Weird. I enjoy soccer. I enjoy a lot of sports. I don't believe I've ever said differently. The World Cup has been highly entertaining despite the sport's ridiculous rules, not because of them.
***Official 2026 World Cup Thread***
- Thread starter ISU3PtLand
- Start date
It's also a fact that the ref used VAR incorrectly, so....is it okay to make that assumption, or should I only make assumptions that are approved by the majority?
No, what’s weird is watching two matches and coming to the conclusion that the sport played for over 150 years all across the globe has ‘ridiculous’ rules
Two matches? Who are you talking about? I've maybe missed two of them the entire tournament. But go off on things you know nothing about.
How about a change of pace in this thread?
What's everyones thoughts on how we match up with Belgium? They are not the powerhouse they once were, but their experience is still relevant. Plus, Doku kinda scares the hell outta me. I'm thinking we jump on them with an early goal, trade goals over the next 70 minutes and then have to withstand a crazy barrage at the end of the match to win 2-1.
What's everyones thoughts on how we match up with Belgium? They are not the powerhouse they once were, but their experience is still relevant. Plus, Doku kinda scares the hell outta me. I'm thinking we jump on them with an early goal, trade goals over the next 70 minutes and then have to withstand a crazy barrage at the end of the match to win 2-1.
Why on earth would you NOT assume it?
Even if it just happens to have been a remarkable coincidence, 8 billion people are going to believe its a corrupt move to the benefit of the US. It taints the entire tournament for the US team. Win, and everyone will say we cheated. Lose, and everyone will say we deserved to lose for cheating. Barf.
Fans question rules in basketball and football all the time. Not sure why soccer would be immune to that.
Assuming Balogun plays, I wonder how the call from the previous game and the looming possibility of additive penalties should another dangerous play occur might affect how he plays. I assume high-level athletes are able to compartmentalize those things pretty well, but it would be a shame if that affected his and the team's play.
Love having Balogun but now Belgium will probably play with a chip on their shoulder.
Doku is a handful but he hasn’t even scored this world cup.
You know in times like these, in today’s social media bs world, in sports and in life, I remember some good advice from Jon Gruden of all people that can apply to all sides of this when things don’t go their way.
“Stop ******** about your problems and start rolling the ******* rock. Let’s control what we can control and stop worrying about the **** we can’t control!”
“Stop ******** about your problems and start rolling the ******* rock. Let’s control what we can control and stop worrying about the **** we can’t control!”
Just go win tonight and move on. If the World Cup were in France and the suspended red card was Mbappe instead of Balogun, everybody would ***** and moan about favoritism, and then Mbappe would go out and score a hat trick in a 4-1 win and everybody would move on. This is a sport where one of the most famous championship game goals of all time was a handball, FFS.
I can't think of a better explanation and if there is one I'd love to hear it.
The only argument you could use to arrive at lifting the suspension was that VAR protocol wasn't followed properly and caused a decision or rather non-decision on the field to be incorrectly changed. But FIFA hasn't commented on the validity of the red itself or how the decision was made, they just said they pushed the suspension he has to serve out for a year. So ask yourself what the valid (key word) justification and precedent for such a decision is, and why it doesn't get applied regularly if such a justification exists.
It’s not even about whether or not it should have been a red card…. it probably should not have been. It’s just the fact that the cry baby whiny spoiled Americans, yes that’s how we’re viewed by most of the world, cried about it and got their way.
They’re not playing great, but they’re not a pushover by any means and I think that’s what casuals might be expecting. They’re ranked several spots ahead of us in the world rankings and their best players, while old, are more talented than our best players.
Yeah, well the same people whining about how America got their way aren’t whining about how Christiano Ronaldo had his red card with considerable time suspended so he wouldn’t miss the first two games of this World Cup… which is why I’m enjoying the butthurt comments by the same people that insisted Balogun tried to break the Bosnian’s leg based on two cherry-picked frames when you instead look at the full video it was the Bosnian who hit Balogun from behind and knocked him off balance to the point he had no choice but to step on his leg… and thus proving exactly why VAR isn’t supposed to use slow-mo video and cherry-picked shots to signal a ref to review for a red card in the first place.
This is amazing to me, given how much havoc he causes.
I think we match up better against them Belgium than I intitially thought, but if Belgium plays to their potential, their skill will give us fits. They have sorta been sleep-walking for large chunks of their matches though. That's why I think an early lead is crucial to our success tonight.
