Casual sports observers often wonder why the sport of Soccer has never been successful in the United States. This story is a big picture example of exactly why.
The country of Belgium is filing an appeal with FIFA World Cup organizers to stop the United States from playing the game of soccer with their best players. You just cannot make this stuff up, folks.
Only in the sport of EU soccer can a bureaucratic agency file a parliamentary objection with the intent to force the official bureaucratic agents of the soccer administration, FIFA, to block a team from fielding their best players – because the business of the bureaucracy is more important than sportsmanship.
SEATTLE (AP) — The Belgian soccer federation is demanding explanation from FIFA about a decision to let U.S forward Folarin Balogun play at the World Cup despite getting a red card in his previous game.
Belgium takes on the United States later Monday for a spot in the quarterfinals.
The Belgian federation said it has still not received either “FIFA’s decision or any explanation regarding this matter. In these circumstances, it has no choice but to challenge the player’s eligibility for the upcoming match.” {LINK}
Here comes the really funny part. All the soccer nations continue to be befuddled why soccer has never made progress within the American sport psyche. Think about it.
Soccer is a ‘sport system’ bureaucratically designed to fail when contrast to a brutally honest American perspective on sport.
Soccer succeeding in America is the inverse to Liberty succeeding worldwide.
Soccer is the United Nations of sports.
If soccer is ever to succeed in America, the United States is lost forever!
Every time I see a player flop onto the ground screaming in agony and writhing around like he’s dying only to hop back up and continue to play moments later, I think how quintessentially European it is.
Exactly Charlie…..bunch of woosys….
P*s*y*!!!
I think it’s spelled WOOSIES. 🤪
wussies.
Great acting on the field. You think they’re done….
I am Belgian born but never took to soccer.
I am rooting for our American Team!!!
yea, soccer is a sport that rewards feigned victimhood, subversive behavior, and wimpiness. I played soccer in my youth and got repeatedly flagged for kids bumping into me and falling over on purpose.
also check out the story of wrestler Cary Kolat in the olympics. he got screwed by politics.
I guess you weren’t watching the France/Paraguay game. Or many other games either. It’s been pretty physical out there.
Soccer is cross country with a ball.
Especially egregious with Paraguay—they were little more than thugs!
This is precisely why I cannot watch soccer. Especially since the only sport I have any interest in is Ice Hockey.
To borrow Sundance phase, FIFA is the inverse of NHL
NHL=WWF(WWE) with rules
I’m a big NHL fan. Watching a soccer player flop and then watching hockey? It’s different worlds and hockey is the better one. Besides, if I want to watch people not score for 90 minutes, I can just go to a bar.
Hahaha!
That was me.
Flashback to the February Hockey win at the Olympics…
What, or just HOW would a European soccer player respond to taking a hocky stick to the face, losing a tooth in a bloody mess? Would they ‘play on’?
Given his natural flopping ability, I think LeBron James was born to play soccer.
He lacks the skills.
If LeBron James had chosen soccer, he would have been the greatest soccer player of all time. The GOAT.
He’s already the greatest flopper of all time. We all know that flopping is the greatest skill a soccer player can have. 😂😂
Participation awards with Purple Hearts, so inspirational to a continent that is willing to lose their national identities over diversity and CLIMATE CHANGE!!!! Their weakness is killing them while they sniff each other’s farts like mongrel dogs.
They took to the diktats of a little girl who knew nothing beyond “whosoever yells the loudest, wins.” She has grown up to be a loud mouthed useful idiot of the Euro-Communists. And Europeans pride themselves in being enlightened, even while they have given up their Countries to violent Islamist radicals.
FIFA should use Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance to carry them off field!!!
Can someone here imagine a running back, or receiver in American Football
‘flopping on the field’ in agony and pointing a finger at the opposing team? Every time I watch this on FIFA ‘Futbol” I wanna barf !! Is a class in dramatics and agonizing acting a prerequisite for being a Soccer player??
In my experience, these dramatic antics are *almost* exclusive to elite professional players.
It’s also quintessentially NBA.
Exactly it’s how the Euroweenies react to everything! Especially to anything President Trump or Putin says or does!! But just the opposite reaction of silence to anything said or crime committed by uninvited muslims!!! Rape and stabbings are just part of the muslims culture!!!! JMO
What a bunch of actors. Ridiculous sport.
