The dream of the United States has not died. He was knocked down

SEATTLE – With pink cleats in his left hand, Folarin Balogun took a long, lonely road out of this World Cup. It took him two minutes to walk from the center circle to the tunnel, away from the firestorm. With everything he had to digest, it must have seemed like two lifetimes.

He lowered his head, but he stopped every few steps to look up and tap his right hand to his left thumb to acknowledge the thinning crowd at Seattle Stadium. He continued the routine until he was out of sight, a man oscillating between sorrow and gratitude.

Balogun said: “The feeling of disappointment is very difficult to express in words, I think, for me. »

And later: “I know it didn’t end the way we wanted, but I think you all saw in the process that we definitely united a nation.”

Three weeks ago, at a tournament debut for Hollywood, he called his two-goal performance a “real dream.” The United States men’s national team throttled Paraguay 4-1 that night. He instantly became an American sports star, an elixir for one of the country’s most combative issues: citizenship rights.

Balogun is the kind of American — born in Brooklyn and raised in London — that President Donald Trump tried to deport, but when the attacker shined in our colors, there was no conflict to claim him. There was no denying his impact in helping this historically overshadowed football program galvanize hope and add a homegrown passion to the nation’s hosting responsibilities.

It was an uplifting story while it lasted.

That’s when the most powerful man in the world picked up a phone.

And reality turned the dream upside down.

On Monday, the USMNT saw its promising start end in symmetrical disappointment, a 4-1 defeat this time. A seasoned Belgian team, still blessed with vestiges of a golden generation, outclassed the Americans, leaving them apathetic and wondering if Trump’s meddling had cost them more than it had brought them.

Folarin Balogun shoots and misses the Belgians Maxim De Cuyper (5) and Brandon Mechele (4). Balogun was unable to make a big impact in a 4-1 defeat (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Five days earlier, Balogun received a red card and automatic suspension in a victory against Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was a harsh penalty for accidentally kicking an opponent’s ankle, and it reeked of video-assisted overreach. So Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino. On Sunday, the FIFA disciplinary committee removed an automatic suspension that occurred during the World Cup, which had not happened for 64 years.

It was not canceled; This would have required admitting an error. The suspension was suspended, by the magic of a clause buried in the organization’s disciplinary code. Initially, FIFA announced the decision in such a skeletal manner that the world knew it was hiding a body. On the day of the game, Trump appeared before reporters at the White House and, after trying to deflect his role, he spoke until it was clear he was pressuring. And maybe he was righting a wrong. But he did it wrongly. Do the math, and it adds up to another moral dilemma that has taken the sunshine out of a good thing.

Thank you for your help, Mr. President.

This was not a favor at all. His intervention angered the competition and turned many American fans into hypocrites. It didn’t matter to most of us that we would also have exploded with righteous indignation if Belgium had been in this position and had a star’s suspension overturned after a nudge from Prime Minister Bart De Wever. How many times have we condemned the corruption of judges in Olympic boxing, figure skating or gymnastics? Should we sometimes ignore corrupt doping judgments and refrain from asking tough questions about integrity?

Yet there was no room for realization, not with a chance of qualifying for the World Cup quarter-finals for only the third time. We just wanted to close our eyes and applaud loudly. But in hindsight, were some of these cries intended to quell the ethical dilemma?

Trump was not the savior that Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) proclaimed when he told the president on Monday: “On behalf of all Americans, thank you for getting rid of this ridiculous red card.” Nor were other U.S. officials who spent several days threatening bulldog-style legal tactics. Yes, history shows us that FIFA is corrupt and susceptible to manipulation. However, this should not be an excuse for world leaders to circumvent a system and recreate fair play in their own image. FIFA can continue to downplay Trump’s call to Infantino, but the president enjoys wielding power too much to do the same.

The president did not save Balogun. He did not give the United States a greater chance of winning. He did not rig the tournament by correcting a mistake. He regained possession of the World Cup. He made Balogun, whose class and character represented the entire team, the face of a patch. He helped create the pretentious American attitude that boosted Belgium’s motivation.

“In recent days, we have been shown a lack of respect here in the United States,” Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said afterwards. “They said they could beat us easily, but I think today we proved that we are a good team. We played a great game.”

The match took place in a series of cruelties. Charles De Ketelaere scored in the ninth minute, on a ball that the United States should have cleared. Malik Tillman’s deflected free kick briefly leveled the score, but 61 seconds after the restart De Ketelaere tore through the injury again. U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese gifted the third goal with a stunning error, and in stoppage time, Romelu Lukaku scored and blew kisses to the Belgian section in front of 66,925 people, after which he and several Red Devils gathered in a circle, clenched their fists and shook their arms back and forth, appearing to troll Trump with his signature dance move.

“I think today we didn’t show our true quality,” said US coach Mauricio Pochettino. “We were never tied to how to play.”

A few seconds before this final embarrassment, Pochettino had replaced Balogun with Haji Wright. The crowd could only muster soft applause at that point. A real dream had turned into real pain. After all that controversy, Balogun made little impact as the entire team looked like a disheveled mess.

Maybe Belgium would have won without this drama. They were livelier, deeper, hungrier. But the United States came with something heavier than the pressure to reach the quarterfinals, and it showed.

The day before, a large part of the American fandom had celebrated this reversal as a victory. When Trump revealed his role, he was dismissed as a mere footnote and justified as simply the president fighting for us. It was chauvinism disguised in a replica jersey: America got what it wanted because America is great, and there is nothing wrong with using force to circumvent rules that seem unfair. The rest of the world saw things differently, and suddenly the World Cup was back where it started, facing a battle between globalism and America’s nasty nationalist current.

USA dreams end in round of 16

Tom Bogert and Lia Griffin

In America, we spent a few weeks as a soccer nation and a few days as the team everyone hoped to lose.

The start was worth it. The ending was unbearable.

“Turn that around,” Belgium tweeted after the match on their official social media account.

Balogun deserved better than to be a subject of controversy. He deserved better when he was suspended. He deserved better while he was in the middle of a complicated reintegration. He was a victim, not a villain. And until the end, he never got lost.

After the defeat, Balogun spoke to Belgian coach Rudi Garcia and spoke with him for several minutes. It was a quiet moment of sportsmanship, a moment of politeness despite Garcia’s public stance against his right to play.

“I really liked it,” Garcia said of the conversation. “It’s not his fault. He’s not the one to blame. And that’s what I told him. I really appreciate the intention of him coming to me. I appreciate that player.”

Shortly after, Balogun made that slow walk to the locker room. He was finally alone. He had no say in this fiasco, he didn’t ask for money. He just received the bill.

And the country applauded and accepted uncomfortable justice before checking the price. It was steep. Hypocrisy has cost us more than disappointment.

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