Folarin Balogun saw red and was supposed to miss the round of 16 against Belgium, but overnight FIFA erased his suspension. The reason? Donald Trump personally called Gianni Infantino to request a review. Yes, just like that.
Oliver Kahn, German goalkeeping legend and world champion in 2002, did not stay silent. With the irony of someone who has already seen it all in football, he proposed his own “historical review”: that FIFA erase Michael Ballack’s yellow card in the 2002 semifinal, the same one that kept him out of the final against Brazil.
And he went further: if we are going to rewrite the past, then they should replay that final too. Kahn was not seriously asking for anything, but he left a question hanging in the air: if power can change the rules for some, why not for everyone?