Look at some other thing tRump has touched. How did those work out?

I have no doubt that in the least some people at the head of fifa will be losing their positions.

there might be promotions

So now I get it.

run by one of the most corrupt organizations in the world.

Sad, but it is what it is.

what is so beautiful about the game? All I can see is lots of guys running around and very little scoring. I suppose that's blasphemous to say here.

All I can see is lots of guys running around and tossing a ball through a hoop over and over.

In soccer it helps to understand the flow of the game. The passes are like a chess match between the two teams trying to find the momentary opening to get the goal. It is what makes each goal so special, most of them are the result of a lot of buildup.

And 3/4 of the shots made missed the basket?

Most of the time the batters swing at nothing but air and until recently it could take a couple of minutes in between each of those.

One out of three at bats is a hit.

American Football has long surpassed Baseball as the most popular sport. When I was growing up, every kid played baseball. Not as much now.

which I believe is due more to strikes, the influence of money and the league turning a blind eye to open steroid abuse. I never have enjoyed watching though I did like to play the game.

If one considers a hit as equivalent to a shot on goal baseball is not too far off soccer and baseball is still very popular. Around the world soccer is the most popular sport in the majority of countries by far.

I have seen some comparisons of the World Cup to the Superbowl, which we think is the greatest sporting event in the world. Granted the World Cup is a tournament rather than a one-day event but comparing the two, the Superbowl is hardly a blip on the radar. The Superbowl may have 100M viewers, the World Cup final is expected to have 1.5 Billion viewers

The four corners offense would return and fans would be fed up.

I actually watched the Mexico vs England game last night and it was a terrific match. One thing though that made soccer better than other sports was the lack of commercials but they ruined that this year with “hydration breaks”.

Not a basketball fan, but I did hear the reason for it explained once. I don’t remember the team, but I believe they were playing against the Lakers at a point where they were considered unbeatable. The opponents just basically held the ball and never did anything the whole game. It ended up being one of the scoring games in NBA history and using the tactic they defeated the Lakers.

Afterwards, the NBA instituted the shot clock because it was realized that sort of tactic would make the game so boring no one would come to watch.

A bunch of big sweaty guys in great big pads pushing and shoving each other around while one throws a oointy object that sometimes gets caught? And why is it called "football" at all?

Soccer is, in part, a chess match on the field, but what most Americans don't get, and wouldn't unless they or their child played for many years, is that it is mainly a game of defense rather than offense, which is why the scores are few. My daughter was a defender for most of her career and my brother was a goalkeeper. I grew up in pre-Title IX days and suffered a severe ankle injury at 17 that was not properly treated, so sports for me were strictly spectator, but soccer is a game I grew to understand and love.

All I see is a bunch of guys taking a commercial break after a 2 minute play.

even I recognize it combines two odious things. Meetings and violence.

Some are legit, but I would say about 80% are just fake and trying to get the refer to call a foul.
Some are so extremely obvious, and they still get away with it. The refs are told not to call fouls,
not because they didn't occur, but because FIFA told the refs to keep the game moving, something about have
continuity.

Also, fouls, when they are called, are called outside the penalty area, but those same fouls are not being called in the penalty area.
That's. how I'm seeing it.

FIFA is the second most corrupt organization in the world, with the U.S. Republican Party running away with the #1 position....

No wonder FIFA and TRUMP are such intimate bosom buddies................

or the depth of the usa team's bench.

would anybody expect them to exercise integrity?

in the first place. I could definitely see giving a yellow card, but a red card? That in itself was a political move, IMO.
But, that wax FIFA's decision and the U.S. should have lived with it.
Then "FIFA Peace Prize" winner, Donald Trump, calls FIFA headquarters and gets it overturned.

I can't blame the collective teams from around the world - and their fans - for being enraged. Trump is putting his tiny little thumb on the scale, trying to bring a WC championship to the U.S. (and undeservedly so).

Trump and FIFA are two peas in the same pod. Corrupt, greedy, and soon to fall. I hope. 😁

FIFA is going nowhere but it sure needs serious reforms

Just like our presidency, FIFA needs overhauling.

FIFA suspended Ronaldo's 3 game suspension just in time for the WC. How about Argentina? Messi committed an arguably worse foul that didn't even get called. And hey, while we're at it, FIFA should take another look at the fiasco that was France-Paraguay.

