How FIFA's Stunning Red Card Reversal Happened

It might be the biggest surprise of this year's World Cup, and it didn't happen on the field. The soccer universe is still buzzing over FIFA's unprecedented decision to let US star Folarin Balogun play Monday night against Belgium even though he received a red card in his last game. The decision came after President Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino. More details and fallout:

• On Monday morning, the governing body of European soccer said FIFA "crossed a red line" in overturning the red card, reports AFP. "Sometimes rules are open to interpretation," declared the Union of European Football Associations. "In this case not." Belgium's team previously expressed its disbelief and said it was considering its next steps.
• The US push to overturn the penalty started before Trump's call on Thursday, reports Axios. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Andrew Giuliani, the White House point man for the tournament, enlisted lawyers immediately after the US game against Bosnia and led the effort.
• What followed, Politico reports, was a four-day push involving Oval Office calls, legal arguments, and behind-the-scenes diplomacy. US Soccer filed a formal appeal, while Giuliani and allies (including hedge fund manager and US soccer donor Steve Goodwin) dug into the record of Brazilian referee Raphael Claus, per the New York Times.

• Trump then called Infantino—a longtime Trump supporter—to ask about the penalty. White House and FIFA officials are stressing that Trump did not explicitly ask the FIFA chief to overturn the call, and that Infantino made no promise to do so. "If Trump had put his thumb on the scale and achieved this result, he would have a field day bragging about it," one adviser tells Axios.
• Still, here is how Damian Paletta at the Wall Street Journal sums up the fallout: "Did Trump just save the U.S. men's team? Or did he put an asterisk on any future games they might win in this World Cup?"
• FIFA says the decision was made independently by its 18-person disciplinary committee, but it has not provided details on whether it was decided by a vote. The decision to issue the red card had plenty of critics because the play looked accidental, but most thought that it would be impossible to overturn.