As noted by Secretary Rubio tongue-in-cheek, all the FIFA “drama” is turning into an “international incident” that might even be discussed at the NATO assembly in Turkey. WATCH:
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Meanwhile, ‘Suspicious Eddie‘, is practicing his sportball dramatic fainting skills….
Awww. Eddie is adorable! 🥹
And effective.
THIS is why soccer (I know – futbol) is not popular here. Its ruined by politics like every other international ‘elitist’ thing ….
Please call this so-called “sport” by its correct name: commie round ball.
You honestly have no clue what you’re talking about.
I don’t know. Their offsides rule seems to be very commie-like. Rather than preventing cherry-picking, it rewards lazy defenders from actually playing their man. They let players get past them and don’t bother getting back into position because they know the authorities will save them. I keep seeing defenders half-ass it back into a defensive position and throwing their arm up while looking to the ref.
I just don’t get how someone can be offsides by 6 inches when there are 10 people 10 feet in front of the net. It surely couldn’t have been their intent when they came up with their off-sides rule. Are they really surprised that someone is in a scoring position at that point in the play? No worries though, the authorities will save the day and stop the over-achiever! Especially when compared to hockey’s off-sides which seems to prevent blatant cherry picking AND doesn’t give defensemen a pass (no pun intended) on lollygagging and playing proper defense.
A player must be aware of his/her position on the field. The assistant keeps a close watch for this as pulling a player offsides is an accepted, encouraged, and important tactic for defense.
Of course the defense is going to use the rule to their advantage. They’d be fools not to. But compared to hockey’s off-side, I don’t like it even a little bit.
Offside trap…..
You might describe it as such…and believe it.
Billions who love it wouldn’t.
(Forgive me, Caius, but you’re better than this, my friend.)
It’s like every sport, it gets really good as you approach the Championship.
The victimhood theatric diving or the play? There’s no doubt there are some talented people playing but some of the diving is so unsportsmanlike. It’s embarrassing. I don’t understand why talented athletes tolerate their sport being cheapened with those antics. I’ve never acted like that in any sport or competition, nor have I never let my children act the way some of these players do.
I get the sport has a HUGE fanbase and I can see why. But the embellishment really needs to go. And for some reason that truly boggles my mind, the fans of the sport make excuses for it. I haven’t watched the NFL in years, but when I did, I never made excuses for the pathetic showboating. Drove me nuts watching the players celebrating a 1st down like it was the Superbowl even though they were down 24 points. It needed to go and yet it probably still exists.
Clearly, they aren’t changing their popular game to suit my tastes but if they got rid of the excessive diving and revised the off-sides rule, I would probably become a fan.
The drama diving is on par with the NBA. It is embarrassing.
I used to watch football “like a man”. So answered my older daughter to someone when asked if her mother liked football. From the age of about 10 years old as I was then when I was captivated by it (Baltimore Colts/Johnny Unitas and Green Bay Packers/ Bart Starr). It was ruined for me by the execrable kneeling. Each game counted.
Baseball, not so much…until the Playoffs and the World Series.
I agree with you.
Yup. I start paying attention to baseball in mid September.
I quit watching baseball in the strike/lockout era. That and until they fix revenue sharing baseball is a joke. When one player can make more than another teams whole payroll how can small markets compete in free agency? They can’t.
“Borrowed” it from Ed Anger of the Weekly World News, the world’s only reliable news.
Actually, upon researching it, learning that Vito Capizzo, the legendary and charismatic American football coach at Nantucket High School, famously ridiculed soccer as “Commie Roundball”. A former player under Bear Bryant at Alabama, Capizzo used the phrase in the school hallways to keep football players focused and to recruit athletes from other sports.
I appreciate the clarification.
Quotation marks would have made it clear…and attribution.
Thank you.
As opposed to the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB who keep politics and DEI out of their leagues? Yet people here watch. Interesting
I haven’t seen politics in MLB for several years.
You’re joking, right? Didn’t they just threaten last month to suspend a pitcher that put a Bible verse on his hat in response to the league demanding that the players support and wear “pride” uniforms? It only got stopped because some congress critter go involved.
It got stopped by social media coming down on the Commissioner (before Congress got involved.)
If you close your eyes you will see no evil.
How many years have you been sleeping?
Yeah he must have missed the woke nuns in LA.
Really?
Sad. 😐
Trans ball?
Some of the many reasons I cut cable and no longer watch any sports, except for YouTube highlights and the ones I watch are mostly from the 70s and 80s.
I am an equal opportunity pro sports hater. Anything involving grown men chasing balls.. meh.
Hockey is about the only sport that I find entertaining. At least the players move fast. And where I live, hockey fans have been known to belt out a lively rendition of The Star Spangled Banner.