I hate, hate, hate that TSF got involved and that the corrupt FIFA is so corrupt. But the USMNT shouldn't be shunned for this. It was a BS red card.

multi game suspensions can be appealed but not 1 day bans. as for a foul not getting called that happens all the time.

FIFA is corrupt as hell but after this fiasco im rooting for anyone other than the US.

but root for whomever you choose.

Belgium, Spain and then France are ridiculous.
And I'm moderately conflicted not to support the US team. But in as much as Cracker Barrel
Krasnov has tried to influence this. It would choice to see us defeated by Belgium..hate to be petty but just fuck this piece of shit excuse for a human being.
He wants to everything about him
I hope we lose..

They win gold, then suddenly they are absolute willing participants to have Trump shove it in our faces, especially the SOTU. If US wins the World Cup, I expect the same. I don't blame you.

. . . Belgium, but I would still consider that to be very unlikely. They don't have the depth or quality in enough of the positions to come even close to winning the World Cup. Yes, Pulisic and Balogun are quite good, and Balogun is a serious threat: but the US does not have the quality to make it more than one more match into this World Cup. Unless the US works a lot more on early player development and soccer for men becomes much more popular, the USMNT will not ever come close to matching what the USWNT has accomplished. While I wish the USMNT would also have that success, it won't happen this iteration.

The best thing that can come of this whole situation is that FIFA is forced to take a hard look at its officiating and institute a transparent appeals process for calls that are not made properly: i.e., Balogun's red card was absolutely not deserved, and that can be seen easily from the front view that was televised--Balogun did not initiate a challenge and was doing nothing more than trying to keep himself between the ball the player who was 'fouled'. The player from BH ran through him to be in the position of being 'fouled'.

Anyway, FIFA needs to improve, but no one has to worry about the US winning the World Cup this summer. It seems like the US program is perpetually twenty years away from that being a possibility--except for the USWNT who are a soccer dynasty, but they still need to reclaim the title from Spain to go with their more recent Olympic gold medals!

All that being said, go USMNT!

Defeat Belgium and set the stage for further improvement of the men's side.

I hate, hate, HATE Trump. But I will not root against my country.

But the guys on the USMNT don’t deserve your scorn… at least not for this.

The player in question is pretty much the poster child for everything Trump and Miller hate. From Wikipedia:

he was the one I'd been hearing about. Do we know for certain the Orange Menace did this? He must have bragged about it.

Belgium has protested, but I doubt anything will change.

I am certain that if you were able to delve deeply into this that money, or some other favor in kind is involved in this decision. I wouldn't support my favorite baseball team, or university if I was as certain that something underhanded had happened to them through to another round.
As to what others think -- don't care
Not sure how it's an FU to Trump given that he has tied his name to their success. He doesn't care who or how,he just wants to claim the glory

The First Felon's hypocrisy is staggering, especially after his hissy fit about the USSC decision on "birthright nationality."

Btw, I hate the phrases "birth tourism" and anchor baby."

If someone is born in the USA, that person is a US citizen, no matter how or why they got here. Period.

… IMO a deliberate attempt to hamstring the USMNT.

n/t

No way in hell would FIFA go against the US.....unless they played argentina Fifantina.

I’m rooting for our guys all the way.

The red card never should have been given in the first place.

Experience has shown that this leads to more injuries and potentially on-field violence.

The red card was bullshit.

I didn’t watch the game, so I can’t opine on whether or not the red card was deserved. Let’s say it wasn’t; you may well be correct.

But I was responding to the poster saying “let the players sort it out themselves.” There’s a reason that the card system was implemented many years ago, and it’s because a major principle of the beautiful game, fair play, was getting run over by the lack of effective discipline to address reckless play.

Ronaldo came into the World Cup carrying a two-match suspension that would have kept him out of Portugal's first group stage games. He was given the same probation, if the player receives a red card in the next year the suspensions are reinstated in addition to and punishment for that red card

The US team also had a strong case in that Messi committed a similar and more intentional foul that was not penalized in the match or afterward. Ignoring Messi, and giving Ronaldo a probation, while punishing Balogun would be blatant favoritism to the big-name players.

as for a foul not called that happens al the time in all sports especially with big name players.

look at how often lebron or MJ in basketball got the benefit of the doubt on a call.

