Spain defeats Portugal 1-nil, as Cristiano Ronaldo played his last World Cup match. Belgium win 4-1 against host nation USA, which means all host nations, including Canada and Mexico are out of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ tournament. US President Donald Trump admits he personally intervened with FIFA over US player Folarin Balogun's previous red card suspension. Human rights group FairSquare calls for his intervention over this issue to be investigated as a breach of FIFA's rules on political neutrality. But FIFA President Gianni Infantino says the disciplinary committee is independent and he had no involvement in the decision. Join your host Haylena Krishnamoorthy for this episode of World Cup Daily | The 90+ Podcast, as she talks to sports law expert to discuss the red card controversy, and Article 27.
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts.
TRANSCRIPT:
Heartbreak for Ronaldo - how did the Spain-Portugal match unfold?
An unprecedented FIFA decision leaves them in the spotlight.
Did US striker Folarin Balogun play against Belgium today?
And are all three host nations now out of the World Cup?
This is SBS News World Cup Daily, The 90+ Podcast, where we bring you the stories from on and beyond the pitch. And I'm your host, Haylena Krishnamoorthy.
Portugal's dream of a first-ever World Cup title is over.
It took until stoppage time for Spain to finally find the breakthrough.
Mikel Merino's late winner sealed a dramatic 1-nil Round of 16 victory - and ended Cristiano Ronaldo's World Cup career.
After the match, the 41-year-old confirmed this was his final appearance at football's biggest tournament, although he stopped short of announcing his retirement from international football.
"Well it's normal, sad to be leaving the World Cup like this, but as mentioned in the press conference yesterday, I gave it my all, and I gave it my best so I leave with a clear conscience right? That's football, that's the life of a footballer, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and you have to keep going, it's true that it's my last World Cup, yes but after this I'll have time to think, be with my family, not make rash decisions, and move on with life."
Ronaldo says he leaves the World Cup with a clear conscience, knowing he gave everything for Portugal.
He also paid tribute to coach Roberto Martínez, describing him as both a great manager and a great person, saying the squad leaves the tournament with its heads held high.
The defeat closes an extraordinary World Cup chapter.
Ronaldo leaves as the first player ever to score in six different World Cups - and the second-oldest goalscorer in tournament history, behind Cameroon's Roger Milla.
For Spain, attention quickly turned to the next challenge.
Coach Luis de la Fuente singled out teenage star Lamine Yamal, saying the 18-year-old produced one of the most important performances of his career.
"For me, Lamine (Yamal) played one of the most important matches of his life today. And regardless of whether he was brilliant or not, for me it was one of the matches that has helped him most in his continued development. He’s worked incredibly hard. Nuno’s (Mendes) injury is surely down to the high standards Lamine has set for him. We don’t know for sure, but normally when someone suffers that sort of injury, it’s because they’re pushing themselves to the very limits of their physical capacity. And Lamine did a spectacular job today."
Meanwhile, Spain's midfielder and goal scorer Mikel Merino called it one of the happiest days of his life, saying that only a few months ago, injury had left him wondering whether he'd even make the tournament.
Back in Madrid supporters celebrated long into the night.
And here in Sydney, SBS captured the dramatic moment Spain scored at a Portugal supporters' watch party in Marrickville.
At this venue in Marrickville, there were cut-outs of Cristiano Ronaldo and the late Portugal player, Diogo Jota.
Elsewhere, the tournament's biggest controversy unfolded before Belgium even kicked off against the United States.
Belgium eventually won comfortably, defeating the hosts 4-1 to book their place in the quarter-finals.
This now means, all three tournament co-hosts have been eliminated from the tournament.
Belgium's Charles De Ketelaere scored a double to open their win.
Substitute Romelu Lukaku scored the fourth goal for Belgium, in added time.
"That falls to Lukaku and he will find the net. He so often has his say. He helps the Belgians make their way to the quarterfinals of the World Cup finals. (cheering) A goal scored by the Belgium, but in a sense created by the United States of America."
But much of the attention centered on US-striker Folarin Balogun.
Balogun had been sent off in the previous round against Bosnia and Herzegovina and was due to serve an automatic one-match suspension.
Instead, FIFA suspended that ban under Article 27 of its disciplinary code - a provision that has never previously been used to defer a World Cup red-card suspension.
Balogun himself had earlier said the red card was something he had to accept, but the USA players and head coach Mauricio Pochettino welcomed the decision, calling the punishment "too big" for an unintentional foul.
The decision followed claims by US President Donald Trump that he'd personally intervened.
Ahead of the match, Trump defended FIFA's decision.
''But all I did, all I did, I asked for a review because I didn't think it was a foul. And, you know, again, I'm good at this. If I didn't think it was a foul, I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a that was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that, you know, would be different. And I think it's I think it's a terrible if they wouldn't allow, you know, a top player, maybe the best, maybe among the best players on the team to play. I think it would have had a big stain and I related just that feel. I didn't tell him what to do. I can't tell them what to do. But, and I don't believe he made the decision. I think it was a committee that made the decision. And they made the right decision because, number one, it wasn't a foul. And you want to see a game with your best players."
