Outside Topic Happy World Cup - Printable Version
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RE: Happy World Cup - Canalejas - 07-06-2026
Maybe we can just get in a joke at Harvard's expense and call it a night.
RE: Happy World Cup - PVTree - 07-06-2026
Belgium completely took the US out of their game. They did not resemble the team from the previous 4 games. No controversies today.
I did see a funny meme after the game. It showed the photo of the VAR refs from the game introductions. They were sitting in front of the screens intently watching them with the headphones and other communication systems on.
They superimposed Trump's head on one of the officials watching the screens with the message "Not even the VAR was able to help Team USA today".
RE: Happy World Cup - Leftcoast - 07-06-2026
Well … Except that it was VAR that previously HURT the US.
Yeah, I know nobody cares about the details.
RE: Happy World Cup - BostonCard - 07-06-2026
You knew it was going to be a long day when in the first minute, a ball ricochets off an American and then we screen the Belgians as it goes out of bounds, giving them the throw in (zero situational awareness) and in the subsequent throw in, a poor clear results in a clear shot at the goal, which would have gone in but for a great save by Freese (it all went downhill for him from there). Very inauspicious start. I was hoping it was just nerves, but no, that was the first of many defensive lapses.
BC
RE: Happy World Cup - Bruce Wang - 07-07-2026
America is the future of soccer and always will be.
Soccer has become a club sport for the affluent. Unlike overseas, US clubs earn nothing when a kid turns pro. The youth clubs incentives revolve around catering to their rich customers rather than developing the best talent. Ken Griffin's money is better spend on opening a scholarshipped youth academy program.
RE: Happy World Cup - BostonCard - 07-07-2026
(07-07-2026, 08:02 AM)Bruce Wang Wrote: America is the future of soccer and always will be.
Soccer has become a club sport for the affluent. Unlike overseas, US clubs earn nothing when a kid turns pro. The youth clubs incentives revolve around catering to their rich customers rather than developing the best talent. Ken Griffin's money is better spend on opening a scholarshipped youth academy program.
Under the same model, women’s soccer is the best in the world.
My guess is that a promising, athletic youth aspiring to play professional sports would rather play football, basketball, or baseball, because the domestic leagues are very visible, so that offers the clearest path to a professional career.
BC
RE: Happy World Cup - slide - 07-07-2026
(07-07-2026, 08:44 AM)BostonCard Wrote: Under the same model, women’s soccer is the best in the world.
My guess is that a promising, athletic youth aspiring to play professional sports would rather play football, basketball, or baseball, because the domestic leagues are very visible, so that offers the clearest path to a professional career.
BC
agreed, particularly on the men's side. for very athletic boys/teens, soccer is just not a top 3 or top 4 sport for consideration (I'd add in lacrosse as a rival). on a more positive note, MSL has adopted some of the other league soccer rules including transfer payments so may be that can help make investment in youth leagues more viable (Almiron $9.5M transfer fee sticks out in my mind).
RE: Happy World Cup - BostonCard - 07-07-2026
OMG, the Egypt - Argentina match was unbelieavable.
BC
RE: Happy World Cup - dabigv13 - 07-07-2026
39 years old, 8 goals so far in this WC. Scored in 9 straight WC games. Messi is the greatest. Wow.
Veni, veni
Canta conmigo
Que un amigo vas a encontrar
Que de la mano de Leo Messi
Todos la vuelta vamos a dar
RE: Happy World Cup - BostonCard - 07-07-2026
(07-07-2026, 11:17 AM)dabigv13 Wrote: 39 years old, 8 goals so far in this WC. Scored in 9 straight WC games. Messi is the greatest. Wow.
Veni, veni
Canta conmigo
Que un amigo vas a encontrar
Que de la mano de Leo Messi
Todos la vuelta vamos a dar
Except they might want to consider someone else for penalties.
BC
RE: Happy World Cup - fullmetal - 07-07-2026
Egypt showed real quality, but Argentina deserve their flowers.
The US youth soccer scene seems to have been colonized by rent-seeking private equity firms. Youth club academies overseas seem to be accessible to all.
The US women's talent pipeline has Title IX on their side. I wouldn't say that the women's NT success means that all is well at the youth level.
RE: Happy World Cup - BostonCard - 07-07-2026
I had to laugh at the UEFA president decrying the decision to reverse Balogun’s red card at potentially leading to a cesspit:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cgmdkjg9pkno
Has he not been to the FIFA Wikipedia page? Right there on the top there’s a note that reads:
“ The 'Controversies' and 'Corruption' sections make up about 50% of the whole article based on character count.”