I hope the refs call fouls against any us player who even looks sideways at a belgium player. all this is goign to do is make soccer even less popular in the US

it cannot be "erased". However the suspension may be appealed.

True, in all sports stars get special treatment. It is unfair and I much prefer an evenly called game.

Are you advocating match fixing as a solution? Do you think referees should also call excessive fouls against Portugal and Argentina to make up for a perceived injustice?

Soccer is still growing in popularity, and this incident is not going to slow that one iota. If anything, the exposure to the US of this World Cup will further increase the sport's popularity, despite Trump and his antics.

or that the corrupt pResident and the corrupt FIFA leader apparently pushed this appeal.

That was a bullshit call!

US deserves to lose

Thanks trump.

To the horrific officiating all around.

If the US wins against the big boys upcoming, they will absolutely deserve it and deserve our praise .

Read. FIFA has overturned the same thing in the past in large tournaments. Is this verified before we go out shouting down the US anymore.

Article 66.4 of the same FIFA Disciplinary Code clearly provides that a red card [sending-off] automatically results in a suspension for the team's next match, as has been the case for all previous red cards issued during this FIFA World Cup.

"Furthermore, and irrespective of the above, the decision is in direct contradiction with the provisions of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Competition Regulations, as set out in Article 10.5: 'If a player or team official is sent off as a result of a direct or indirect red card [second caution], they will automatically be suspended from their team's subsequent match. In addition, further sanctions may be imposed.

since yellow and rd cars were introduced in 1970 no player has ever played the next game after recieving a red card in the world cup

Link to tweet

In the same thread.

Folarin Balogun (2026): The United States men's national team striker received a controversial red card against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32. FIFA stepped in and suspended his automatic one-game ban, putting him on probation and allowing him to play in the round of 16 against
Belgium.
Cristiano Ronaldo (2026): Just ahead of the World Cup, FIFA commuted a three-match suspension he received for an incident in a World Cup qualifier, putting him on a probation period and allowing him to play in the World Cup group stage .

Ronaldinho (2002): After receiving a straight red card against England in the quarterfinals, his suspension was limited to just one match rather than a multi-match ban, allowing him to return for the 2002 World Cup Final .

Ronalinho had his reduced but still sat out a game

what is next.....accusations of "TDS"?

I recall John Oliver's shows on FIFA during the Sepp Blatter fiasco; I about peed myself laughing because everything he said was true.

The whole world has known this forever.
America is a little slow catching on.

I knew chump would interfere and corrupt!

In further evidence that there's just no bottom to the Rapist Felon Trump, he was able to lower even the FIFA's absurdly abysmal reputation. USA! USA! USA!

Thought the red card was bullshit and probably politically motivated.

...(or maybe not so subtle) bias on the part of the Brazilian ref. who might have been hoping to disadvantage a potential opponent for his country's team.

FIFA was established in 1930, the year of the first World Cup competition.

It's so corrupt they should be banned from running anything
I am quite aware of who and what FIFA is
That you took my comment so literally speaks volumes

I am cracking up.


Good one!

I’d stand up against TSF’s interference and FIFAs corruption.

He's compromised, obviously.

The line judge's call was questionable, and it may not have been a violation. The same thing was NOT being carded against other players in other games.

I don't believe Chump was right to call the FIFA president about it, but there should be a way to legally review and question the referees when they make questionable calls. When there's so much riding on this World Cup championship, they need to have a way to reconsider certain rulings.

VAR- the Video Assistant Referee.

On the field the referee called a foul (it was) but with no further penalty. The VAR stepped in and had the referee review the play which resulted in the ejection.

There is much debate in the football community over the call however the consensus is that the play should not have been a red card. Regardless of similar plays not called, most fans and referees agree it should have been a yellow card (warning) at most. As a former referee I agree, I would have initially given a yellow on the play and had I the advantage of VAR I would not have changed it to a red.

I see no reason that red cards and officiating couldn't be reviewed after matches. The officiating at yesterday's France-Paraguay match was beyond bad.

about the ref in the Mexico-England match as well.

to get them overturned. Sorry but the US team is now tainted to the rest of the world. Just another thing that Trump has ruined.

Total grievance society.

With any luck, that will include an on-field humiliation.

An absolute disgrace and embarrassment for US soccer.

They did nothing wrong. As announcer and former USMNT member said, if you have a problem with the decision, take it up with FIFA.

