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" And you want to see a game with your best players. You don't want to say, how would you feel if I took Messi out? Look, he ran into somebody. Or took Ronaldo. Ronaldo, you bumped into somebody, we're going to take you out of the game. He's great. Or Harry Kane. Harry Kane, we're going take you out of game, Harry, because you happened to hit somebody a little bit harder than. You can't do that. If you would have taken him out, I think it would have really stained this incredible champion.
"We've got to have our best players and Belgium's got a great team, by the way. We've got to have our best players and they have to have their best and, if we win or we lose, it's fair. Otherwise let's say we lost him and we lose the game, it would be a terrible thing. So, I think they made a really brilliant decision. I think the referee's call was horrible. Nobody talks about that. They talk about the red card like it's fine.
"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've got to be kidding. This guy just hands up, OK, your best player's not going to play next week or in the next game. I said wow, that's a lot of power, that's terrible. But then I looked at his past and it wasn't so great."
Asked if he will speak to the Belgian prime minister before the game, POTUS replied:
"I didn't think of it but I would. He's a good man. I will tell you this. The people in Belgium, if they win the game, they can be very proud. If they would win the game with a player missing, it would have been a different feeling. You can't do that. And I'm very glad.
"All I did was ask for a review. I didn't say, 'You have to do this'. This man is a smart, tough man. Gianni Infantino is a smart, tough man and his stock has gone through the roof because the job he's done has been great. And I feel we have to have all the best players on the field. We can't take the best players."
ENDS
David Smith
Guardian News & Media
Mon. July 6, 11:42 AM
https://x.com/WHPressPool/status/2074159371622219987

White House Press Pool Reports @WHPressPool - WH in-town pool report #9/ Rose Garden Club Lunch
Pool was taken to the paved Rose Garden where there are around 25 tables with white tablecloths, silver cutlery, drinking glasses, metal bread baskets and yellow roses. Each table is under a white and yellow striped umbrella and has four lunch guests. Waiters are wearing black jackets and bow ties.
POTUS emerged from the Oval Office at 11.51am as Lee Greenwood’s ‘God Bless the USA’ boomed from loudspeakers among the roses. All the guests stood and applauded.
Standing at a lectern with the new bell to his right, POTUS began by praising Greenwood and asserting: “We won three elections with that song.” There was an amused murmur from a guest or two.