I agree with @Swoos from the other day; I thought we would win without Balogun based on just how the team was performing. Part of me wants to spite the World and have him play, and another part of me wants to spite Trump and have him not. It's not a clean thing, and Balogun himself suffers the most. And I'd argue he's handled the entire thing with extreme class (compared to Jude saying "I won't talk about the ref because I want to play the next game" after the ref last night actually had a very competent, composed game, for one example).
Entirely unrelated... do we think today is the day Yamal finally unlocks? He's been getting better and better as he's worked back, but not quite his usual heights.
I still can’t get over Trump going to bat for a guy he literally tried to strip citizenship away from less than a week ago
I think you will beat them regardless honestly. I am interested in the “spite the world” part though, and what that’s about lol
Had this in my head the whole time I was in Barcelona in May. What a classic. Manics are stupidly underrated.
I get the optics…but that yellow was such a bad decision I think France would be doing this either way.
“If everyone is rooting against us, fuck em” mentality you usually find amongst US fans, haha. Nothing deeper than that. Portugal and Morocco have rapists on the pitch. But this is the main thing ruining integrity in the sport, etc.
I’d also add… Trump taking credit for this makes me think he didn’t actually do anything of note to influence the decision lol (This is normally how he operates, but with how corrupt FIFA actually is, he probably did put his thumb on the scale)
The Belgian updated statement shows what a shambles this is from FIFA. Totally threw any sort of due process out the window to do with that suspension and even their pre-match briefings. I agree in theory that there should be an appeals process but its still subjective. Balogun's is the typical situation that goes either way depending on the day, the ref, and the VAR. I think he was unlucky personally but its the integrity of the game at stake here.
I can't blame anyone for rooting against the US to begin with, and if you are I can certainly understand disagreeing with this, but Balogun being eligible to play tonight is so clearly the right outcome in my mind. I'm with Garrett in thinking that's the right decision while despising getting there the wrong way. Remove Trump and FIFA from the equation - is it really preferable for a team to play a subsequent game down one of their 3 most important players for a judgment call with no appeals process? That feels crazy to me and I would say that about any team in the tournament. FIFA's corruption, Trump's victory lap, the possibility that he really did influence this - those all suck ass. But outside obvious and indefensible infraction it's better for the best players to play and I'm not going to feel like Balogun's presence taints whatever happens tonight. That now everyone thinks they can appeal any card and we have Trump looking like a hypocrite by defending a birthright citizen here are both icing on the cake. And my opinion on the sanctity of the organization that fixed the 2022 hosting for Qatar and turned a blind eye to the deaths of underpaid workers who built the stadiums for it is virtually unchanged from the toilet it was already in.
I do understand the point you’re making but yes, a government actively intervening in this way is a bigger threat to the sport than one or two terrible people playing. They’re both bad, but one is obviously worse for the sport as a whole, and I think your judgement is clouded by your passion for your team (which happens to us all, to be clear).
I think we would’ve won without Balogun. But now I think we’re going to lose because of how big of a distraction this has become. So everyone will be happy in about 10 hours when we’re eliminated.
This is also correct. It’s like people didn’t read anything other than trump’s post. Infantino watched the game next to Howard Lutnick; Rudy Giuliani’s shitty son is the head of the World Cup task force. Trump takes the credit but it’s his goon squad that push this through like basically everything else in his presidency.
I feel like Portugal v Spain is going to be a bore. Portugal aren't great, and Spain just pass it around all day. Hopefully we get a few fights to spice it up.
I think US should play without him and win. I didn’t feel like it was impossible for US to win without Balogun and I still don’t.
It would be an incredible twist if they now did this. Just completely burying Infantino and the orange goblin in egg. Bliss.
Somehow I doubt the team who’s actual best player is a registered Republican Trump fan is going to do that lol