USA have ‘tarnished’ ‘great PR victory’ with Folarin Balogun controversy – Keith Wyness
The USA government have “tarnished” the positive feeling towards this World Cup with their response to Folarin Balogun’s red card against Bosnia.
That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that FIFA should have handled the review of the forward’s suspension internally.
Balogun was cleared to play against Belgium on Tuesday despite his previous dismissal, after a phone call was made to FIFA president Gianni Infantino from US president Donald Trump.
Wyness believes that Trump’s actions have completely overruled the “great PR victory” that this summer’s World Cup was proving to be for his country.
Supporters from around the world have been enjoying the tournament at all levels, while the event has largely passed without negative incidents between fans.
The USA were beaten by Belgium in their last 16 clash, but that has done little to quell the controversy surrounding the government interference.
Keith Wyness: Gianni Infantino’s PR handling his ‘biggest mistake’
Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that FIFA’s “biggest mistake” in the whole saga is the way that Infantino has handled the PR.
He suggested that the suspension to the red card came out like a “presidential pardon,” and the final “look” of the verdict was all wrong.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, he made it clear that Trump’s actions have damaged the feeling towards this World Cup for good.
“Yeah, look, it's a huge story, and of course I followed every twist and turn. It was the look of the whole thing that was wrong,” he said.
“FIFA got this completely wrong from my point of view, in terms of the PR aspect of this. It came out to look like it was a presidential pardon, rather than the fact it was a FIFA committee that had decided this.
“They should have just done it internally if they were going to overturn the red card, but the way it looked was that it wasn't football making the decision; it was politics.
“Infantino definitely got the PR wrong, and that's his biggest mistake. I think there's probably a bit of a sigh of relief from the football world that Belgium got the result.
“America had a great PR victory with this World Cup, and now it's been tarnished in this way. That will now always be linked to this World Cup.”
Jarell Quansah ‘must be allowed to play for England vs Norway’
Ex-PGMOL chief and former FIFA referee Keith Hackett exclusively told Football Insider that England defender Jarell Quansah "must" be allowed to play in his country’s quarter-final against Norway on Saturday.
The former official believes that the Bayer Leverkusen man was rightly shown a straight red card during the win over Mexico on Monday, but believes that FIFA have now set a dangerous precedent with their Balogun ruling.
Hackett made it clear that their verdict in that case was “unacceptable” but believes the governing body must now follow their own example until the end of the World Cup.
The FA are currently weighing up an appeal against Quansah's suspension, while France are also doing the same over a yellow card shown to Michael Olise.