If you’re trying to point out that US professional sports is unworthy of a rational person’s time because politics and money corrupted it…….then it makes it even harder to sell the case that international professional soccer is somehow any different and any better.
When I see news reports of mass violence in the stands and in the streets by soccer fans it reminds of the coliseum and Rome.
How did the emperors of Rome keep their citizens distracted from the on going disintegration of the Roman empire? Now compare to soccer and the EU………ya think?
Exactly, too bad they have to ruin sports too.
I’ve always thought those killer crowds were European, not so much about soccer itself.
I have not watched a single minute of this. Soccer is the Karin version of sport for little kids not big enough for contact sports.
Soccer is an agressive contact sport and only shin guards protect you from the other players. In club play (typically 11-18 yo), I broke my arm falling after an illegal tackle; endured concussions from attempting a header and another player’s head hit mine; I’ve badly sprained my ankle and tore ligaments in knee with strong, legal tackles, too.
Some of my best memories are when we made it to the tournament finals, playing four games per weekend (it’s quite a challenge to acclimate to the altitude of Pike’s Peak when you’re used to the hot humidity of Dallas). I think that after you played a few unrelenting ninety minute matches, you’d no longer dismiss soccer is an easy alternative for the weak, cautious, or timid.
I prefer Rugby, or if I can muster the accent, Australian Rules Football.
Leftists are going nuts over this, when, in fact, there have been four other similar situations and rulings. The Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo got a red card for deliberately elbowing someone during Portugal’s World Cup qualifying campaign. That resulted in a three-match ban, which would have forced him to miss two World Cup matches. That three-match ban was reduced to one with two of the games deferred. The 41-year-old Ronaldo has played every minute of Portugal’s three World Cup matches so far.
I don’t recall any screeching about that.
The whole thing is ridiculous, it wasn’t a flagrant foul – do we have to have politics in everything? – well because of the communist scumbags the answer is obviously yes.
Thankfully, politics, like ridiculously dramatic dives, is much less common in local and select/club soccer.
It’s not popular here because it’s not a sport for real men. Little girls play soccer, not grown men.
Same goes for a lot of sports, F1 in particular. I’ve probably seen most of the movie in bits and pieces on YouTube (I know, not the same as seeing the movie from start to finish) and couldn’t believe all the tricks drivers and teams had to pull to get around a lot of the ridiculous rules.
We’ve seen it in the Olympics especially in ice skating and gymnastics where judges way under rate or over rate a participant based on their nation’s politics. Unfair refs are nothing new in way to many sports.
That’s why it went to the independent rules board that overturned the red card. Nothing new in this penalty and retracting it.
A lot of these international sports leagues have corrupt referees that can be easily bribed. The ref puts his thumb on the scale by making bad calls or refusing to make a good call: Wrestling, gymnastics, soccer, the list could go on. In all my years watching the NFL (prior to the Colin Kaepernick antics that led to my family boycotting the league), the ref only became the center of the story once – in a controversial Packers game where the main refs were on strike so they called up some junior college refs that some say goofed badly. One of them had to write a book about it after getting death threats!
Soccer meanwhile has questionable refs in almost every game. The Canadian ref who oversaw the Cabo Verde v Argentina game was (mostly) fair resulting in a must-watch match where the 67th ranked team came super close to beating the #1 ranked team.
FIFA isn’t used to being under the microscope of American social media.
Leftists are going nuts over this, when, in fact, there have been four other similar situations and rulings. The Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo got a red card for deliberately elbowing someone during Portugal’s World Cup qualifying campaign. That resulted in a three-match ban, which would have forced him to miss two World Cup matches. That three-match ban was reduced to one with two of the games deferred. The 41-year-old Ronaldo has played every minute of Portugal’s three World Cup matches so far.
I don’t recall any screeching about that.
Done and dusted.
Kickball being the most important thing in the world today wasn’t on my bingo card when I woke up this morning.
We used to play kickball in grade school….it was nothing like this thing called soccer.
Much more violent when you are trying to bean someone! Of course I grew up in the fifties and sixties without bubble wrap and participation trophies.
Now that’s funny!
https://babylonbee.com/news/america-finally-interested-in-soccer-after-realizing-how-angry-you-can-make-europeans
There is this….hmmmm
Wait, what?
He came out just to take that particular question?
Doesn’t the media have more important things to discuss with arguably one of the most powerful men on the planet?
What a bunch of cucks.
I’m not that much into sports but I’m hearing accidental mis-steps happen often in that game with no red card given. If that is the case they targeted the US to try to knock them out of the game. I would scrutinize every video of game play available for any such game ever played at that level of competition and point out the times they didn’t red card a player whose foot accidently landed in a similar place or comparable situation.
