Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Sam Liccardo said he \u201cgroaned excessively\u201d when the U.S. national team\u2019s Folarin Balogun was given a red card.<\/p>\n
Yet the Silicon Valley representative objected after President Donald Trump pressed FIFA to review the play at issue, before the world soccer organization suspended the penalty and allowed the U.S.\u2019 lead scorer to play in today\u2019s knockout round match against Belgium.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t win this way,\u201d Liccardo, a Democrat, wrote on social media. \u201cI won\u2019t cheer FIFA\u2019s capitulation to power.\u201d<\/p>\n
Few other American politicians have expressed a similar sentiment, perhaps wary that they\u2019ll be viewed as rooting against their own country\u2019s success. But Liccardo joined a chorus of international officials who took issue with the pressure campaign that culminated in Balogun\u2019s return to the pitch, while stressing that the \u201cright outcome\u201d had been reached despite what he viewed as foul play by FIFA leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that we should see this outcome after this corruption summit between FIFA and Donald Trump accentuates the distaste for many,\u201d he told POLITICO in an interview just over an hour before the U.S.-Belgium match.<\/p>\n
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n
Were you at the match where the red card was issued in Santa Clara?<\/p>\n
I was not, I\u2019m ashamed to say. It\u2019s slightly outside my district, and a few thousand dollars outside my tax bracket. \u2026 I watched on television and cheered wildly for the U.S. team, and groaned excessively when Balogun got his red card.<\/p>\n
Democrats have accused President Trump of a lot of instances of corruption throughout his second term, so why speak out on this particular incident?<\/p>\n
Well, I think in your question there\u2019s an implication, and it\u2019s a fair one, which is: Far be it from me to suggest that FIFA could ever be corrupt. But at least we could say that for once it was Americans that benefited from the corruption, not the Qataris or the Russians.<\/p>\n
Look, I root for the U.S. men\u2019s team every time they take the field, and, like virtually everyone else watching that game, I felt Balogun was treated very unfairly. That being said, since 1962, FIFA has never allowed a player to appear at a World Cup game after receiving a red card in the game immediately following. The intervention of a head of state \u2014 in what should be an international celebration of sports that should be above politics and beyond it \u2014 is troubling. And the fact that we should see this outcome after this corruption summit between FIFA and Donald Trump accentuates the distaste for many. [FIFA has repeatedly asserted<\/a> that Trump\u2019s call for a review had no impact on its decision, and Trump said the same today, while confirming<\/a> he had asked for another look at the play.]<\/p>\n Do you think your constituents feel the same way?<\/p>\n People feel all kinds of different ways, and I don\u2019t blame anyone for saying, \u201cHey, this is the right outcome.\u201d That\u2019s fine. I\u2019m simply saying it\u2019s the right outcome for the wrong reasons. And it\u2019s hard to blame you global fans of the sport for having hard feelings.<\/p>\n Like, you said, a lot of people probably feel that this was the right outcome. Has that made this at all a tricky situation for Democrats to address politically?<\/p>\n No, because politicians shouldn\u2019t address this. It\u2019s not my problem to solve, and it\u2019s certainly not Donald Trump\u2019s problem to solve. So, I don\u2019t have any problems. I\u2019m a spectator, like everybody else. I\u2019m simply saying we all want an umpire that calls balls and strikes, and we know that umpires get it wrong plenty of times. We just don\u2019t want somebody bribing the umpire to get us a ball rather than a strike.<\/p>\n You\u2019re a bystander in some ways, but this is also not your first time encountering FIFA. In addition to being a co-chair of the World Cup Caucus, you were the mayor of San Jose when the city was participating in the bidding process to host that tournament. Didn\u2019t you and some of the other Bay Area mayors even go on a tour with FIFA officials of Levi\u2019s Stadium a few years ago?<\/p>\n Yeah, I think we were at the stadium, and then we went to San Francisco. That\u2019s what you do when you\u2019re the mayor of the largest city in the region and you want the World Cup to come to your region.<\/p>\n So, when you say that FIFA is a corrupt organization, has that always been your view, or did this particular incident kind of drive you there?<\/p>\n It\u2019s the view of the Department of Justice that indicted them for more than $150 million in bribes in 2015, it\u2019s the view of lots of other folks who are concerned about how the Qataris ended up with the World Cup. We can go on and on. It\u2019s not my view that matters here. The point is this: Nobody wants to see the head of state of any country calling an international sports organization to get a better call. That\u2019s not the way sports should work.<\/p>\n The Olympics are coming to California in 2028. Should Democrats be trying to guard against Trump exerting influence once again to aid the host country in that international competition?<\/p>\n No, elected officials should be refraining from getting engaged in international sports competitions, the area where people don\u2019t want politics. So it\u2019s not about what we do or don\u2019t do. It\u2019s not about us standing up to Trump or not standing up to Trump. It\u2019s about the fact that we should want international sports competitions to be free of political influence.<\/p>\n