"They didn’t handle the pressure" - Megan Rapinoe claims Donald Trump drama caused USMNT's exit from FIFA World Cup

× Former USA women's national team star Megan Rapinoe has claimed that the off-field drama involving Donald Trump played a role in the USMNT's FIFA World Cup exit. The USWNT legend believes the squad struggled to cope with the added pressure that came from the President's involvement in Folarin Balogun's red card saga. Ad Balogun picked up a red card during USA's 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in their 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 32 encounter on July 2nd.

The striker was supposed to serve an automatic one match suspension, which would rule him out of the clash with Belgium in the Round of 16. However, Donald Trump came out to criticize the decision publicly, calling the red card "horrible". He later revealed that he spoke with FIFA President Gianni Infantino to request a review of the incident and FIFA's disciplinary committee subsequently rescinded the suspension.

This sent the football world into a meltdown as pundits and spectators took turns to scrutinize the move. Ad Trending The developments apparently gave extra momentum to Belgium who condemned USA to a 4-1 hammering and sent them crashing out of the tournament in the Round of 16. Sharing her feelings about the elimination, Megan Rapinoe expressed that the attention surrounding President Donald Trump's comments before the match may have affected the players.

“I think the distraction got to the team for sure in some type of way," the former USWNT star said on her podcast: 'A Touch More: The Beautiful Game' (via talkSPORT). Ad "Whether it was, you know, this red-card situation, whether it was being in a public discourse with this president, all of the shenanigans and chaos that comes with that, the feelings on both sides of that. "Whether you agree with it or not, it’s just a lot to contend with," she added.

The 4-1 defeat to Belgium means that the USA have now failed to reach the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup yet again. Their last appearance in the quarterfinals came in 2002 where they lost to Germany 1-0. Ad How Donald Trump's USA fared at the 2026 FIFA World Cup Apart from Donald Trump making headlines for the wrong reasons for his involvement in the Folarin Balogun red card issue, it is fair to say that the USA had a near decent spell at the FIFA World Cup this year.

The Stars and Stripes kicked off the tournament with a convincing 4-1 win over Paraguay on June 13. They followed it up with a 2-0 win over Australia on June 19 before suffering a narrow 3-2 loss to Turkey in their final group stage game on June 26.After coming out as leaders of Group D, they edged past Bosnia 2-0 in the Round of 32 before falling to Belgium in their last game.

Overall, their campaign produced three victories and two defeats, with 11 goals scored and eight conceded. × Was this article helpful? Thank You for feedback Quick Links More from Sportskeeda Edited by Nived Zenith Former USA women's national team star Megan Rapinoe has claimed that the off-field drama involving Donald Trump played a role in the USMNT's FIFA World Cup exit.

The USWNT legend believes the squad struggled to cope with the added pressure that came from the President's involvement in Folarin Balogun's red card saga. Ad Balogun picked up a red card during USA's 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in their 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 32 encounter on July 2nd. The striker was supposed to serve an automatic one match suspension, which would rule him out of the clash with Belgium in the Round of 16.

However, Donald Trump came out to criticize the decision publicly, calling the red card "horrible". He later revealed that he spoke with FIFA President Gianni Infantino to request a review of the incident and FIFA's disciplinary committee subsequently rescinded the suspension. This sent the football world into a meltdown as pundits and spectators took turns to scrutinize the move.

Ad Trending The developments apparently gave extra momentum to Belgium who condemned USA to a 4-1 hammering and sent them crashing out of the tournament in the Round of 16. Sharing her feelings about the elimination, Megan Rapinoe expressed that the attention surrounding President Donald Trump's comments before the match may have affected the players. “I think the distraction got to the team for sure in some type of way," the former USWNT star said on her podcast: 'A Touch More: The Beautiful Game' (via talkSPORT).

Ad "Whether it was, you know, this red-card situation, whether it was being in a public discourse with this president, all of the shenanigans and chaos that comes with that, the feelings on both sides of that. "Whether you agree with it or not, it’s just a lot to contend with," she added. The 4-1 defeat to Belgium means that the USA have now failed to reach the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup yet again.

Their last appearance in the quarterfinals came in 2002 where they lost to Germany 1-0. Ad How Donald Trump's USA fared at the 2026 FIFA World Cup Apart from Donald Trump making headlines for the w