Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Millions of Americans have been learning the rules of soccer recently, and last week, many were shocked by the harshness of the sport\u2019s penalty system (and the effectiveness of \u201cflopping\u201d).<\/p>\n Folarin Balogun \u2014 the US men\u2019s team\u2019s top scorer in the World Cup tournament \u2014 received a red card after accidentally stepping on the calf of a Bosnia and Herzegovina player, who proceeded to writhe around on the ground as though he\u2019d been mortally wounded.<\/p>\n The theatrics worked, and the US played the rest of the game a man down, and Balogun was also to be suspended from the team\u2019s next match.<\/p>\n Yeah, a multi-game punishment for a split second of incidental contact (the Bosnian player was completely uninjured, by the way) struck many viewers as excessive.<\/p>\n And it seems that one of those viewers was none other than Donald Trump.<\/p>\n In a move that\u2019s left the social media soccer community divided (it\u2019s basically US vs. the world), FIFA officials decided to let Balogun play in tonight\u2019s match against Belgium after receiving a call from Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!\u201d Trump said in a statement on social media on Sunday.<\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2182948673-1-1-1024x683.jpg\")