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USA World Cup team

durangodawood

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Belgium played good defense, and the US played terrible defense. Pretty terrible offense too. Just an all-around dismal showing.
Sounds like a mental breakdown from the team. Something was probably making them feel distracted and uneasy.
 
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Vambram

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Congratulations to Belgium. They were clearly the superior team tonight. I'm proud of the US Men Soccer Team. We are not yet in the upper echelon of elite teams. But we are improving.
Before the World Cup began, I had Spain, France, and Argentina having an equal chance of winning it all. Should Belgium now be considered just as good as those 3 teams?
 
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GoldenBoy89

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I'm not very superstitious but I do think Balogun was supposed to sit out this match, as unjust as I think his red card was, you suck it up and accept the ref's decision. I don't fault him or the USMNT for that at all. An outside force came in and changed the trajectory the team was on and they just fell apart with this unnecessary drama hanging over their heads. I think Balogun would have preferred to take the red card and still have this same outcome than to have this whole thing tainted by someone not involved in the game at all.
 
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durangodawood

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I'm not very superstitious but I do think Balogun was supposed to sit out this match, as unjust as I think his red card was, you suck it up and accept the ref's decision. I don't fault him or the USMNT for that at all. An outside force came in and changed the trajectory the team was on and they just fell apart with this unnecessary drama hanging over their heads. I think Balogun would have preferred to take the red card and still have this same outcome than to have this whole thing tainted by someone not involved in the game at all.
They might well have played with some fire if they had to simply deal with the unjust suspension. If it were me, I'd feel a little sheepish stepping out as the recipient of "special help" from outside powers and everybody knew it.

Total speculation, but based on my own sense of honor/shame.
 
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GoldenBoy89

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Congratulations to Belgium. They were clearly the superior team tonight. I'm proud of the US Men Soccer Team. We are not yet in the upper echelon of elite teams. But we are improving.
It was a good run and I really like our players. The sport has a lot of room to grow here and I can see the US staying competitive in the future. I do think they've improved a lot under Pochettino but still not quite at the level of some of the big guys.
Before the World Cup began, I had Spain, France, and Argentina having an equal chance of winning it all. Should Belgium now be considered just as good as those 3 teams?
They face Spain next so we'll find out soon enough just how well they can hang with one of the favorites.
 

GoldenBoy89

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They might well have played with some fire if they had to simply deal with the unjust suspension. If it were me, I'd feel a little sheepish stepping out as the recipient of "special help" from outside powers and everybody knew it.

Total speculation, but based on my own sense of honor/shame.
The worst part is I don't think the team even asked for this. It's totally possible FIFA could have and would have reached this same decision on their own and if they had, nobody would really question it. like this, it's impossible to ignore the likely outside influence.
 
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Perpetual Student

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Do you think the red card was deserved?
I don't care.
What I care about is the corruption of Trump getting a call to Infantino and Infantino complying with Trump's request.
What I care about is Trump spending time on a frivolity like football while there so many much more urgent life-and-death problems to be dealt with.
 
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Perpetual Student

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According to the referee on the field who saw the play in real time at real speed, it was not a red card foul. That card was only issued after a VAR and the play was reviewed under super slow motion. Also, the red card ban was later reviewed by FIFA under Article 27 of the FIFA Code of Discipline.
You excluded the essence: the corrupt call from Trump to Infantino, and
Infantino complying with Trump request. That is the important aspect and that you omitted.
 
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mindlight

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Too bad. Germany got kicked out of the tournament because of a VAR decision.
And also because the referee turned a blind eye to the ways in which Paraguay repeatedly fouled their players as a second referee also did in the match against France. France did the world and the beautiful game a favor in getting rid of the Germany-slayers. England has a German manager, Tuchel, and its top player is the lead scorer in the Bundesliga, Kane. So Germans should get behind England for the last stage of the tournament.
 
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mindlight

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And it was all for naught.
Actually Belgium may well have been motivated by the sense of injustice here. This was a no mercy purge of an inferior team. You cannot hype true quality and Belgium probably won't even make it to the final.
 