It’s called SDS.
Soccer Derangement Syndrome.
This fits here.
“The True Europe”
This is an affirmation of European Christian civilization written by several conservative intellectuals and scholars in 2017.
36 short paragraphs
25 languages
https://thetrueeurope.eu/
This might be a better/easier to find version of the text: https://thetrueeurope.eu/a-europe-we-can-believe-in/
Belgium beat the brakes off this team in late March. Why do they need to whine?
They sure did. Bet the players don’t give a crap but their whiny bureacrats do.
Heck if I know. Belgium is really good, and the U.S. is unlikely to beat them in any case, although our offense has been world class lately.
They’re whining because it’s a World Cup game and the US team they’ll be facing today is far more dangerous than the one they faced in March. I don’t why they should be scared. The European “football” analysts have said for decades the US sucks at this sport.
Did you mean LeBron the flopper James is European?
very good, and very true!! LeBrunk = LeStunk
If he had finished his HS GED instead of going NBA pro maybe he would have found a more rewarding employment opportunity .
I thought he was Chinese.
They’re just mad because Trump made a phone call to get the US player reinstated.
they needed a group of folks to re-look at that because the red card was atrocious
If they were to “relook” at it then it wouldn’t fit their narrative.
They’d simply double down for they’ll never let facts get in the way of a chance to smear Americans/Trump/conservatives.
Such an obviously biased deliberate call. It shouldn’t have been a yellow card. I’ve watched more soccer in the last two weeks than I have in my entire 78 years. Now I know why I don’t watch it. The over the top drama kings are just too much. These hysterics would be laughed at in any of our major sports.
I must not be watching enough of the World Cup games because I haven’t seen any player get the “magic spray” yet.
The back of the REDCARD had an embossed PDJT Bitcoin emblem.
Yes, it was.
Bingo.
Sort it out on the pitch this evening.
Boring as can be to me. These players rolling around on the ground like they just got shot, then get up and play, running in seconds, as nothing even happened when you see the replay. Bunch of whiny fakers. Most of the time its acting. Sure, sometimes guys get broken legs and ankles, but its not like it happens every game. ….prima donna sport.
Compare it to hockey for a giggle. The men keep playing after getting teeth knocked out. ( See Team USA at the winter olympics ) Or horribly cut. The boys get up and get stitched up, and are back out on the ice pretty fast. They play after faceplanting into the glass or boards. They get up and skate off the ice, after getting a puck in the face, bleeding profusely. They get up and keep playing after getting hit on the open ice, by a crushing body check. Alpha male sport. Period!
Soccer is for lightweights in my honest opinion.
They pretend. It’s what beta male liberal eurotrash do for sport.
Back when the Atlanta Thrashers started up, somehow a choir member got a whole bunch of tickets and many of us trapse to the event. One of the players skate blade slashed the opponents face! Blood all over the ice!!! Same game the puck flew up into the stadium and a bunch of us had to duck to miss getting hit in the face!! Many of us wrote off attending in person again! Brutal sport!
Am enjoying the World Cup with family including my two brothers who played American Football.
My nephew played goalie in soccer and kicker and punter in football.
The diving and theatrics are part of the sport.
If it is not part of your metaphorical cup of tea oh well to each his or her own.
Without apology I have been enjoying this year’s World Cup immensely.
I agree with you
And thank you, President Trump! 😎
Hear, hear! The tournament has been great and we’ve especially enjoyed the visiting fans. I suppose I, too, am biased as I played from the age of five until university when I badly injured my knee as a walk-on at Div 1 university. My family was involved with the Dallas Cup and our professional teams, too.
Often the naysayers include those who have never played a weekend tournament championship
(or even contemplated scrimmaging on the hottest Texas afternoons 🥵), so they genuinely do not comprehend the caliber of athleticism and the incredible endurance required to perform at the higher levels.
Nor is it surprising that many deride the low scoring game as boring but too often as there is nothing better than a well played match that ends in a scoreless draw, especially if one is an underrated wild card.
Last World Cup, one player got a broken back.
The best part of soccer are the social media posts of the fans loving on America. Otherwise, meh.
100% agree with your comment. 👍🏻
don’t care for the “sport” of soccer myself,
but the fans and visitors have been terrific!
maybe we can offer Belgium some black market Ranch to make it all go away…😂🤣
The sport is unwatchable. Bodies strewn about in anguish. Fouls called a minute later.
