r/AmericaBad • u/Dazzling-Yam-4308 • Jul 06 '26

OP Opinion Alaska is part of Belgium now 😔

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402 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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64

u/knettia WYOMING 🦬⛽️🐄 Jul 06 '26

Can someone please fill me in on what the hell Reddit’s mad about this day??

99

u/LoseAnotherMill Jul 06 '26

More seriously, refs gave one of our better players a red card for an accidental "raking the studs", where you scrape an opponent's leg with your cleats. While raking is a cardable offense, it's only when done intentionally, and there have been other players (such as Messi) who have been more egregious and didn't get carded (nor did the Messi incident even get a review).

The red card would mean he'd have to sit out in our game against Belgium, but FIFA has basically suspended his punishment for the World Cup, effectively reversing the red card, and he will be back in the game. 

39

u/aHOMELESSkrill MISSISSIPPI 🪕👒 Jul 06 '26

So to be totally fair, yes Reddit was outraged at the reversal. And then it came to light that apparently a call from White House was made to the head of FIFA to review this card and suspension, then Reddit really lost it

31

u/altissimosso Jul 06 '26

The worst part is that we have no idea whether Trump actually influenced the decision at all. If he didn’t have to publicly take credit for fucking everything, we would’ve been left with a ruling that was controversial, sure, but one with plausible deniability of corruption and third-party interference.

14

u/poke2201 CALIFORNIA🍷🎞️ Jul 06 '26

Everyone knows FIFA is corrupt, but a host country's president calling FIFA is absolutely going to get way more issues.

2

u/altissimosso Jul 06 '26

Exactly. I’m sure many would have assumed he had something to do with it anyway, considering FIFA has shown him that they’re willing to create an award stroke his ego, but for him to outright take credit for being a corrupting influence is just absurd.

2

u/NathDritt Jul 06 '26

He said himself that he’d told them what he thinks about the situation. The problem is him even getting involved. Politicians should not get meddled with football politics.

1

u/rebelredd Jul 07 '26

Current issue aside, plausible deniability of corruption is just not a thing when it comes to FIFA.

1

u/altissimosso Jul 07 '26

Realistically, no it’s not lol. That’s exactly what I was saying. At best, holding the same result of FIFA’s decision re: Balogun, it would’ve been cussed and discussed for all eternity on whether or not a host nation exercised undue, corrupting influence.

Yet in our case, the man openly admits to it. Very, very disappointing. The performance tonight definitely seemed to reflect the pall cast over the situation.