It's not the men's team fault.

Who called on Trump to request he get it overturned? I would be interested to know. There has been poor officiating in many games at this world cup and most others, but never has any country leader interfered with decisions. FIFA is a corrupt organization and always has been but never has there ever been such blatant political interference in the actual games. I don't care what country it is, this is really a bad look. Just one more reason for the world to hate the US.

The irony is that Trump, who rails constantly about birthright citizenship, intervened on behalf of a player who would not be on the US team were it not for birthright citizenship.

Besides, people take sports - any sport - far too seriously.
Mix together politics, money and national pride, and . . .
It becomes a war zone.

a fucking red card at a sporting event. This shit is pathetic. It's small, petty, and embarrassing for the US. As always, he only did it because he wanted to "look good" and take credit, anyhow.

After all his recent failures and debacles, he clearly has nothing better to fucking do with himself.

What happened was Folarin Balogun of the USMNT and Tarik Muharemović of Bosnia and Herzegovina were going for the ball, got tangled up, and Balogun stepped on Muharemović's foot. Muharemović was behind Balogun when it happened. It was just hard play.

The biggest issue is the referees in this World Cup have shown more red cards than were shown in the entirety of the last two World Cups combined and there's still a lot of soccer left to play. FIFA is the Mos Eisley Spaceport of the sporting world so one has to wonder who paid off Infantino to get all these players sent off.

He has never gone by the rules, nor the rule of law. In his demented mind, rules are made to be broken.

the red card was an absolutely horrible call. I'm glad FIFA made this right and it should not have taken any interference from drumpf to do so. they should have fixed it on their own.

all that being said, my message to drumpf would be DON'T YOU HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO????????????

But some here are blaming the USMNT and hoping they are humiliated tomorrow.

FIFA is just as corrupt as Donald Trump. Frankly, they deserve each other.

Don’t be silly. 😂

We don't need the Orange Fucker's help. Now the whole thing is called into question.

I hate him.

Get over it

On the other hand, by getting involved Trump has now tainted any success the team has hereafter. If they win it'll be dismissed as Trump putting his tiny orange thumb on the scale, and not without merit.

On the mutant third hand, I get why FIFA would be susceptible to the pressure to suspend the penalty. The US is pretty much the only part of the world that isn't crazy for football and FIFA very much wants to change that. No doubt they judged that any short-term scandal is worth making further inroads into the US market.

I have to check whether a game is playing here on any given day or lose 45 minutes in Arlington traffic.

(I'm sure there are reasons given both for and against the premise, but I'm go into the 'get off my lawn' mode when it comes to local traffic in north TX.)

First off FIFA is notoriously corrupt and incompetent, from the front office down to their refs. Balogun shouldn't have gotten that red card to begin with, it was a bullshit call on a normal play. In fact it was a play on, no call until VAR "recommended" a review. Other players have done essentially the same action as Balogun did with nothing happening(looking at you Messi).

FIFA rules are confusing to the point of be contradictory when it comes to after action appeals. There have been successful appeals in the group portion of the tournament, but not in the knockout rounds(are they somehow sacred?).

Trump shouldn't have gotten involved, it makes everything the US team does from here on out look illegitimate. He should have kept quiet and said nothing, there was enough pressure on FIFA to change the call as was. Worse thing is if Balogun would have remained disqualified that would have been a rallying point for our team, and as we saw against Bosnia, the US team rallies well. Now this all serves as a rallying point for Belgium, which we don't need. Interesting point, Balogun may still not play as Belgium is appealing the appeal, stay tuned.

I'm still rooting for the US team no matter what happens. They didn't cause this mess, FIFA and Trump did. I'm not going to take my anger out on the people who are caught in the middle. Nor am I going to say that America should be banned from hosting future World Cups. First of all, political leadership changes in this country, and second, FIFA needs a deep cleaning of its own, starting with Infantino.

So go US, sorry you folks got caught in this stupid mess.

both have become nothing more than corrupt jokes.

Suspending the Red Card is in the rule book. I'd wager USMNT asked for a review as well, not just President Asshole.

Even with Balogan, it's maybe 50/50 that we make it past Belgium, and far worse odds to make it past Spain or Portugal in the Quarters. France or Morocco wait beyond that in the Semis. The US is not going to win this tournament.