What’s weird is the other “European” sport, cycling, they crash gushing blood and stripped half naked and they get up and insist they’re okay.
Europeans!
It was a bad call anyway. Also yesterday another bad red card call on England.
AND
then Mexico had ANOTHER 11 MINUTES to Try and Score to Tie / Possibly Win – BUT FAILED
Still Trying to Figure out the EXTRA TIME Guidelines. SEEMS VERY Arbitrary
Stoppage time.
Soccer requires a full 90 min be played, but the clock is always running. As I recall, one of the refs is the time keeper that tracks all the time that expires that is not actually “played”. So it is a bit arbitrary.
There is also extra time (overtime) to determine a winner.
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/soccer/news/extra-time-rules-world-cup-explained/4faecffed62158422c326af8
Yep.
All the slo-mo replays are misleading in that they only show after the BH player attacks from behind and elbows Balogun away and then throws his leg around in front of Balogun. The other player deserved a yellow card.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ussoccer/comments/1ulgvgo/watch_muharemovi%C4%87_narrowly_avoids_red_card_for/#lightbox
Yeah. Sorta like the match last night between England and Mexico, played in Mexico City.
England is winning 3-2, and the announcers are counting down to the end of the 90-minute match. “Three minutes left ….. two minutes thirty seconds left … less than a minute left.” The game ended. Mexico had not scored a goal to tie it up. SO ….. they added 11 minutes to the game.
Uh — what?
Soccer is the Henny Youngman joke of professional sports.
Patient goes to the doctor. Doctor gives him only a month left to live. Patient can’t pay his bill. Doctor gives him another 2 months.
They always add on the extra time. Not sure what your point is. The time is added on to insure they play the full 90 minutes. 90 minutes minus 11 minutes for theater and stoppage of brawls equals 79 minutes time played. So they add the extra 11 minutes on. Nothing unusual about that.
However, they should give yellow cards to players who are faking it and not injured.
FIFA DID give Brazil about 4-5 extra minutes yesterday…
In fact, that is a new rule, at least for taking a dive. Unfortunately, it’s not well enforced.
It’s called stoppage time. Come on man, do your research before you post.
Oh lighten up. It’s a dumb way to do it.
An explanatory post on exactly how the rescinding of the red card happened.
We researched FIFA’s rules.
Perfectly legal.
Belgium sounds “a-skeered”.
https://nypost.com/2026/07/05/sports/how-us-soccer-got-folarin-baloguns-suspension-overturned-including-trumps-phone-call/
FIFA’s Article 27.
Article 27 allows FIFA to suspend the implementation of a disciplinary sanction.
The sanction itself remains on force but does not have to be served immediately unless the suspension is later revoked.
The article allows FIFA’s judicial bodies to suspend implementation of all or part of the disciplinary sanction.
Belgium officials know this.
Be careful not to trip on the field over your lower lips…😎🇺🇸
We all know where those lower lips will be after they lose. Consolation BJ’s to each other as they cry.
I know next to nothing about soccer and its rules, but since the game (match? 🤔) is being played in my hometown of Seattle, I have watching the coverage.
The other issue, which the Post article did not mention, is that the official who made the controversial call, evidently has a history of the same, and is in fact under some kind of investigation?
I have loved watching the stories of the people visiting the US and discovering the “real” America. I would love to see President Trump awarding the World Cup Championship trophy to Team USA later this month, just because he would revel in it, and it would be another victory for our country to celebrate!!
The best, unexpected part of our hosting the World Cup, Mom.
Uplifted and joyful describe how I’ve felt watching those videos of visitors marveling at what I think we all tend to take for granted.
To see ourselves as others see us is a magnificent gift.
Gratitude is something we should all feel for the opportunity to experience the best of ourselves through the eyes of those who were lied to about America. Now they know.
Having played soccer for most of my adult life, I disagree. While the governing body (FIFA), is bureaucratic and authoritarian, the sport itself is very democratic. All it takes is a ball and a field. I have played pick up games where the goals were made of t-shirts placed on the ground. Contrast with american sports where much more equipment is needed (pads, helmets, baskets, a court, bats, etc.). It has also given me a better understanding of people/cultures from around the world, having played with people from at least 17 countries and 5 continents.
