Good effin grief - I understand sports really well

[malaise]

That wasn’t a foul.

Donvict is on live - holding a press conference about a red card.
I give up

[sop]

1. Trump wants to be "the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding, the baby at every christening,

and the referee at every World Cup match."

[jls4561]

2. Can I vote for the first option?

[malaise]

3. This is beyond sick

He didn’t understand what happened but he knows sports more than everyone else.
So glad the Belgians are protesting

[ornotna]

4. And he's really good at sports too

[jls4561]

26. I was unaware that many years of cheating at golf is considered "good at sports".

[vapor2]

30. Just finished the book on his cheating in golf

and OMG he cheats 100%

[Ocelot II]

5. One of the players on the England team was also suspended.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/jarell-quansah-red-card-suspended-ban-folarin-balogun-b3009489.htm Will King Charles intervene to get him reinstated?

This is so ridiculous. Will Trump start umpiring at the World Series, too?

[3catwoman3]

6. Shoulda kept his damn nose out of this.

TSF inserting himself into this is completely tainting the accomplishments of the USMNT.

[malaise]

8. He is the most insecure human being on the planet

Every effin thing has to be about him

[ananda]

10. He'll want the trophy too.

Gold plated.

[OGBuzz]

33. And Infantino will give it to him, along with another FIFA Peace Prize.

[mcar]

7. There are so many reasons I hate this man

The US finally has a men's team that is competitive and fun to watch and he's cast a pall over them.

Balogun's red card was a ridiculous call. There should be a serious look at officiating during this tournament (see France-Paraguay). Despite that, the WC has been surprisingly great thus far.

Of course, TSF and his minions should have kept their noses out of it. And now he's making a bad situation worse? Of course he is.

FIFA deserves all the negative fallout from this. I'm glad Belgium is suing. Doubtful anything will come of it, but still...

That said, I'm not going to hold the USMNT responsible. I'm not going to hope they lose. I'm not going to, as someone here said last night, hope they are publicly humiliated. They are victims here.

[malaise]

9. There are bad calls in all sports

and that was hardly the worst of them in this World Cup.
I detest this man

[mcar]

11. That is true, but it's not the first time a red has been "suspended"

And one cannot help but believe that Ronaldo's red card suspension (2 games of 3) was motivated by less than humanitarian aims. Or that Messi's similar action wasn't even given a foul for less than humanitarian reasons.

FIFA wants the stars in the matches and Balogun is a US star.

I do think the quality of the officiating in the round of 16 should be evaluated. Heck, all officiating should be evaluated to see how they can improve in future tournaments.

[malaise]

15. Valid point but I can't remember the leader of a country getting involved in this way

It is vulgarity on steroids

[mcar]

16. That's a great way to put it

Who used to call him a "short-fingered vulgarian?" I think it was Charlie Pierce.

[leftstreet]

17. But he's the FIFA Peace Prize Winner!

He has rights!

Infantino deserves this disaster, but the USMNT does not.

This is so sickening

[malaise]

21. I forgot 😂

[JT45242]

32. Because FIFA guidelines say political pressure are immediate DQ for that country from the tourney

But FIFA's corruption and mango mussolini's belief that he is above all laws both are nearly infinite.

[haele]

18. Typically, a red card suspension will be evaluated after looking at the VAR.

During the game, the referee isn't going to be overturned. If they want to kick a player off the field during the game, they can.
That being said, T,DJ needs to keep his death-dealing fingers out of it. Not only will he figuratively tank any chance the US men's team has (because everything he touches dies), I doubt he knows any more of Association Football (Soccer) than he does about American Football and could tell the difference between a dangerous flagrant that requires a multi-game suspension and contact that is borderline between incidental and intentional - or someone selling incidental contact with a dramatic flop.

[mcar]

19. Totally agree

Was just reading in NYT that TSF said he had no idea what a red card was, but once he found out, blah, blah, blah.

We are in an idiocracy. I really feel for the players. They will bear the brunt of this.

[Ocelot II]

36. Even if it was a bad call, Trump had no business intervening.

If the US wins further matches due to scoring by their un-suspended striker, those wins will be forever tainted, which harms the US team and its reputation. It will be said that they won only because Trump "bought" it for them.