Leftists are going nuts over this, when, in fact, there have been four other similar situations and rulings. The Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo got a red card for deliberately elbowing someone during Portugal’s World Cup qualifying campaign. That resulted in a three-match ban, which would have forced him to miss two World Cup matches. That three-match ban was reduced to one with two of the games deferred. The 41-year-old Ronaldo has played every minute of Portugal’s three World Cup matches so far.
I don’t recall any screeching about that.
Lionel Messi did the exact thing in a recent match. No card given. Got to keep the marquee names on the pitch. The Brazilian ref targeting the Gringos.
Why did Trump get involved when he’s shown no interest in the men’s team? He’s not attended any of their games. It motivated Belgium. They opened a can of whoop-ass.
I was surprised the US was favored in this game given what I saw at the end of the BH game. The defense and the goalie were very shaky at the end of that game. They were pedestrian and shaky tonight. Every mistake ended in the back of their net.
Hey OTAN, you should definitely use this international incident to kick the US out of NATO! That’ll show’em!
If rules and procedures are not followed than the ruling should have been overturned.
If a ref is not allowed to review in slow motion than the rules weren’t followed.
Also the rules committee that has the ability to exercise a suspension in the future they could have easily done so.
They didn’t because they wanted to harm the US team.
Can that be any more obvious?
Thats why Trump nudged the committee to do the right thing.
One of the many reasons I Love President Trump.
I’m quite certain that President Trump had visions of the 1972 Olympics and the cheating of the United States basketball team dancing in his head.
Our President will not let that crapola happen again. Not on his watch.
The England team got a player red-carded last night in their win against Mexico. They may now appeal that, too.
https://www.dailymail.com/sport/football/article-15957515/FA-considering-appealing-Jarell-Quansahs-red-card-England-hopeful-Reece-James-return-World-Cup-quarter-final-against-Norway.html
<The England team got a player red-carded last night in their win against Mexico.
They may now appeal that, too.>
You’ll know something’s up if Boasberg gets the appeal case 🙂
Marco’s smile at the end looks so genuine. Nice to see that he can take these stupid questions so lightly and find the humor in the situation.
If Marco’s alma mater (Da U) and Notre Dame are both undefeated going into their November game, bet on him and President Trump being at the game. American football, not kickball.
Marco was a Hurricane DB in his younger days. This means he had some game.
That will be the first time I’ll be rooting against Marco since he joined Team Trump. Miami and Florida State and Clemson will be great opponents to replace Southern Cal, whose administrators ran away from the annual Notre Dame game like Euros. Irish fans will get on Miami but will cheer Our Lion. And the President will get the kind of football he craves — tough men on both sides blocking and tackling and running hard. Since Marcus Freeman started coaching at ND, they have led college football in roughness penalties — like they did in the Holtz era. And similar orneriness is in Miami’s DNA.
Apprenticing under The Boss has helped Mario and Vance and others grow.
Oh, that would be an awesome event. Domer here.
I’m a subway alum (for our Treepers, that’s an Irish or Slav or Italian or other ethnic Catholic out of the Ellis Island era who roots for Notre Dame but never attended the school).
General Sherman’s family lived at Notre Dame for a portion of the CIvil War.
After the war, the priests who ran Notre Dame entrusted General Sherman to pick 25 young men to award scholarships to. The first young man he chose was the son of Kit Carson. Kit was one of Sherman’s heroes. The old scout had lost his first two wives (both were Natives) when their tribes repossessed them. He would marry a young Spanish woman in New Mexico, and she raised their son as a Catholic.
Sherman visited the Carsons personally to award the scholarship. Kit was extremely grateful for Sherman’s gesture.
Have yet to be unimpressed with Mr. Rubio.
I have given ALL soccer a “red card” at my house. Now, when does College football start?
🙄
I love college football! Go Hoosiers!!
OW, MY KNEE!!!!! I THINK MY ANKLE IS BROKEN TOO!!!
Which is why I like Messi. The opponent has to literally flagrantly foul him to stop him. He doesn’t quit and pretend to die at every single touch, like most players selling to the referee.
He’s like the soccer version of the Trump Train: No stopping until the goal is scored or he’s physically taken down.
Reminds me of all the short reels about the goofy huskies always crying wolf!
Reminded me of this scene in “Caddy Shack”:
The reason that soccer (‘football’) is so important to Europe is because — other than periodically invading each other — it’s the only widespread popular team sport they have.
America has a far richer team sports culture. We have American football, baseball, and to a lesser extent basketball, and even ice hockey.
Soccer is just above field hockey and water polo in the pantheon of American team spectator sports.
But all the Europeans really have as a binding, continent-wide team sport, is their ‘football’. A scattering of basketball, and some ice hockey primarily in the Scandinavian countries.
