00:00Let's get more on this in FIFA's decision with Bloomberg senior reporter Randall Williams,
00:03who covers sports and the co-host of the Bloomberg Business, a sports podcast.
00:07Trump making the argument there, I guess, against red cards in general,
00:10saying it's so unfair to punish someone for a game that hasn't happened.
00:13But this is without precedent.
00:15Sure.
00:16I know we were talking about this in the break.
00:18It's happened going into the qualifying.
00:20But revoking or suspending a red card during knockouts?
00:23It's unprecedented.
00:25It's absolutely unprecedented.
00:26And as I said, as we spoke about before, this happened with Cristiano Ronaldo months ago.
00:30FIFA pushed some matches that he was supposed to be suspended for way off down the line.
00:34And the issue with that is that this is going to be Ronaldo's last tournament.
00:37Now, as it pertains to Flo Balligan, is that Flo, this is a round of 16 match.
00:44And he has the potential to impact this at a level that we haven't seen before for U.S. soccer.
00:51So the global thought of this is that Trump pressed his thumb on the scale and said,
00:55Gianni, can you please look at this?
00:57And they didn't alter this.
00:58So, so many questions emanate from this.
00:59First of all, Belgium is appealing.
01:01I mean, is there any point in them appealing, given that it was probably the president that,
01:04you know, talked to Infantino?
01:07Yeah.
01:07Can other countries now, you know, say, well, we deserve our red cards overturned?
01:11Was this, could this have happened even without President Trump input in the sense that
01:15it was a controversial red card in the first place?
01:17I do not believe that if President Trump had, if he had not made a call, the rule would
01:22have, he would, Flo would not be playing.
01:24Now, the question is, is England's, is England's prime minister going to now make a call because
01:28one of their players received a red card yesterday in what I would consider incidental contact.
01:33He touched the ball first and then his cleat went into his ankle afterwards.
01:36Yeah, but his cleat was like.
01:37It was a little farther up than Flo's.
01:39Flo's was definitely incidental.
01:40But the issue is with the rules.
01:42The issue is not, not anything else.
01:43Now, of course, the political side of things.
01:45When we were talking about the World Cup to begin with, it was concerns at the federal
01:49level with ICE.
01:50What would police presence look like?
01:52Now we're seeing rule changes.
01:53We're seeing someone literally press their thumb on the scale and say, Johnny, can you
01:56please go look at these rules again?
01:58And now Flo's going to be playing.
01:59So if you're an American, of course you're celebrating and you're happy today.
02:02But if you're everyone else, this is a problem.
02:04Can we do the VAR debate?
02:06Because I know you and I come in.
02:07Let's do it.
02:07OK.
02:08The president was talking about there.
02:09It's not fair to have it in slow-mo.
02:11But these refs can look at it at full speed.
02:13They get the context of both.
02:15I don't understand why people are so upset that it's in slow motion.
02:18I mean, surely you would hope, and maybe evidence suggests not, that these referees
02:22are smart enough to know when it is incidental contact.
02:25I think that the slower you look at something, the more you can convince yourself that contact
02:31was met with purpose.
02:32Just because of the fact that if you slow things down at 0.5 speed, it's like, ah, he
02:36could have moved his foot.
02:37But if you watch it in real time, someone trying to go for the ball, you might hit somebody
02:41on accident.
02:41By the way, Trump just, I just wanted to point out, Trump mentioned, saying that he
02:44didn't tell Infantino what to do in the Oval Office.
02:47Well, no, he never does.
02:48But he told him to review it.
02:48Yeah, he told him to review it.
02:50Told him he would like to see a certain outcome, potentially.
02:52But what is the problem with watching something back in slow motion?
02:55Every other sport does it.
02:56And if you're trying to figure out intent, don't you need to see, you know, the rolling
02:59steps up to that point?
03:00I think you do.
03:02But it can't be that slow motion is the ruling.
03:05There has to be a 50-50 split between real time and slow motion.
03:08And when the contact is incidental, then I think that you should not penalize someone
03:12as much as, you know, being suspended.
03:14And it's, again, it's an issue with the rules.
03:16But the rules are the rules.
03:17You should not have a political candidate coming in and pressing a thumb on the scale.
03:20Also, this probation thing, he can still play while on probation.
03:23So what does it even mean?
03:24Exactly.
03:27When Trump presses his thumb on the scale, the rules have no meaning, which is the argument
03:32from Belgium, which is the argument from UEFA and everyone else, which is like, what
03:35does a red card even mean anymore?
03:37Because, of course, England can do the exact same thing today.
03:40They can make some calls and try to appeal a decision, which I would think they might
03:44be unsuccessful for.
03:45I think that that probably will be the case.
03:47Look, as a USA fan, it's great to have Flo Balogin back.
03:50But as a fan of the sport, it's not great in itself.
03:54Can we just end here, before you go, Blue Owl, we learned that they have indeed been
03:59successful in getting a stake in the Cavs.
04:02We've seen pushback with other credit funds who've been experiencing issues, whether warranted
04:06or not, buying sports teams.
04:08I wonder if we might see any of the same pushback in Blue Owl, because of all the high-profile
04:12headlines now, they're going into the world of the NBA.
04:15I think the NBA is where they're comfortable.
04:17They understand that business.
04:18They've had, I think, the only exit in the NBA.
04:20And so with that in mind, they have to find the right franchises to, of course, invest
04:24in.
04:25And Cleveland's a good one.
04:26They have the surrounding real estate.
04:27They have the WNBA team coming.
04:29And so they're in a good spot.
04:30I will say, before we end, if the U.S. wins today, they will have to play potentially Spain,
04:35Portugal, and France.
04:36So yes, Flo is going to have a huge impact.
04:38Go for it, yeah.
04:39But they play Titans.
04:40They play Titans to come.
04:41No, it's true.
04:42I mean, it is a game-changing decision.
04:44It is.
04:45By the way, how was it at Norway, Brazil yesterday?
04:47The Norwegians are one of a kind.
04:50The Norwegians are one of a kind.
04:51Which game would you rather have been on?
04:52That one, or if you could have made it down to Mexico City?
04:55I mean, you want to be in a neutral environment, but Mexico City, even just playing it through
04:59the TV, the crowd was roaring the entire time.
05:01It's a shame that we didn't get penalties or something.
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