My home town is proud of Clint Dempsey, a player of great merit, local ma!!
You guys are a breed.
You can disagree and that is fine. It is CTH after all.
But I disagree with your assessment. How is it democratic? In what way? Because it only takes a ball, a field, and some cardio? What does that have to do with democracy? The whining, crying and acting is non stop.
Compare it real football, and hockey or Aussie rules football, and rugby. Those sports are much more appealing to me, personally…..Those sports are violent, and require tough men to do it.
If these players didnt fall to the ground pretending to be dying, and then get up quickly to keep playing, it would appeal to North American fans a heck of a lot more.
I have to say, Im still laughing at your post, and using democracy in your words. Its non sensical, friend.
I remember playing “softball” with a bat, a ball, and 3 kids (sometimes only 2!).
Various trees, bushes, rocks, or scuff marks in tne dirt were bases.
Batter was also the catcher.
Pitcher was also the infielder.
3rd kid, if there was one, was the outfielder.
Additional kids who wanted to join in were welcomed, and rules were modified as needed.
If you ticked off the kid who owned the bat or ball, game over until you worked out your differences.
Of course, this was the late ’50’s, and we were all free range kids.
Yup. Everyone was free range kids up through the early 80s. That’s when you started to see the leftist, nanny state kick in.
Proudly American Grown Free Range.
My childhood ❤️❤️
Those were the days…
Parents and neighbors encouraged kids to embrace and explore our free-range opportunities.
Fields of play were often on private property which the owner(s) were kind enough to allow mobs of children gone wild to occupy after initial pow-wows over rules of use were negotiated.
On a summer day the ole Schwinn could cover vast territories. Endless creeks could be explored. Red Ryder rifles barked. Mr. Wizard Science sets encouraged -checks statutes of limitations- never mind…
Which brings me to a universal pact in play in those days, in my neck of the woods, parents often gave neighboring adults permission to whup and/or report any misbehaving young’uns. So young’uns knew the established boundaries and acted accordingly.
Oh yeah, those were the best of days…
Our mom’s favorite words ” go outside and play”, “let’s rinse it off with the hose”, ” come in when it’s dark out”.
😂🤗❤️🇺🇸
We did that, too, same time frame.
remember the invisible runners if you got to first safe the invisible runner from your last at bat made it to second
Yes, high scoring games!
Here’s where the socialism part comes in.
Baseball wasn’t “fair”.
You picked teams, Somebody got picked last. Somebody had to bat last. Somebody had to play right field.
Somebody’s feelz might get hurt over the above. As we now know, but didn’t back then, hurt feelings are the worse thing that can happen to a person.
Let’s play soccer.
Just split the group in two.
Everybody run around, then we’ll suck oranges.
Little Matthew and little Melissa are running the wrong direction, who cares, no hurt feelings and everyone is participating ‘equally”.
Soccer was not a thing when I grew up. Liberal suburban women got it going when they were scared little Tommy might get hurt playing actual American football. I played countless hours playing sandlot football growing up without pads or helmets. No one died, just some cuts and bruises.
I did the same. Also played in an adult softball league. That didn’t make me contemptuous of other sports. I also despise the way a lot of players make a meal of getting knocked around, but that didn’t occur at our level.
My Nephew has Diagnosed Brain Damage Now and is Color Blind due to the Numerous Concussions from Playing Soccer.
Evidently He Wasn’t taught Proper Technique in ” Heading the Ball ” as a Defenseman.
Heard of Broken Ankles and Torn Ligaments because of Players getting Kicked / Tripped / Tackled during Attacking the Ball.
As a Volleyball Coach; Strength and Conditioning, Proper Techniques in Play ARE REQUIRED to Mitigate Injury.
Suburban ” Barbies ” are Clueless many Times.
It’s the politics of the professional sport that is the issue. Just as in our beloved sports which are being ruined by the political aspects.
Play on, have fun.
Yes, “soccer” is the most accessible sport in the world. Cool that kids all over the globe only need a ball to have fun for hours.
I coached my kids teams when they were 6-8 years old. Good exercise and fresh air. Not competitive or exciting.
I cannot watch the “professional” version for all the reasons everyone already stated.
However, I watched my 15 year old nephew play a few weeks ago – that was more exciting than the pros (or the little kids)
Yeah well, I remember kick ball back in the day.
