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The media commands it.

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Our domestic league is 2nd division in Europe.

These are rational, “smarter than others” people with unkept silver ponytails - the kind of people who just know things. One cannot question such authority. Their expertise on the topic spans weeks, and they’ve never sullied their beautiful minds with any athletic endeavor more taxing than their beloved pickleball.

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It turns out that the world owes Trump another debt of gratitude.

From The Athletic:

The president didn’t rescue Balogun. He didn’t give the U.S. greater odds to win. He didn’t fix the tournament by correcting a mistake. He repossessed the World Cup. He made Balogun, whose class and character represented the entire squad, the face of a fix. He helped create the snooty American attitude that gave Belgium a motivational boost.

“In recent days, we have been shown a lack of respect here in the U.S.,” Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said afterward. “It was said that they could beat us easily, but I think today we proved that we are a good team. We played a great match.”

The match unfolded in a series of cruelties. Charles De Ketelaere scored in the ninth minute, off a ball the U.S. should have cleared. Malik Tillman’s deflected free kick briefly evened the score, but 61 seconds after the restart, De Ketelaere ripped the wound again. U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese gifted the third goal with a stupefying mistake, and several Red Devils gathered in a circle, clenched their fists and jerked their arms back and forth, appearing to troll Tump with his signature dance move. In stoppage time, Romelu Lukaku scored and blew kisses to the Belgium section in the crowd of 66,925.

“I think today we didn’t show our real quality,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “We were never connected with the manner of the game.”

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Excerpts

Oh dear. Such a shame to see the US lose at football after their insanely embarrassing president cheated for them. Still, it really brought the world together. The last time this many people cheered on a Belgian resistance, it was 1914 and the Germans had just crossed the Meuse. As you’ll be aware, the USA were dumped out of their own World Cup on Monday night by a wholly superior Belgium, after Donald Trump boasted that he’d personally intervened in three phone calls with Fifa president Gianni Infantino to get the red card shown to USA striker Folarin Balogun rescinded. Yes, the US cheats at football. Pass it on.

You’ve heard a lot about shithousery during this tournament. We have even, excruciatingly, seen a few American commentators attempt to use the word in conversation. Guys, please, just – no. It’s not for you. You have ’erbs, “a couple things”, and “a ways to go”. But let’s call the events of the past few days by the name they deserve in all the languages of the world: Whitehousery.

Some absolute Whitehousery has been on display and the world certainly has a way (singular) to go before we all forget it. As he made very clear, Trump really wet his Depends over Balogun’s ban, and spent Monday gibbering to the news cameras that he’d acted hideously inappropriately over the weekend by interfering because “I’m good at this stuff”. Righto. It’s somehow especially poignant that Trump genuinely thought he was going in to bat for the national side. After all, the only humane sporting reply to that is: oh my god, don’t let him bat! Look at the state of him! He can’t bat to save his life! Weird that Trump supposedly understands such a lot about sport, but doesn’t get that if you do something outrageously unfair, your opponents will so often use that injustice to fire themselves up and beat you. But look, maybe those aren’t the dynamics in the necrotic golf games Lindsey Graham lets him cheat in. (“Some people say you may outdrive him, but you’re not going to outdrive his caddie,” Graham told a grand jury in Trump’s election interference case in 2022. “It is what it is.”)

A lot of people rightly feel sorry for Balogun, who never asked to find the president’s malevolently gelatinous form supposedly in his corner. In fact, presumably the London-raised Balogun particularly didn’t, given he’s precisely the sort of chap whose birthright citizenship Trump would have done anything to limit until the supreme court finally struck down his attempts to do so last week. But, to quote a phrase, it is what it is.


Link: Trump cheats to win

Right in your wheelhouse.

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Belgium is an excellent side who would have likely prevailed against our highest quality play.

But, we were miserable ... on US soil ... playing for a chance to advance to quarterfinals as a host nation.

Something was amiss. They were unfocused. Why? We all know the answer.

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"...We didn't connect..." speaks to the mental part of the match...not the physical or strategic parts. The team was distracted...and the distraction was all due to Trump's unwarranted intrusion. It became THE TOPIC throughout the World Cup teams and fans. NO WAY that the U.S. team was 'Insulated' from it.