[malaise]

37. Correct

Rec

[3catwoman3]

12. Here's my ideal fantasy about how to approach this today.

Keep Balogun on the bench initially and hope for the US to knock in 3 goals in the first half, and Belgium no goals. Then put Balogun in.

I am not rooting against our team either. This is not their fault.

That said, I'm not looking forward to this game as much as I was.

[mcar]

13. I was thinking similar. Don't start him,

but have him ready to sub. It might be safer for Balogun too, since I fear the refs and Belgians will be out to get him.

OTOH, I doubt any coach would hold back his best player in what is the most important match of their lives.

I'm not looking forward to it as much either. trump ruins everything.

[3catwoman3]

22. I've read so much about this in the last couple of days that I've lost track of details.

Are you one of the DUers with reffing experience? I know someone is.

I have never reffed anything, nor played any organized sports. Title IX did not exist when I was in school. Just a long-time soccer mom whose 36 and 33 year old sons still play in men's leagues in their respective cities of Phoenix and Chicago. Both started playing when they were 5.

We've seen plenty of lousy reffing over our years of watching, starting at the youngest levels. We had one ref quoting Bible verses from the field - WTH! He called nothing against the other team, and our coach finally pulled our team off the field and chose to forfeit the game because he was afraid of our guys getting hurt.

When our older son was about 12, he offered to be the side ref for one of his brother's away games. When we first got to the field, the ref wasn't there yet. When he arrived, everyone from the home team created him enthusiastically in Polish, and he returned their greetings with equal familiarity. I thought to myself, "Well, I know how this game is going to go." Sure enough, he called nothing against the home team, and over-ruled everything our son called from the sideline. After the first half, our son said, "Forget it," and handed the flag back to the guy. Not even a pretense of neutrality.

[mcar]

23. I've no reffing experience but I've been watching soccer for 30+ years

thanks to my kids.

I have always tried to shy away from criticizing the refs, especially in youth leagues. However, I think there should be a high standard for refs in the WC.

In the France-Paraguay match, which I keep bringing up, the ref gave out several yellow cards to French players and none to Paraguay, despite Paraguay's overt and obvious fouling. Near the end of the match, a French and Paraguayan player were jawing at each other. Suddenly, the Paraguayan player dropped to the ground. The French player had not touched him.

The ref gave the French player a yellow card.

This is what I mean by there should be a higher standard, at least in the WC. Obviously, FIFA should have higher standards too.

[3catwoman3]

24. I remember a game a few World Cups ago when a Brazilian player, Rivaldo I think, took a ball...

...to his abdomen. He grabbed his face, not his belly. Seemed odd to me.

[mcar]

25. Yeah, the players don't always help

Even with Balogun's red, the BH player was writhing, then got up and walked just fine.

[mcar]

14. And now it turns out TSF may have finagled the Ronaldo suspension

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaellewis/2025/11/25/after-visiting-white-house-ronaldo-gets-suspension-cut-by-fifa/

Portuguese international striker supreme Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday was given a surprise reprieve by FIFA after he was slapped with a three-game suspension for a violent conduct red card earlier this month.

Ronaldo was expected to miss, at a minimum, Portugal's World Cup opener in 2026 after being awarded a straight red card for elbowing Dara O'Shea's back in his team's 2-0 loss to the Republic of Ireland on Nov. 13.

Now, violent conduct red cards usually carry a three-game suspension, but FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday that it had sliced two matches off the ban.

[leftstreet]

20. Takes talent to make FIFA even more corrupt

DURec

[Dave Bowman]

27. If narcissism was a sport he would get the gold.

[malaise]

34. THIS

No words

[Walleye]

28. We had a good clean World Cup tournament going. Now. It has an orange shit stain on it.

Proving once again that he won’t take no for an answer and he’s a rapist. Did he threaten to deport these people or something? I’m sure he threatened something.

[Kid Berwyn]

29. Looked to me like US player tried...

…to break the other guy’s ankle. Freely admit that I don’t know much about Assoc. football, but I have wanted to do that to a lot of politicians.

[johnp3907]

31. 😡

[Buckeyeblue]

35. I hated the call. But I'm embarrassed by Trump's involvement