Like, did he forget that 14 people were indicted for wire fraud, racketeering, and money laundering and that his predecessor as head of UEFA, Michel Platini was involved in the scandal.
Sorry, FIFA was already a cesspool.
BC
RE: Happy World Cup - dabigv13 - 07-07-2026
It's pretty unprecedented. Politics has impacted World Cups before. This degree of corruption of the actual on field game, maybe the Argentinian junta in 78 leaning on refs. Mussolini in the 30s. Maybe Korea in 2002 but that's more subjective/plausibly deniable. Even so, those weren't changing results after the actual game.
Not great company to be in. I think most football fans think FIFA is corrupt but there are degrees of corruption.
RE: Happy World Cup - jacket3ree - 07-07-2026
We had the WC running in the conference room (no sound) today. What Argentina did was insane. Feel bad for Egypt. Switzerland-Columbia ended in PKs. One miss is all it takes. Was pulling for a South American Quarterfinal, but other than Morocco and Argentina, its all European from here to the end. Think I'll pull for the Vikings. (They are who we thought they were!) A knockout run through Brazil, England, Argentina, and France would be rather epic.
Shocking how far the USMNT is from having what it takes no matter how much money thrown behind the enterprise. At least we aren't Italy, right?
RE: Happy World Cup - DC 86 - 07-07-2026
(07-07-2026, 03:31 PM)dabigv13 Wrote: It's pretty unprecedented. Politics has impacted World Cups before. This degree of corruption of the actual on field game, maybe the Argentinian junta in 78 leaning on refs.
They didn't just lean on refs. Argentina needed to beat Peru by four goals in the last group stage game to advance to the final, otherwise Brazil (by virtue of better goal difference) would have played the Netherlands for the title. The government released $50 mm in frozen Peruvian assets and shipped 35,000 tons of grain to Peru prior to the match. Final score: 6-0. Argentina then beat the Netherlands 3 -1 for their first World Cup championship.
Argentina's dictator (accompanied by Henry Kissinger) even paid a visit to the Peruvian locker room just prior to kickoff and read them a letter from Peru's president, just to make sure they understood their job.
RE: Happy World Cup - newguy - 07-08-2026
Color commentator and former English GK Rob Green said the following during the game about Egypt's disallowed goal: "A hundred yards away, someone stepping on someone's toe, is not why VAR was brought into the game. We've gotten to a point now where it's reaching far beyond the power that it should have. The referee saw the tackle, decided not to give it......"
RE: Happy World Cup - dabigv13 - 07-08-2026
Stepping on the toe 100 yards away, a foul the ref missed, resulted in the ball being turned over, directly leading to the goal.
Whether VAR is good for the game or not, can and should be debated but Green is not really characterizing what happened truthfully, this actually is squarely within the remit of VAR in modern football.
Here is Argentina getting a goal called back in similar fashion against Paraguay in a WC qualifier, with even more time and build up between the foul and goal.
https://x.com/Sofocles12345/status/2074889921114816979?s=20
RE: Happy World Cup - DC 86 - 07-08-2026
(07-08-2026, 09:28 AM)dabigv13 Wrote: Stepping on the toe 100 yards away, a foul the ref missed, resulted in the ball being turned over, directly leading to the goal.
Whether VAR is good for the game or not, can and should be debated but Green is not really characterizing what happened truthfully, this actually is squarely within the remit of VAR in modern football.
The ball had already been turned over and was in Argentina's possession before there was contact with Salah (arguably initiated by Salah who was stuck his leg out trying to desperately stop Alvarez), at which point Salah dove to the ground. Alvarez had stolen the ball and nutmegged Salah before there was any contact.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KDeZctcIJIA
RE: Happy World Cup - dabigv13 - 07-08-2026
Completely agree with your assessment of the play Egypt complained about. Alvarez disposesses Salah, who then dives and tries to trip Alvarez.
My post was about the foul on Martinez which led to Ziko's disallowed goal, and which led to the commentator Green's unfounded complaint.
RE: Happy World Cup - DC 86 - 07-08-2026
(07-08-2026, 10:33 AM)dabigv13 Wrote: Completely agree with your assessment of the play Egypt complained about. Alvarez disposesses Salah, who then dives and tries to trip Alvarez.
My post was about the foul on Martinez which led to Ziko's disallowed goal, and which led to the commentator Green's unfounded complaint.
Ah, I misunderstood. We are in agreement on both plays.