Humiliated Trump 'will surely go down' with the USMNT after World Cup exit: op-ed

President Donald Trump has tied his own fortunes to the U.S. men's soccer team and "will surely go down" with them, i Paper political editor James Ball argued in an op-ed Tuesday, hours after Belgium knocked the United States out of the World Cup it is co-hosting.

The US lost 4-1 to Belgium in Seattle on Monday night, a defeat that eliminated the team and left all three host nations, the US, Canada and Mexico, out of the tournament. Belgium's official account trolled the result online with a photo of celebrating players captioned "Overturn this."

That taunt pointed to the controversy shadowing the match. Trump had phoned FIFA president Gianni Infantino days earlier to seek a review of the red-card suspension handed to US striker Folarin Balogun. FIFA then lifted the automatic one-game ban in a reversal that European soccer body UEFA said "crossed a red line," clearing Balogun to play. The US lost anyway.

Ball argued that Trump torched the goodwill the U.S. had built as tournament host and united fans worldwide in rooting against the American side, echoing how he has strained ties with European allies from Italy's Giorgia Meloni to Denmark and drawn anger abroad over the economic fallout of the Iran war. And, Ball wrote, Trump gained nothing for it.

Trump defended the call to reporters at the White House. "I asked for a review because I didn't think it was a foul," he said, insisting he never told FIFA what to do.

Ball said the usually outspoken Trump has suddenly gone quiet after the team's ouster.

"Donald Trump has never had any time for losers. However hard he works to ignore it, though, he cannot escape this one. He tied himself to the fate of the US team, and he will surely go down with them," Ball concluded.