The only thing more riling than a referee’s interference in a sports event is a politician’s. How to kill America’s goodwill in the World Cup: Wave a “red card” under the nose of Donald Trump. Let him go to work, by putting in a call to his good friend Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, to inquire about the suspension of Team USA’s top scorer. Have the player’s suspension magically lifted just in time for the next big game. Gin up such a feeble procedural explanation for the sudden reversal that the entire sporting globe becomes incensed over the garbage-y scent of an inside job.A team should have to beat just 11 men to win a World Cup match, not 11 men and a referee, and certainly not 11 men, a referee, a FIFA bureaucrat, and an American president. But that is now the perception of Team USA’s home-field advantage: that the host will do anything to win on this soil, including applying pressure, by the president and members of his administration, to overturn officiating.The red card issued against Folarin Balogun for stepping on an opponent’s ankle in a match against Bosnia and Herzegovina last week may have been a terrible call. But FIFA’s regulations couldn’t be clearer, in both its rule book and a separate set of World Cup tournament directives. A red card means automatic suspension for the next game, with no appeal. Balogun should have been out for tonight’s round-of-16 match against Belgium. Instead, FIFA declared yesterday, he is merely on probation and will play.[Read: When France plays soccer, you can’t look away]What did the president say when he called Infantino, who has groomed Trump like a pet, renting an office in his New York Trump Tower, and giving him a “peace prize”? Trump said he merely asked Infantino to “review” the red card “because I didn’t think it was a foul” and it was a “horrible” decision by the ref. But we know how these kinds of calls from Trump have gone in the past. Something like this: “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.”To Belgian coach Rudi Garcia, the unexpected reversal landed like an “April Fools’” joke. The Belgium federation professed itself “astonished.” Even American players wondered if the news was an AI hoax, initially. The last time that FIFA allowed a red-carded competitor to appear in the next game of a World Cup was 1962, when Brazil pressured the host, Chile, to permit Garrincha to play in the final match after he had kicked an opponent in the semifinal. The former England captain turned commentator Wayne Rooney labeled yesterday’s reversal “an absolute disgrace.” Soccer’s governing body in Europe, UEFA, issued an incredulous statement this morning saying that the decision crosses a “red line.”Everyone hates lousy officiating—and some of the calls in this World Cup have been infuriatingly lousy. What’s so aggravating about a referee’s whistle is the sudden intrusion of a bystander. It interrupts the flow on the field and suggests that someone other than the skilled participants might decide the outcome. “Stay out of it!” you want to scream. This is what makes Trump’s phone call so much worse than the ref’s bad call. The remaining teams and their fans are left to believe that their competitive fate could be determined not by a ball’s bounce or a referee’s call, but by an erratic head of state. These teams are prey not just to whistle, but to whim.[Read: Trump played soccer once]The World Cup will always include unjust calls and bad breaks. Balls bounce off goalposts at crazy angles. The refs cannot follow every heel-toe and instep. Soccer is a low-scoring game, and one of rough justice. The great teams, such as France or England, generally accept this, and understand that to win, they will have to surmount some adversity, including error and tough luck. That’s what makes a World Cup title so desirable. But Trump’s call to Infantino creates a whole new level of adversity—the kind that most teams have little power to overcome. You can’t beat a host country’s president if he’s in league with the organizers, and if Infantino won’t uphold his own rules.Last night, England lost one of its defenders, Jarell Quansah, to a red card during its 3–2 victory over Mexico in a brilliantly fought game. Can someone appeal to Trump about that one? England coach Thomas Tuchel didn’t agree with either red card, but he was more unhappy about the absolute hash Trump and Infantino have made of the rule books. “Who overturns this decision then, and when and on what grounds?” Tuchel asked reporters after the game, adding, “Where does this start and where does this end?”It will end with lingering suspicion. FIFA, many of whose officials have gained a reputation over the years for doing business through offshore shell companies and suitcases of cash, has never been the sweetest-smelling body. Thanks to Trump’s phone call, the tournament is tainted with a certain stench. No matter who wins, FIFA will have trouble getting rid of the stink.