Ironically, Infantino (hell of a last name) arose on a platform to fight corruption and improve the reputation of FIFA… until the odd “peace prize” and this deferment of the red card suspension, the first time since 1962.
I’ll watch it for the players, but in the long term, Trump will be gone & FIFA hasn’t begun to see the pushback they’ll be receiving, firstly from advancing country Norway(!)
You know, if the US wins this World Cup ( which is a really, really big if), the world is going to slap an asterisk on it due to DIC tainting it with his tiny, fat hands.
Now, we all know the key to why sports, as an entertainment commodity, has seen profound success is because of the competition. Even a disadvantaged team has a chance to win, and not knowing who is going to win keeps our interest. The more these competitions have external interventions in them, the sooner the fans will simply stop watching them. Personally, I liked the “US vs the World” narrative that was going to play out tonight due to Balogun’s Red Card in the last game. It would’ve been better for the bottom line of the integrity of the team and the tournament. It was more watchable to see how the USMNT would overcome the adversity. Now, it’s starting to feel a little WWE-like. It will be hard to wash off this stink.
Finally, the FIFA referees are awful. I don’t know where they found these crews, and I do believe they are trying their very best to be fair, but they need better training and review work. Two Red Cards on fouls that only warranted yellows starts making the referees too much a part of the action. Truth is there have been too many questionable calls made. It’s too late to improve the third team on the field for this one, but hopefully there can be improvements made before the next World Cup.
Alright folks, what’s done is done. The red card for Flo has been “reviewed” by FIFA and reversed. Let’s hope that England gets the same consideration as their red card was equally ridiculous.
Thought Balogun’s red was harsh but have seen that type of play given a red before. Certainly not intentional but one can mistakenly make a dangerous play without any intended violence.
There are allegations the Venezuelan VAR official only showed the slowest replays to the Brazilian referee to look at.
Should have been up to US Soccer Federation (or whatever it is called) to make an appeal not 47. I highly doubt King Charles III will contact FIFA asking their player sent off last night be reinstated for their match against Norway.
I read a lot of various soccer boards with participants from around the world. Most fans from other countries are condemning 47 getting involved in the way he did. In future tournaments played in other parts of the world, the US team will likely face some rather hostile crowds.
Personally would rather have had Balogun sitting out tonight and have our team motivated to win without him to earn him the ability to play in the quarterfinals. The way it is now, Belgium will be very motivated to stop him and the rest of our team and a US victory will be overshadowed by these events.
Helluva match at Azteca last night with such an amazing atmosphere.
Intriguing race for the golden boot between Messi, MBappe, and Haaland with 7 goals apiece.
Don’t know to call this irony or hypocrisy, but having President Rip Van Tinkle fighting to keep a birthright citizen playing for team USA while trying to abolish the 14th ammendment.
Initially, I really didn’t care who would win the match, but as it played on, I was full on pulling for England. Especially with 10 men on the pitch. Fun game.
Yep. This is routine corruption for FIFA that happens on any random Tuesday. The fact that Trump decided to get involved just bring additional attention to it that I’m 100% sure the team didn’t want.
Also, this Spain/Portugal game is a incredibly boring slog,
Ronaldo just parks himself near the goal waiting to be passed the ball. Not much of a teammate. No wonder the analysts don’t have positive things to say about him.