Thanks from another long time adult recreational player. My experience was less broad than yours, but I loved the sport and worked to stay in condition in the off season. Ours was a church league, and we had a season in Spring and in Fall.
Sovereign individuals will always reject autocratic demands for compliance, whether it be to accept soccer or the metric system.
No one is demanding that anyone else “accept” soccer. As for the metric system–ugh!
This is the second (2nd) suspension of a “red card” in this FIFA round…..
DuckAI says….
“Cristiano Ronaldo received a red card during a World Cup qualifier in November 2025, which led to a three-match suspension. However, FIFA allowed him to play in the World Cup by deferring the suspension under a probationary period, setting a precedent for similar cases like Folarin Balogun’s.”
Enjoy…..
The Fifa rules for this World Cup state that a red card draws an automatic suspension. Snivelling for an exception to the rules is nothing to be proud about. The raw emotion expressed by the world’s soccer fans puts to shame the manufactured enthusiasm of canadian and american based sports.
And yet… watching the offending offense…. was what county people would call ……… B$ !
This “sport” is nothing more than Global Elitist flogging of any county that does not
think and talk like Europeans that are nothing, accomplish nothing and can’t seem to get
around to actually getting things done by “committeee”!
see my post below. Did you watch the said incident?
Yeah there was an obvious intent to injure involved. He wasn’t even close to playing the ball. He was at least 5 feet away from the ball yet he stamped on the back of his opponents foot. See for yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aYEmMFLlIVk
Retired top ref said wrong call and wrong process to arrive at wrong call. So other than that, you are right. Now, whether an appeal should change the sanction is another story. I can’t believe there isn’t an automatic appeal process for something that involves a future (as opposed to that game) sanction. Makes no sense. You can protect the integrity of the decisions on the field and the consequences at the same time.
there was no intent about it. the interpretation of ‘intent’ in FIFA’s eyes is like the WEF and climate change
With all due respect, you are wrong on this one. The player received a red card the previous game which comes with an automatic suspension. What is very unusual is that FIFA has stepped in to change that. There were less deserving red cards, without FIFA caring about it one bit.
I will likely be in the minority here but I like soccer. And I am enjoying the World Cup.
My sons played soccer. My grandson plays soccer. It’s a great game.
In every sport referees make questionable calls and the group overseeing the game (NFL, NCAA, WNBA, PGA) has crazy rules and procedures.
I don’t think the Red Card given to the USA player was deserved. I did not expect FIFA to over rule the call. Belgium has a right to protest apparently.
Does not matter to me what the ultimate decision on this is. I will be cheering for Team USA tonight. 🇺🇸
I played soccer along with football, baseball, and basketball. I was terrible at all of them, but soccer and basketball were my favorites.
They’re all just sports. Different sports appeal to different people. I think the more sports the merrier. It’s better than sitting around doing nothing. People need more exercise.
I never really understood how a game could be political, though I do think you could argue FIFA is anti-American. Though to be fair, I don’t know of any sports league that is pro-American.
Same here. In a N. Ca. High School almost 60 years ago, the Head Coach was a Swede who incorporated soccer into our PE classes. The JFK US Physical Fitness Program was the basis of his overall physical training regimen.
Same! Both my kids played club, travel and varsity soccer. We made many friends then that are still friends 30 years later. Cherish the memories ❤️. USA USA 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
Me too. Im enjoying watching the short replays of all the games. The flopping reminds me of the Gorgeous George wrestling days. But overall i like watching those replays. What bothers me is teams like France seem to have mostly foreign born players.
So i prefer to root for teams like Norway and Argentina who seem to have mostly all home grown players. Cheers!!!
Ivan Putski on the polish team Chief J Strongbow native american team ( with Liz cheerleading)
I enjoyed this world cup, it’s been wonderful.
The backbiting, Corrupt FIFA structure…..it all stinks. The diving and crying is a bit much.
Hey that red card was incorrectly called. Should have been a yellow at most. The full speed showed both guys in the air and collided. they ruled on the slowed down landing of Balugun’s foot. Total shite. The Croatia game was also a terrible outcome too.
FIFA will never have a great a tournament as they’re having now. Never again. USA USA USA
ALL THIS….. to cover the fact that the origin of the “red card” was as much fiction as the rest of the the “sport”!
