Latest

Donald Trump’s Involvement Linked to Recent Sporting Defeats

The US men’s soccer team’s World Cup exit follows controversial intervention by Donald Trump, adding to a pattern of sporting misfortunes coinciding with his presence.

Jul 8, 2026, 5:53 PM Guardian US

Donald Trumpperson World Cupevent USgeography Donaldtopic Before Trumpperson Nationals Parkperson Washington Nationalsperson Folarin Balogunperson Gianna Infantinoperson Houston Astrosperson World Seriesperson Recent Sporting Defeatsperson

Dig Deeper

Ask the newsroom to chase missing context.

Turn this on, then tap a highlighted entity or source phrase in the article.

After recent events, the support and intervention of Donald J Trump have been added to the list of things said to bring bad luck. Over the weekend, Trump personally asked FIFA president Gianna Infantino to overturn a red card given to US men’s soccer team star striker Folarin Balogun. The red card was controversially reversed, sparking uproar in the global football community and allowing Balogun to play against Belgium on Monday.

Before Trump’s intervention, the US team was enjoying arguably their best World Cup run in decades. However, following the reversal, the team collapsed and was eliminated from the tournament after a 4-1 defeat.

This incident is part of a growing pattern where sporting defeats seem to follow Trump’s involvement. For example, during the NBA finals in June, the New York Knicks were on a 13-game winning streak until Trump attended game three, after which they suffered their first loss in weeks. Additionally, when Trump served as grand marshal for a racing event in 2020, the race was suspended after just 20 laps due to rain, postponing it until the next day for only the second time in history.

Trump also spent a late October night during his first term at Nationals Park in Washington DC watching the Washington Nationals play the Houston Astros in the World Series.

These events have led some observers to suggest that where Donald Trump goes, sporting defeat follows.

Sources

Guardian US

Reader Comments

Join the discussion

Loading comments.

Compare Coverage

Left-weighted source mix

1 source / emerging

1 reviewed source contribute to this publication-level source-mix readout.

Left 1 Center 0 Right 0 Unrated 0

Guardian US

Left -70

The curse of Donald Trump: where he goes, sporting defeat follows

Factuality: Not reviewed yet
Ownership: Unknown
Profile: 10% complete

Read original Captured Jul 8, 2026, 5:40 PM

Source-balance is publication-level context. It is not an article truth rating.

Guardian US Captured Jul 8, 2026, 5:40 PM · Original story

Left-weighted source mix 1 of 1 source reviewed

-70

Reviewed source ratings are weighted by confidence. Unrated sources stay visible but do not affect the score.

1reviewed 0unrated 1source

Guardian US Editorial review / 60% confidence Left -70

Bias detector 23/100

Bold News detected low framing pressure from source perspective around Left-weighted source mix, which could steer readers toward the perspective of the rated source mix.

Guardian US35/100 / bias -70

Article weight system 23/100

Overview: This article shows limited framing pressure in the available source text. The US men’s soccer team’s World Cup exit follows controversial intervention by Donald Trump, adding to a pattern of sporting misfortunes coinciding with his presence.

View full methodology

Collect attached source records, extracted paragraphs, article text, source ratings, named entities, and framing signals.
Source mix starts with 1 reviewed of 1 attached source; reviewed feed scores are confidence-weighted on the -100 to +100 scale.
Framing pressure is 23/100 from 1 detected cue: loaded terms, negative adjectives, timeline/title wording, uncertainty, causal claims, opinion markers, and source perspective.
Negative adjective/framing count is 0 for the available source text.
Timeline/title wording did not add pressure for this article.
Named entities and article tags identify relevance; they help attach cues to people, places, organizations, and topics, but they do not create the bias score by themselves.