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Megan Rapinoe put blame on President Donald Trump for the U.S. mens soccer team's World Cup loss on Tuesday, saying the president's involvement killed the team's underdog vibe in the tournament.
"The Daily Show" host Desi Lydic asked Rapinoe about the red card given to U.S. player Folarin Balogun in their Round of 32 match, which was eventually suspended. Trump admitted to calling FIFA President Gianni Infantino to ask for a review of the red card.
"How do you think that affected the men's team?" Lydic asked Rapinoe.
"Certainly not well, it didn't give them the boost, maybe, that they were thinking it would or that Trump was hoping that it would," she responded. "I don't know. It seemed like it kind of like, threw them off their game."
Former professional soccer player, Megan Rapinoe, attends the game between the Seattle Storm and the Indiana Fever at Climate Pledge Arena on June 24, 2025, in Seattle, Washington. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images; Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images)
"But it didn't go well. They had, like, such a good vibe," she added. "I feel like they had, like, the underdog kind of vibe going. And then you-know-who got involved, and everyone was like, nope. No. We don't like it. And then, obviously, Belgium was like, 'No, we absolutely can't lose to this team now.'"
Rapinoe, who won two World Cup titles with the women's national soccer team, said she didn't know the rules and wasn't a referee.
"No other president in history could have pulled off the historic feat that President Trump delivered for the American people and the world. Thanks to his bold vision and decisive leadership, the 2026 FIFA World Cup generated billions of dollars in revenue, created a massive economic boost across host cities, and delivered a safe, secure, and seamless experience for millions of fans and athletes from around the globe. It will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest and most successful sporting events in history," White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Rapinoe said during her podcast "A Touch More: The Beautiful Game," that Trump's involvement was a distraction.
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President Donald Trump and FIFA president (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) Gianni Infantino talk in the Oval Office of the White House after signing an executive order for a task force related to the FIFA World Cup, in Washington, D.C., on March 7, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP)
"I think the distraction got to the team for sure in some type of way. Whether it was, you know, this red card situation, whether it was being in a public discourse with this president, all of the, you know, shenanigans and chaos that comes with the feelings on both sides of that. Whether you agree with it or not it's — it's just like it's a lot to contend with," Rapinoe said.
"So, not only does this team not have like a core of older players who are used to that, but none of these players talk about anything ever, like for the most part," she continued.
"I think in men's football, just like in general, there's not a lot of players who are choosing to use their platform or to, you know, broaden their scope of pressure and responsibility," she said.
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Former U.S. women's national team player Megan Rapinoe gave her take on the U.S. men's team's World Cup loss to Belgium. (Soobum Im/USSF/Getty Images)
The U.S. men's national team lost to Belgium in the Round of 16 match following the red card controversy.
Balogun told CBS after the loss that there was a lot of outside noise leading up to it.
"My initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team, but when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy, and I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves, because it is something that is so unique," Balogun told CBS in mid-July.
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"The closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could, but it was difficult. A lot of outside noise and that’s hard to avoid," he added.
Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.
