{"id":16639,"date":"2026-07-07T15:03:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T07:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=16639"},"modified":"2026-07-07T15:03:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T07:03:31","slug":"a-blue-city-shakes-off-politics-over-us-forward-baloguns-red-card-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=16639","title":{"rendered":"A blue city shakes off politics over US forward Balogun’s red card controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A city known for angry protests, grunge and wearing head-to-toe black was transformed \u200binto a harmonious sea of red, white and blue on Monday.
Not even the intervention of President Donald J. Trump could divide United \u200cStates fans in Seattle ahead of the country’s World Cup last-16 match against Belgium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As Trump drew global criticism for asking FIFA President Gianni Infantino to reverse the red card suspension of U.S. player Folarin Balogun, local fans were willing to put aside their political differences to see \u200bthe star striker play.
\u201cI don’t think soccer is blue or red. I think it’s a national sport,” said Brad Lawliss, 57, from Portland, \u200bOregon. “Actually, there’s more soccer players in this country than there are of any other sport. It’s actually a united \u2060soccer nation.\u201d
Happy marches to the stadium have become part of the World Cup game day rituals in this host city, which has transformed large swathes of \u200bits rundown waterfront into fan zones that have grown in size as the U.S. have progressed through the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands lined blocks on Washington Street to sing \u200band chant “U-S-A”. Those who had tickets continued their march through the city to the stadium. Others crowded into pens with screens on the waterfront, and bars and restaurants.
But as Belgium began to dominate, the crowd became more subdued. In the first half, Balogun tried to pump up the fans after teammate Malik Tillman scored. The reinstated striker also had an \u200battempt on goal in the 45th minute.
Only the Belgian fans could be heard in the almost capacity stadium when the European team scored its third \u200bgoal after the U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese wandered out of the goal area and lost control of the ball.
They were back on their feet chanting when Sebastian Berhalter missed \u200cin the \u206079th minute. Then, Balogun took a shot in the 82nd minute, offering some hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fourth Belgium goal in the 93rd minute ended the red, white and blue dream.
Earlier, Michael Scott, 54, and Eric Cutts, 47, caught the ferry in from Seattle’s suburbs to go to the game. Like a dozen other fans interviewed by Reuters, they said Balogun reinstatement was the right decision \u2014 and that he should not have been red-carded in the first place.
“I didn’t like the fact that we had to \u200bhave a political twist to this \u200bdecision,” said Scott. “I thought it was \u2060enough that FIFA should just review it without a political push, but I understand that Trump is gonna be a fan of the USA, and he’s gonna want to do what he’s gonna do.”
His friend Cutts said Seattle\u2019s left-leaning \u200bpolitical views did not transcend sports.
\u201cSeattle\u2019s a lot more patriotic than people think. I think we’re obviously all here \u200bto support the \u2060team first,\u201d he said. “And that we have the best players on the field and on the pitch, that’s the best thing for the fans.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A city known for angry protests, grunge and wearing head-to-toe black was transformed \u200binto a harmonious sea of red, white and blue on Monday.Not even the intervention of President Donald J. Trump could divide United \u200cStates fans in Seattle ahead of the country’s World Cup last-16 match against Belgium. As Trump drew global criticism for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4236,2057,2968],"class_list":["post-16639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-blue","tag-city","tag-red"],"yoast_head":"\nA blue city shakes off politics over US forward Balogun's red card controversy - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=16639\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A blue city shakes off politics over US forward Balogun's red card controversy - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A city known for angry protests, grunge and wearing head-to-toe black was transformed \u200binto a harmonious sea of red, white and blue on Monday.Not even the intervention of President Donald J. 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