I don’t usually watch soccer and watched the even were someone who’s face and eyes were three feet in front of his
foot and looking up field was somehow deemed malicious enough to warrant expulsion from two games!
THIS is why soccer and the feckless melodrama that it is has little chance of making it in America!
Hahahahaha! Touche’ !
ROFLOL!!!!
Not to mention soccer is absolutely the most boring sport ever to watch. Paint drying is more exciting.
𝗟𝗢𝗟!!! Folarin Balogun – “Nah bro I have the Trump card, I win.”
This Trump card always wins!
https://xcancel.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2073839009344762235#m
Soccer? Ni!
A third world endeavor fitting the ever more 3rd world EU
The solution is simple. Don’t support it and discourage those around you to play other sports. We have Baseball, Football, Basketball, Freestyle Wrestling, Lacrosse that will strengthen our youth.
When is a red card not a red card? When POTUS asks.
We wouldn’t have soccer at all had the schools not been force to support it.
In the early 70s soccer started to catch on. THEN the schools finally adopted it. My 8th grade science teacher got with soccers fan teachers in other schools and formed a junior high league. I played that first year. The school principals came on board after the first year, not vice versa.
Silly commentary – CTH hasn’t watched the NFL or NBA in a looong time.
Soccer is big at colleges in US. I watched a game at a college near me this year for the first time.
I enjoyed it and it was exciting to watch.
I am not interested in seeing professional soccer.
For those of you who live in Reolinda, as Rush Limbaugh use to say, if you travel to the EU you will feel like your at home.😂
Soccer is not “big” at colleges. I have attended a few college soccer games. They were poorly attended. Soccer is not even offered as a mens varsity sport at 1/3 of all D1 universities.
Big at clemson university bubba.
Interesting name
cats.
I’m probably in the minority here as I think the card was justified,
However that may be, there is precedent for red cards being suspended. It is rare, but it has happened before. The Belgian coach is just looking for an easy way forward as the US team is going to be tough for them to beat.
We watched the replay many, MANY times. Balogun’s eyes were always on the ball. Can’t anticipate which way an opponent’s feet or legs will go in a millisecond. Unintentional was our judgement.
Yellow card would have been more appropriate.
Immediate Red?
Something suspicious there we thought.
Wonder if their players will be told they’re not good enough to play the best US players as suggested by this block.
Better consider the US lost forever then Sundance because soccer has been the dominant sport foisted on America’s youth for over thirty years. All of those Saturday mornings across America, soccer mom and dads spend billions of dollars and millions of hours taking little Hunter and Alicia to all of the tournaments. Once you capture the youth there is no going back.
The tourney thing has been going on for at least 20 years in youth sports. Youth sports and now expensive and with many hours spent. I have coached youth baseball for over 10 years and it works the same way. The vast majority of youth soccer players are done by middle school and even more by high school.
For 40+ years, they grew out of it, though, otherwise it would already have become something here.
The foul was blatant. The red card was inappropriate. The fix was in. The ref was bought. It was all in place waiting for the right player to make the right foul to allow FIFA to deny the U.S. This was planned months ago.
quinn posted this comment yesterday that I thought it was interesting:
SOUNDS LIKE – the Official, referee Raphael Claus of Brazil , Who Gave the RED CARD was DRAWING TOO MUCH ATTENTION.
” … Claus was previously investigated by his home country due to a 2024 CPI parliamentary inquiry, which summoned the 46-year-old as a witness regarding match-fixing and sports betting. Multiple clubs, primarily Botafogo, raised concerns over Claus’ decisions and alleged patterns of irregular cards in Série A matches. ”’ ”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/fifa_world_cup/referee-raphael-claus-part-of-usmnt-red-card-controversy-investigated-in-brazil/ar-AA275tVA
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49243703/usa-folarin-balogun-red-card-bosnia-herzegovina-world-cup-2026
Well, Brazil lost yesterday so he need not worry about handing out any more cards…
For me, this explains everything. I was in a situation where watching the UK play Ghana was my only option. It was utterly ridiculous and I had to wonder, ” What even is that???”. 😂
If Belgian wins their appeal, I am not watching anymore.
Ditka got it right, “‘If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn’t have given us arms”
😂
https://x.com/natebargatze/status/2073845425325363246
Nobody knows! Nate did the meme, but with soccer.
