Speaker 1: I am Jamie Rudd and here is what is happening
in football right now. It is a slow Friday. The
World Cup ended five days ago. Most players are on holiday.
The transfer window is open, but nothing explosive is happening today.
And yet the biggest story in football is still about
a red card from three weeks ago. The president of
the Norwegian Football Federation, Lisa Claverness, is filing a formal
ethics complaint with FIFA over the foller In Belogan red
card reversal. And this is not a petty grievance. This
is a serious accusation that the President of the United
States interfered in a World Cup disciplinary decision. Here is
what happened. Balogan got a red card against Bosnia in
the round of thirty two for stepping on a player's ankle.
He was suspended for one game. Then Donald Trump called
Gianni Infantino. Then FIFA overturned the suspension. Then Belogan played
against Belgium in the round of sixteen. Then the United
States lost four goals to one. Clavern has told The
Times of London that the verdict was influenced by external forces.
She said, and I quote, we all know that this
verdict was influenced from external forces and did not have
the proper process. She also pointed out that the decision
was made by one person, Mohammad al Kamali, the chair
of FIFA's Disciplinary Committee, with no panel review. One person,
under pressure from the President of the United States overturned
a red card suspension. She also said something that should
worry every football fan. When you bend a rule like this,
you are on a slippery slope that will put the
whole game at risk. If you start to adapt in
such a way towards state leaders and state politics, you
will move the red line of what state leaders should
interfere with. And that happened. She is right. This is
not about This is not about whether the red card
was harsh. This is about whether FIFA can be trusted
to enforce its own rules when a world leader makes
a phone call. And the answer based on this incident
is no, FIFA cannot be trusted. Meanwhile, Megan Rapino went
on The Daily Show and said Trump killed the US
team's underdog vibe. She said they had a good thing going.
Everyone loved the underdog story, and then Trump got involved
and everyone was like, nope, no, we do not like it.
She even joked that Belgium were motivated by it quote
Obviously Belgium was like, no, we absolutely cannot lose to
this team now. Rapino also said on her podcast that
the distraction got to the team, whether it was the
red card situation, whether it was being in public discourse
with this president, all of the shenanigans and chaos. She
said the men's team does not have a core of
older players who are used to that kind of pressure,
and she is right. This US team is young. They
are not used to being political props, and when the
president turns your football match into a culture war, it
affects the players. It has to Now Barcelona they have
signed Anthony Gordon from Newcastle for seventy million euros up
to eighty million with add ons. This was confirmed back
in May, but it is worth revisiting because the deal
structure is genuinely fascinating. Newcastle get a five million euro
bonus if Gordon wins a trophy at Camp No, and
they get one million euros per season if he plays
sixty percent or more of games. So Barcelona are incentivized
to play him and Newcastle are incentivized to hope Barcelona
wins something. It is a transfer fee and a betting
slip combined. Gordon showed up at his unveiling, speaking Spanish,
committed to the bit, practiced his lines, probably had a
tutor for three weeks, and good for him. Most English
players move to Spain and do not bother learning the
language until their third season. Gordon is doing it on
day one. But Barcelona are not done. They are still
chasing Darwin Nunez from Saudi Arabia, whole, An Alvarez from
Atletico Madrid and Amrik Laporte. Atletico's president Enrica Cerezo says
Alvarez is staying, Nunez is dreaming of Barcelona from his
Saudi villa, and reaujamats Poletic club's manager Edin Terzich has
publicly called Barcelona disrespectful for their pursuit of Laporte. This
is either a master plan or complete chaos. With Barcelona,
it is usually both. Nicholas Ottomendi has retired from international football.
The Argentine defender who played in the World Cup final
five days ago, has called time on his Albi Celeste career.
He is thirty eight years old. He has won a
World Cup, a Copra America and an Olympic gold medal,
and his last act in an Argentina shirt was watching
Enzo Fernandez get sent off in the third minute of
stoppage time against Spain. Not the ending anyone wanted for him,
but he was a warrior for Argentina for over a
decade and he deserves whatever retirement brings him. One last thing.
The Europa League qualifiers are underway and there was a
genuine shock yesterday Benfica, the Portuguese Giants, lost two goals
to one against Saint Gallen from Switzerland. Saint Gallen are
not a big club, they are not famous and they
just beat Benfica in European competition. Meanwhile, Ferrenz Varros from
Hungary beat FC Twente from the Netherlands. The new European
season is quietly starting while everyone still arguing about Trump
and red cards. Quick note. This show is produced with
the help of AI