people felt like we got a bad foul called on us or they felt like there was an opportunity for something to improve. I think that’s a sign of us growing as a soccer culture. People care.
“The fact that things cut through, the fact that people talked about it, it was on sports talk radio in ways that soccer never would have been before. To me, that’s a sign of the growth of our sport. It’s a sign of the success of this tournament.”
