华尔街日报：厚颜无耻！特朗普施压国际足联，美国队员红牌停赛被暂缓

作者：华尔街日报      来源：一天一篇外刊

The game, held 2,400 miles away in Santa Clara, Calif., had been marred by a controversial red card for the Americans’ top scorer at this tournament, striker Folarin Balogun—and it meant he would be automatically suspended for the next match.

上周三，世界杯16强淘汰赛在加州圣克拉拉打响，这场比赛最大争议点是美国队头号射手、前锋弗洛林・巴洛贡吃到红牌，按照国际足联规则，他将自动禁赛无缘下一场对决。

That’s when senior Trump administration officials hatched a plan that would go down as one of the most audacious in the 96-year history of the World Cup. 

事发后第一时间，特朗普高层官员暗中炮制了一项计划，这项计划也成了世界杯96年发展史上最为胆大妄为的操作之一。

Never mind that soccer’s world governing body fiercely protects its role as the final arbiter of what happens within the white lines of the pitch, or routinely metes out draconian punishment for political interference. The White House was going to take it upon itself to turn a refereeing decision into a matter of state and reverse a call in a soccer match. And in FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the man Trump once called “the king of soccer,” officials knew they could count on a willing ally.

国际足联向来独立掌握赛场判罚的最终裁定权，但凡出现政治干预赛事的行为，都会重罚，但白宫对此全然不顾。美国打算将这次红牌判罚上升至国家层面，强行要求推翻比赛原有裁决。官员们心里清楚，特朗普口中“足坛之王”、国际足联主席因凡蒂诺，会站在美国这边提供配合。

Starting that night, Lutnick and Giuliani organized several phone calls with Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The suspension, they argued, wasn’t merely undeserved, it threatened to undermine the U.S. team’s chances when the Americans took on Belgium on Monday in Seattle for a place in the quarterfinals. 

知情人士透露，事发当晚，卢特尼克与朱利安尼就多次致电特朗普。他们认为，巴洛贡停赛处罚毫无道理，这会重创美国队的晋级形势。美国队将在西雅图迎战比利时，此战决出世界杯八强。

Trump, who was instrumental in bringing the World Cup to the U.S. and views its success as a matter of personal pride, didn’t want the ejection to cast a shadow over the tournament. So the president instructed his team to find a way to lift the suspension, the people said. Lutnick, Giuliani and other administration officials started recruiting high-powered, Trump-aligned lawyers to mount a legal challenge to the suspension. They discussed challenging FIFA’s use of slow-motion replay to decide whether Balogun’s stepping on an opponent’s ankle constituted a red-card offense. 

知情人士称，特朗普是促成美国承办本届世界杯的关键人物，赛事办得好不好直接关乎他个人政绩，因此他不希望这次红牌风波给整届赛事蒙上污点。总统随即授意下属想办法取消巴洛贡的禁赛处罚。卢特尼克、朱利安尼一众政府官员立刻联络多位有影响力、立场亲近特朗普的律师，打算针对这一禁赛裁决提起法律抗辩。众人计划从判罚依据入手提出异议：国际足联仅凭慢镜头回放，就认定巴洛贡踩踏对手脚踝的动作该出示红牌，这套判罚标准本身存在争议。

Infantino has ruled soccer’s governing body since 2016 and courted Trump for nearly as long. He has been a regular guest of the Oval Office and popped up alongside Trump at events ranging from a UFC fight in Miami to the Gaza peace summit in Egypt. And when the two men spoke, Trump urged Infantino to review the Balogun call. 

因凡蒂诺自2016 年执掌国际足联以来，便长期刻意拉拢交好特朗普。他时常出入白宫，还多次与特朗普共同现身各类公开场合，从迈阿密UFC格斗赛事到埃及加沙和平峰会都有二人同框画面。二人通话话期间，特朗普敦促因凡蒂诺复核巴洛贡那张红牌的判罚。

By the time Trump and Infantino spoke again days later, however, Infantino was ready to tell him that the suspension was being lifted, some of the people said. FIFA had deployed a little known provision, known as Article 27, which it says allows its Disciplinary Committee to exercise its discretion when reviewing sanctions.

几名知情人士透露，时隔数日特朗普与因凡蒂诺再度通话时，因凡蒂诺已告知这一停赛处罚将会撤销。国际足联启用了少有人知晓的第 27 号条款，该条款赋予纪律委员会在复核处罚时行使自由裁量权。

Not everyone took such a generous view. Soccer fans across the rest of the world cried foul over what they saw as a head of state putting his thumb on the scale—and forever tarnishing the integrity of the World Cup.

并非所有人都对支持这种做法。全球各地球迷纷纷斥责这种违规操作，在球迷们看来，一国首脑操纵赛事公平，此举将永久玷污世界杯的公正根基。

作者：华尔街日报      来源：一天一篇外刊