German fan here: It sucks that political drama is overshadowing how fantastic the US team actually is

Long-time US fan from Germany here. I love your country, I love this team, and I’ve been staying up all night watching your incredible run so far.

Let’s be real, the refereeing in the Bosnia game was terrible, and the red card for Balogun should never have happened. But I also can’t pretend this whole situation doesn’t leave a really bad taste in my mouth. Not because I want the US to lose, quite the opposite. There are plenty of Europeans like me who want to see football grow and love seeing the US earn the respect on the world stage that they deserve.

That’s why it sucks seeing the story become "Trump called Infantino and then the suspension disappeared". Whether that’s the full story or not, that’s what a lot of people are going to remember. I also think it’s a shame this has turned into an Americans vs Europeans thing.

To me, the blame lies entirely with FIFA’s terrible, inconsistent reffing and their willingness to play favorites for political reasons. And now everyone is fighting each other instead of asking why this organization keeps creating these situations.

For what it’s worth, I genuinely think this US team was good enough to beat Belgium even without Balogun. That’s almost what disappoints me the most. They’ve been playing some fantastic football, and now there’s this completely unnecessary cloud hanging over it just because FIFA couldn’t be competent for once.