But soccer has been the principal universal team sport of Europe for nearly a century now.
Which makes it all the sweeter when the Americans beat the sneering Euro snobs at their only real game.
A soccer dog that got hit in the head with the ball. 😏
Not really a sports fan but it does seem to give the impression that objecting country isn’t showing a great deal of support for their team. As for soccer itself, thought it was a sport here as any other. Know I wanted my grandson to play as he loved to run and kick.
LOL, At least we have people getting punched in the throat in the WNBA. Guess we should be asking Trump about that.
If I recall correctly there was a player in the NBA this year who racked up too many flagrant fouls and had to be suspended for a game. But it was a crucial game in the playoffs and the commissioner changed the suspension to next season.
Was it Doncic?
I have to say that it is so refreshing to have a Secretary of State who is truly bilingual! So much of the President’s agenda in his second term revolves around shoring up the Western Hemisphere, rather than trying to pacify the snotty Europeans and the Near/Far East. Watching Marco Rubio converse, competently and confidently, with the Chilean Minister in Spanish just shows, yet again, how woefully embarrassing it was to have Hillary Clinton anywhere near a position of this importance!
¡Vamos, equipo de Estados Unidos!
So let me get this straight: a guy is convicted of robbing a bank and is sentenced; it is discovered that he is innocent; but he has to go to prison anyway because……. we said so. Whiney beahches. Time for Miles Garrett to do some re-educatin.
I do like the cross between a Pavarotti tenor and a Bassett Hound. “Goooooooolasssooo”. Now thats funny!
We can win without him.
Some reasons to dislike soccer
– Man bras
– Tattoo city
– Man bun city
– Pink shoes/uniforms
– Offsides rule
– Corner kicks – move the pole out of the way
– Low scoring/boring
– Injury play acting
– It’s a ‘foreign’ sport
– Female commentators
Some reasons to like soccer
– Running and jumping, plus more running and jumping
– 45-minute chunks of play without a single bloody commercial before mandatory hydration
– Shin guards & cups the only padded equipment
– Open to tall and short men, not overweight
– Requires top physical conditioning
– Universal appeal
– Inexpensive youth sport
– Male and female leagues
Reason to dislike any men’s sport
– Female commentators in and out of the locker rooms
– Politics
It is absolutely true that you have to be in top physical shape to play soccer, I went to a small private school that did not have football. I played some intra-mural soccer but was not good enough for varsity. I ran ross country instead. At the end of our season the soccer team challenged us to a 3 mile race. We were a decent cross country team, but every one of their men beat every one of ours.
Still lost after all that. Oof. lol
Yaaaaaaawwwwwwnn
Someone wake me up when this soccer stuff is done.
It didn’t matter anyway. USA got dumped by Belgium.
It didn’t matter. We got thrashed tonight. I see the world reaction on many media sites is gleeful about it and they’re making it all about Trump.
As I just told a friend of mine let the world gloat and ridicule us tonight because tomorrow morning they’ll all wish they could live here!!!
True!
This time, we deserve it. As the USA says, Cheaters never win and this was a casebook example of it.
FIFA completely bent the rules to benefit the US. They admit that a red card was correct in that situation and even though you get an automatic 1 game suspension for it, FIFA said not this time and gave probation instead. Ever since red cards have been introduced, this has never happened in the history of the World Cup. Every player that received a red card missed the next game until now. That’s why everyone is pissed.
And the way the US acted was ridiculous to begin with. Balogun acting smug and taunting everyone when FIFA gave him a slap on the wrist. Pochettino whining saying they were victims and Americans going as far to say the Bosnian player should have been the one the ref should have called a foul on even though it was his leg that was stomped on. To Trump bragging calling FIFA directly. (Don’t compare to Starmer. He didn’t talk to FIFA and we only know through reports that the FA spoke with him. . And both Mexico and England agreed it was a terrible idea to move their game suddenly)
Then karma bit them in the ass with the complete disaster that the US was today. They looked like an Arab country playing in the World Cup today. That’s how bad they looked. If you believe in Sport Gods, this was the perfect ending.
Not true
Cry Harder
American soccer administrators pursued a British raised, Nigerian guy, who was accidentally born in America, and never lived in America, to play in the USA national soccer team.
…which means an anchor baby forces an American player out of the team.
Funny that genius, PDJT, draws attention to the player, and now many in the world are talking about anchor babies.
I like that Marco can talk to the Spanish speaking counterparts without needing an interpreter.
This explains it all, from the libs explosion to the TDS surrounding FIFA. It’s quite ridiculous and the NYT doubles down to promote their (un)justified rage. What the hell has happened to media? https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/urgent-did-the-new-york-times-whitewash