Anyone know how the EUnuchs are handling this situation? I would guess they’re in a lather.
Soccer is “the sport of the future in America”, and it always will be!
I played soccer a lot in the 70s, because mom said I was too small for football. I know all the rules. What passes for soccer today is pathetic. That being said, I watched video of the incident which resulted in the red card for the “American” player. How foreign people are called Americans in the Olympics is another subject, entirely. The USA player clearly stretches his foot towards the back of the opposing player’s leg. Then he proceeds to rake his cleats down his calf and stomps on his ankle. It was an attempted crippling for life move. He should have had his head caved in right there! Don’t think it is that bad? Let someone do it to you. The red card is woefully inadequate, in my opinion.
They didn’t suspend Messi for the same circumstance. Can one official change the entire game? It used to happen a lot in Baseball and Football. FIFA should have a review board and appeal process.
Soccer is basically popular with the children of immigrants to the US. Balogun’s red card was reversed, possibly because an Argentinian player did the same exact thing in a previous game, and did not get called on it. Belgians, of course, are a bunch of sissies who allowed Von der Leyen to turn off their A/C during a heat wave (while allowing commissioners offices, in the SAME building, to have their A/C on).
Just one question: Who cares? It’s soccer. Great for little kids who go on to play baseball, basketball or football. Great American sports!
Give it a rest already. International soccer competition is governed by what seems to me to be an impenetrable bureaucracy inventing and enforcing arcane and sometimes puzzling regulations (not the rules of the game). Soccer in itself is an excellent sport professionally and recreationally (I played for over a decade). Its popularity hardly signals the end of the world as we know it.
I was a professional soccer referee for 20+ years.
Everyone makes mistakes.
Most referees try to do their best to be impartial and call what they see.
I tell my kids that soccer referees teach you that life isn’t fair and you have to do the job in front of you and try to win despite experiencing setbacks.
But when watching soccer on tv, at the end of all things, it’s just a game. Money and politics have changed it at the highest levels because so much is perceived to be on the line.
But it’s a game, it doesn’t actually affect most of our lives in any meaningful way.
Watch it for fun, or don’t watch it. I stopped watching the NBA and NFL and MLB because they became unwatchable as more money flowed into the leagues.
Enjoy watching it, or don’t watch it at all. Your choice.
It’s not worth getting stressed about.
THANK YOU For doing the Thankless Job of Being a Referee.
As a Past Coach at College, High School, Middle School and National Club Levels, Refereeing IS THE TOUGHEST JOB During a Match Because YOUR THE FACE of The Match.
YOU Have to Ensure FAIR PLAY, Regulation ENFORCEMENT, Etiquette / DECORUM, and ENSURE The Match IS SCORED CORRECTLY ( ANOTHER THANKLESS TEDIOUS JOB – SCORE KEEPING – CAUSES NUMEROUS Conflicts because of Errors )
Refereeing was VISIBLE,
SCOREKEEPING Was The ROUGHEST because of the Tempo and Staying Focused on the Paperwork to Maintain that Tempo
THANK YOU for Helping SHAPE OUR YOUTHS
Soccer for the kiddidlies is fun and seriously funny at times.
Until the loudmouth parent starts campaigning for their child instead of the team.
As a pro sport it’s ok but American football is far more representative of our culture. Team focused, Hard contact and very adversarial. Strength, endurance and raw talent succeed but not without coordinated team actions in every play.
Are soccer players still falling over dead during games due to vaccine injury?
What do the ‘soccer moms’ have to say about this?/s
Oh wait, they are in the drive thru at Starbucks…and then headed to sign up for ‘participation trophies’./s
Soccer is unAmerican. We love the race against the clock, the buzzer beater, the gamewinning shot, the walk off home run. All impossible with soccer. Because nobody knows when it ends. American sports are like America, you fight to win and take it if you can. Soccer is 3rd world mentality, all about what you can scam from the officials. Loser sport.
has the author ever come across a concept called “rules”? you know, those pesky things that frame how a game and players of said game are played??
And has the author looked into said “rules” of football? where a red card, before or after review and upheld, states that the recipient faces a ban of at least one future game in said tournament …. you know, those pesky “rules’ that apply to everyone, everywhere playing the said game of football ….
pesky things those “rules’
Lawfare at its best. LOL