President Donald Trump revealed the details of his conversation with FIFA President Gianni Infantino over the controversial red card call on American player Folarin Balogun, explaining his action to intervene.
Trump said he requested that FIFA review the play but did not tell Infantino what to do.
"All I did [was] ask for a review because I didn't think it was a foul,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “And, you know, again, I'm good at this stuff. I didn't think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled."
"I think they made a really brilliant decision. I think the referee's call was horrible and nobody talks about that. They talk about the red card like it's fine, nobody talks [about] the referee's decision to red card,” the president added.
Under a FIFA red card, the player is penalized by immediate ejection from the game and suspension from the next match.
Balogun received a red card following a video review that showed him stepping on the ankle of a Bosnia-Herzegovina player during Wednesday's match. The incident appeared to be accidental and both athletes were left in obvious pain.
Trump said they were just two players who crashed into each other and got “tangled up.”
Trump also said that the FIFA referee Ralpahel Claus, who gave the red card to Balogun, was “a little bit suspect if you check his past,” but did not elaborate.
Critics accused Trump of interfering with the tournament and considered his actions inappropriate.
“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 wrote in the statement. “During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.”
Infantino also said that he reads the decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee and sometimes he is “surprised by them” and sometimes he agrees and disagrees with the decisions.
Meanwhile, Belgium filed a last-minute appeal on Sunday just after Balogun's red card was lifted.