It is tough for the side and kind of sad for a neutral to witness a host side go out of tournament. They might not be destined to lift high the trophy but it is hoped they heroically progress to the final, and to go down defiantly.    
The Last 16 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup was for two teams a harsh lesson in the Reality of the Game. Canada despite all their enthusiasm and physical effort just weren’t up to the standard of battle hardened Morocco. Mexico seemed to have everything going for them against a previously shaky England, but who turned up to re-enact Agincourt.
And there’s the USA…

A 4-1 defeat on your home turf is a most unhappy result. That margin signifies either a sporting minnow against a very professional outfit, or a team that to use one sporting metaphor ‘just didn’t turn up’
European teams are honed and and tempered on the grounds of European club football. It’s a tough demanding; skill and a thick skin are basic necessities, while along the way picking up experience in the game, questionable tactics and flexible ethics are essential to survival. There are often debates about whether top players are more focused on their club performance than their time in a national squad. There is evidence both ways. Yet when a loyalty to the national squad fires (note that word) up, the team in question moves to another level as all they have learnt at club levels gets forged into one fearsome machine. Unfortunately for the USA they were going up again a team known as The Red Devils, who consistently figure in the FIFA Top Ten Rankings were coming into the match fired up not just by national pride but as playing sensibilities recently irked by some outside interference.

From a sport focused analytical, objective perspective it is hard to find one starting point to begin the commentary on Trump’s interference in the red card given to a USA player for a foul on a Bosnia-Herzegovina player. For those of you not familiar with the circumstances here is the BBC Sports report on the subject
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cewqq5q8v41o
While you are pondering on that consider the following:
FIFA Article 15 of the Disciplinary Code: “Any political interference shall render the relevant National Federation immediately suspended”
Then dwell on the flagrant hypocrisy and obsequiousness FIFA showed to Trump.
Then just scroll down a few comments following on from this BBC report:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/c24y8ded80vt
Read these and weep all you MAGA folk for this nothing you can do about it, well aside from demanding that ICE detain all the players and staff of the remaining teams pending deportation, then Trump awards the cup to the USA by default….There might have been a time when that would have seemed to have been a comically, satirically outrageous suggestion….these days, sadly, not so much.

Now let’s look at the cause and the damage.
To be Super-fair to begin with let’s consider the world Presidents of the USA have to work in:
International Politics– Honestly with the possible exception of President George Bush snr each President including Kennedy has been involved in some international error of judgement be it small or large.
Economics– It seems to be a rule of the subject that no matter what a president of the USA does in this field there will be as many critics as supporters, so in this post there is not much point in discussing the matter.
Domestic Policies – Again it is another rule of tradition in the USA that for as many folk who praise a president on the home front there will be a sizeable portion who will accuse them of being a tyrant.
So having made an exceptional effort to give the current occupant of the Whitehouse a fair ground to stand upon, let me explain to him why in interfering with decision in the sporting tournament he has proved himself to be a lousy president and basically a horrible person.

J’Accuse Because:
Not Qualified or Appointed
The defendant displayed no knowledge of the game in question by claiming that the incident was not a foul, while actually it was. The question would be was it accidental or intentional. The option for a referee and thence the VAR was to decide whether just a free-kick should be awarded, or a yellow card or a red card. Now the game of football is filled with incidents which have gone one way or another and folk who claim a different decision should have been given. That is not the point. Unless you are an official or player involved you save your words for social media and that is that. You do not use outside influence to interfere. Particularly extra-exclusive political pressure.
Irresponsible Behaviour
The defendant by interfering in the due processes of a process which they have no authority in has demeaned the standing of the nation which they are charged with representing. Football like many a sport is a highly charged environment, its participants and its fans do not forget what they perceive as errors and injustices. These become embedded into the folklore. Because of the defendant’s unwarranted and crass intervention USA soccer teams will play under the twin burdens of his onerous actions.
Detrimental To The USA Team
A football team’s cohesion can fall apart or equally fire up at any given time. The USA team will have been buoyed up by their progress but at the same time apprehensive at the stronger more capable opposition. What is unwanted at this stage is drama off-field as a distraction. It has to be said the team which came out looked unsettled and disjointed; the manager had the air of an actor who having not read their contract suddenly found their were cast into a role they did not care for- the kick at the water bottles said it all. I contend that being aware a bullying volatile political person looming over this event would have broken the team’s concentration. While at the other end a tough, experienced world class side were ready to not just win a match but humiliate not the USA but the current president of the USA. And just did that. The defendant should have kept out of the business.
Response
As said earlier on, a scroll down the responses from the public will show the damage done. What should be underscored is that football fans are not renowned for being ‘woke’ or the home of ‘socialism’. Thus whatever any servile or fanatical supporters of Trump may howl, it makes no difference, the response does not come from political base, it comes from a sports base, and they are not easily turned aside.
Thus all that remains to be said on this matter is:
You fool Trump. You egotistical, ignorant, petty-minded creature. You can throw your usual routine of denial or as you did when you insulted the British Armed Forces come up with some mumbling half-baked comment. It does not matter.
You Screwed Up