Read the full text of what the Coach said. Argue with him.

Link: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49293102/usmnt-dismisses-balogun-noise-2026-fifa-world-cup-exit

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"Key reasons for the disconnect:

Poor start and lack of control: The U.S. struggled to impose themselves, with Belgium dictating play and capitalizing on American mistakes (Soccer News)

Inconsistent attack: The offense never clicked against elite competition, failing to create sustained pressure.

Defensive lapses: The U.S. conceded early and often, allowing Belgium to exploit gaps.

Injuries and fitness issues: Star player Christian Pulisic was hampered by injury, limiting his impact.

Home-field advantage not enough: Despite packed stadiums and high expectations, the U.S. couldn’t match Belgium’s intensity and execution.

Pochettino acknowledged the performance was below their usual standards and suggested it was a collective and individual failure to approach the game as they normally do.. The loss marked the sixth straight time the U.S. has been eliminated in the Round of 16 at the World Cup.

In short, the U.S. didn’t connect because they lacked the control, creativity, and composure to compete with Belgium’s disciplined and clinical style, compounded by injury issues and a lack of consistent attacking threat".

You are not paying any attention to what the participants themselves actually said.

I will have no further responses to a purely political hatchet job.

of creating an unnecessary furor by throwing his political weigh around in a sporting event. I'm sure they're well aware of what the repercussions would be to them and their careers if they did so.

" his political weigh"?

collective and individual failure to approach the game as they normally do."

Now what could possibly have caused a Collective and Individual Failure to approach a game of this magnitude? What was unique about this particular game?

You're ignoring the Elephant in the room.

Speaking to reporters after the final whistle, he said: "No, it had no impact. We've done a good job with this group of allowing outside noise to be outside noise. It's got nothing to do with us as players and getting ready for games.

"It's one of those things. That's the world we live in. We were fully focused on us as a group and as a team and fully focused on the game and not really worrying about what was being said or debated in the outside world."

Anyone who has ever competed at a high level knows that you ignore the outside noise. You focus on the task at hand. You have bad days. Your opponent plays very well.

You insult the USMNT by suggesting they were mentally unable to compete because of noise.

That is an elephant turd comment.

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decision to inject himself into a dispute where he doesn't belong. Do you honestly think any of them would speak their mind under such circumstances...i.e. the President of the United States admitting he struck a deal with the Head of FIFA to favor the USA team?

Note the correction to the typo...ever the Anal Retentive...

No weigh!

Really, that is not nice.

(Elephants squatting)

focusing solely on game preparation, you'd call him out on it?...Seriously?

Note that the 'Mental Game' is extremely important in sports...especially at the World Cup level in Soccer...which is why Premier teams employ Sports Psychologists to help their players deal with the unseen challenges of competition. The players are real people...they are not 'Automatons'.


Link: https://soccerinteraction.com/the-role-of-a-psychologist-in-a-football-team

(Elephants dumping on your shoe)

.... at such a moment, we know why.

Your tag team illogic suggests that the USMNT was unable to compete because of noise.

They have denied that. Are you calling them liars?

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his Actions or Policies may be...the Antithesis of an impartial arbiter...

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Team USA is the only team without a clear #1 goalkeeper entering this World Cup. Because neither current 2 goalies is good. Coach Poch has to rotate them.

No, I am not talking the 3rd goal allowed. The error obviously came from inexperience. A good goalkeeper, a modern goalkeeper will definitely get involved in fighting the first 2 goals we allowed (from crossing). Our goalkeepers have no coverage, i.e. no range. They’re just average traditional shot-stoppers.

When an underdog wants to beat a favorite, a good goalie is a must. We’re just one good goalie away from being a very good team.

because so much luck is involved.. That is why penalty kicks are just a guess in defending, and I do think timing and eye/hand coordination and body balance are involved which are very underrated traits in determining good athletic skill.

I'm thinking this is the best USA soccer has to offer? And, while I'm at it, the goalie screw up is something you would see in travel ball. That was ridiculous.

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