Questioning how the football world would feel without key players.
"How would you feel if I took, you know, we take, Messi out with low, you know, he ran into somebody or we took Ronaldo. Ronaldo. He bumped into somebody. We're going to take you out of a game. He's great. Well, Harry Kane, Harry Kane, we're going to take you out of the game, Harry, because you happen to hit somebody a little bit harder than you can't. You can't do that. If you would have taken him out I think I think it would have really stained this incredible champion(ship). We got to have our best players and they've got. Belgium's got a great team, by the way. We have our best players and they have to have their best and if we win or we lose, it's fair."
The US President, condemning the referees decision.
"Otherwise let's say we lost them and we lose a game. It would be a terrible thing. So I think they made a really brilliant decision. I think the referee's call was horrible and nobody talks about that. They talk about the red card like it's fine. Nobody talks, the referee's decision to red card. I didn't know what the hell a red card was when I found out. I said, you got to be kidding. This guy just hands up, okay, your best player is not going to play next week or in the next game. I said, wow, that's a lot of power. That's terrible."
The move has sparked criticism across the world of football.
European football's governing body, UEFA earlier said FIFA's decision on Folarin Balogun crossed a red line, and endangers the integrity of the game.
Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA), also referred to the move as a direct contradiction of the competition regulations.
Human rights group FairSquare has called for US President Donald Trump's intervention over this issue to be investigated as a breach of FIFA's rules on political neutrality.
But FIFA President Gianni Infantino says the disciplinary committee is independent and he had no involvement in the decision.
Sports law expert, who's also a Senior Researcher at the Asser Institute, Professor Antoine Duval says the decision breaks with FIFA's own previous practice.
He says while Article 27 does exist it's historically been used in very different disciplinary cases.
"So it feels like FIFA has made an exception to its own practice at least, if not to its own needs. For the purpose of pleasing Donald Trump. And this is a problem in the context of an organisation that is supposed to regulate fairly and without any privileges being allocated to host countries or otherwise, global football."
And not to overturn automatic suspensions for red cards during a World Cup.
"This is the first case in which player, who has gotten a red card during the tournament, is, then allowed to play the following game, on the basis of a provision that was never used for that purpose in the past, which allows the disciplinary committee of FIFA to suspend the application of a potent offer sanction, and in this case, they have decided to suspend the application of the one match ban."
He argues that when an unprecedented decision follows claims of political intervention..
"What happened in principle, what is particularly noticeable is, is just that this is not, It's not even standard practice. It's never seen before. And the fact that it has been done in the context of at least what is claimed as an intervention, from the US president and the US administration, is, worrying(from) fairness perspective."
It also inevitably raises questions about whether FIFA's judicial bodies are truly independent.
"Article 27 allows a FIFA judicial body, to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure. It's meant to be applied also in general to suspensions that are issued in particular in ethics cases, in match fixing cases, doping cases, in cases that are, probably of a different nature."
And he says it's a much deeper problem than just the application of Article 27.
"One of the main issues that we have, is that the bodies that are taking those decisions. are not really independent from the FIFA executives. And we know that in the past, Gianni Infantino, already tried in 2017 to influence decisions taken by the FIFA ethics body, taken by the FIFA governance committee, and that led to the resignation of a number of members of those committees."
And he questions FIFA's stance.
"FIFA's governance is very much under the control of the FIFA president, the FIFA council. And that there is very little separation of powers and very little, in fact, independence, from the side of the FIFA judicial body. And this leads necessarily to suspicion, and in addition, through the fact that the use of an article that is out of the ordinary, also contains that suspicion. So it's important to see this case not only for its narrow, relevance to the current World Cup, but it's a deeper issue in terms of the good governance of FIFA, and this calls for, profound reform of, of that body."
SBS has contacted FIFA for a response.
Elsewhere, the World Cup quarter-final line-up is beginning to take shape.
Norway produced one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, knocking out five-time champions Brazil with a 2-1 victory.
Erling Haaland scored twice, while Brazil's defeat also marked the end of Neymar's international career.
England survived a late scare to beat Mexico 3-2.
Jude Bellingham scored twice before England held on despite finishing the match with ten men.
France edged Paraguay 1-nil to secure its place in the quarter-finals.
Morocco also advanced after ending Canada's World Cup campaign.
That means Spain and Belgium now join England, France, Morocco and Norway in the final eight—with the remaining quarter-final places still to be decided.
I'll be back with you tomorrow, with the latest on Argentina's match against Egypt and Switzerland facing Colombia.
To catch up on the latest, you can head on to SBS On Demand.
Stay tuned for the latest at the World Cup Daily | The 90+ Podcast.
And to get the latest World Cup news, check out SBS News Headlines, wherever you get your podcasts.
It appears to be the first time since 1962 that a red card during a World Cup didn’t result in a suspension.
