Welcome to Thunderdome

Troy wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2026 12:34 pm Also, it's time Pulisic, all those chocolate bars, all the hype, all the time being the fancy USA guy whose actually good all the way up to the Champions League. It's time to deliver. You specifically.

Preach. He can become legend against Belgium like Donovan did against Ghana. (Ghana ALWAYS makes me laugh because of The League.)

TheCatt wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2026 1:40 pm Yeah, it's a new era. But... we're still not France.

No, but I do think this WC is going to help a lot. It's been an exceptional recruiting tool for the whole country.

I started watching Spain-Austria at a restaurant today and knew it was over 10 minutes in. Spain might as well have set up camp in Austria's zone. Same thing as England-Congo.

I really want to beat Belgium and see how we stack up against the best.

That's huge. USA!

Also, the ref is the France-Paraguay game should be suspended. He was letting those players get away with murder.

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Meanwhile, soccer fans are so classless:

Leisher wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 2:29 pm Meanwhile, soccer fans are so classless:

Yeah.

NORWAY!!!!

Trump lobbied FIFA, and FIFA caved. He finally did something right?

Glad Norway advanced.

I'd like to see Mexico ousted so we're the last host standing, if only for a day.

You don't see that every day.

Saw the first goal, watched 10 seconds of a YouTube video and noticed ESPN said 2-0. Looked up and unmuted to see the quick strike.

Leisher wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 9:41 pm You don't see that every day.

Saw the first goal, watched 10 seconds of a YouTube video and noticed ESPN said 2-0. Looked up and unmuted to see the quick strike.

I watched the first goal, paused it to replay and show my family how it developed, and then caught back up to real-time and it was already 2-0, and I had to rewind again! Caught up before the Mexico goal.

Fuck all these refs. Why do they hate northern teams?

TheCatt wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 10:25 pm Why do they hate northern teams?

You mean white ones?

Racist.

Leisher wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 10:37 pm

TheCatt wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 10:25 pm Why do they hate northern teams?

You mean white ones?

Racist.

Well, half of England's team and half the US team isn't white. I had actually originally typed white, lol.

How about they just hate first world countries?

Article on Balogun's suspension reversal.

Credit where it's due, this does seem to be thanks to Trump.

Also, for those crying foul:

There is precedent.

Last November, superstar Cristiano Ronaldo received a red card in Portugal’s penultimate qualifying match for deliberately elbowing an Irish player—which would have come with a three-match suspension, and cost him two matches of the World Cup group stage. But within days, FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee adjusted his punishment to a one-year probationary period.

High profile stars should be treated like all other players.

The decision was especially harsh in contrast to an incident earlier in the tournament when Argentine superstar Lionel Messi committed a similar foul against an Algerian player—and went unpunished.

Ultimately, I really don't know how in 2026 red cards are not automatically reviewed by FIFA. That is way, way too much power for a single person to wield. It'd be really easy for one maliciously acting official to dramatically alter a tournament.

Soccer is corrupt, and always has been. Everything is very relative. VAR, in theory, helps fix it. And agree on red card reviews.

Spain and Belgium are the favorites tonight.

I pray the U.S. can pull off the upset. I'd love to get to the final 8. If not, it was still a good run for this program and a great advertisement for the U.S. overall.

Biggest losers of this WC have been Canada and the MSM throughout the world. Both took serious hits to their reputations.

Africa, down to 2 teams, did really well in the group round, really justified the spots that they got. Asia/Oceania/CONCACAF did not.

Leisher wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2026 10:54 am I pray the U.S. can pull off the upset. I'd love to get to the final 8. If not, it was still a good run for this program and a great advertisement for the U.S. overall.

Yep.

Leisher wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2026 10:54 am Biggest losers of this WC have been Canada and the MSM throughout the world. Both took serious hits to their reputations.

I've heard a lot of people mad at Australia as well for their fans' behavior. But I don't know the details.

TheCatt wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2026 12:21 pm Asia/Oceania/CONCACAF did not.

My wife said the Japanese team was booed when they got home. If true, that's fucking bullshit.

TheCatt wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2026 12:21 pm I've heard a lot of people mad at Australia as well for their fans' behavior.

Interesting. I haven't heard anything about them.

how DARE Trump do something like this and make me like him more. I'm outraged.

I really wish he would stop talking though. Cuz those are just dumb statements.