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mindlight

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Congratulations to Belgium. They were clearly the superior team tonight. I'm proud of the US Men Soccer Team. We are not yet in the upper echelon of elite teams. But we are improving.
Before the World Cup began, I had Spain, France, and Argentina having an equal chance of winning it all. Should Belgium now be considered just as good as those 3 teams?

Very noble of you. But I cannot see Belgium beating any of those teams or indeed England, on current form. That said, football is full of surprises and the final chapters of this drama are not yet written.
 
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Nithavela

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And also because the referee turned a blind eye to the ways in which Paraguay repeatedly fouled their players as a second referee also did in the match against France. France did the world and the beautiful game a favor in getting rid of the Germany-slayers. England has a German manager, Tuchel, and its top player is the lead scorer in the Bundesliga, Kane. So Germans should get behind England for the last stage of the tournament.
I think the referee did germany a favor in getting germany a loss in a somewhat close game, instead of getting slaughtered by france in the following match.

I don't think many germans believe in blindly giving support to the foreign team with the highest amount of "national blood". And many germans view england either as a rival or as pointless to support because they never win a world cup. The amount of people who support france is probably higher on pure merit of them playing better.
 
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mindlight

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I think the referee did germany a favor in getting germany a loss in a somewhat close game, instead of getting slaughtered by france in the following match.

I don't think many germans believe in blindly giving support to the foreign team with the highest amount of "national blood". And many germans view england either as a rival or as pointless to support because they never win a world cup. The amount of people who support france is probably higher on pure merit of them playing better.
Never say never ... there was that one time in 1966... when we beat Germany in the final :)

England are not taking any of their games for granted, they do have a quality that is coming out for the big occasions like that Mexico match. Norway is the next challenge and then maybe Argentina. Both sides have a quality to them. I do like the Norwegian long boat Viking theme among the fans, that is cool. But I still have faith that England can bring the cup home this time around.

By the way, blood has little to do with this. Kane has a Jewish not a German background from what I heard.
 
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Nithavela

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Never say never ... there was that one time in 1966... when we beat Germany in the final :)
Yeah, that's another reason for many not to support them.

Personally, I think the best nation to support right now is Norway. They have the underdog charm, their "rowing" is one of the most interesting sights of the world cup and they play very well, too.
 
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Top comment on Fox Sports video highlights reel:
“Huge respect for Balogun for honoring the suspension and not playing tonight”
 
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mindlight

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Top comment on Fox Sports video highlights reel:
“Huge respect for Balogun for honoring the suspension and not playing tonight”

Which goes to show how much interest/competence Fox News sports commentators have in 'soccer'. Folarin Balogun played a forgettable role in the match - he was on the pitch. Or did they mean that he just did not play properly on the day

 
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Nithavela

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Or did they mean that he just did not play properly on the day
1436cfe365c1659efb13b6f611f2d620.jpg
 
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Pommer

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Which goes to show how much interest/competence Fox News sports commentators have in 'soccer'. Folarin Balogun played a forgettable role in the match - he was on the pitch. Or did they mean that he just did not play properly on the day

It was a written comment on the video, by some poor schlub, not a comment made by a sportsball announcer.
 
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mindlight

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It was a written comment on the video, by some poor schlub, not a comment made by a sportsball announcer.

Sorry, I think my prejudice blinded me to the humor here - so I value the correction. The USA needs to win a world cup to become credible in the world of football, Trumps shenanigans and FIFAs compliance are corruptions on the beautiful game that have not helped in this world cup. Also some of the VAR decisions and refereeing in this cup have expressed an incredible bias against European sides like France, Germany and England.

One conspiracy theory doing the rounds is that the choice of colors in the FIFA choices of emblems deliberately favored certain non European sides. The AI algorithms used to calculate maximum revenues might also be blamed. It is great that both theories have been overthrown by reality and that the best sides are now advancing to the final showdowns.
 
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