⚽⚽⚽Official 2026 World Cup Thread⚽⚽⚽

[WDDT]

I would rather have my CB turn around and punch a guy in the gut than let this happen:

You are 40 years old, how do you not know how to beat a guy to the spot and use your body to get under him so he cant get to the ball by now? ( aka for the basketball guys blocking out)

You sure as hell are not going to out athlete him, you need to read the game faster...and instead we got this.

 

[Hydro2.0]

Landon said pretty much the same thing. His parents wouldn't have been able to afford travel ball, so the US would have missed out on its top scorer. We're fortunate (for now) our tuition is about $2500 per year + travel and uniform kits. My son is at the N2L level, so we'll see what happens going forward. ...band aint much cheaper. His dadgum trumpet was over $2k.

How on earth do poor people support their kids.

They make them get jobs and work because they don’t have the privilege of growing up with means

 

[RockyMtNole]

Landon said pretty much the same thing. His parents wouldn't have been able to afford travel ball, so the US would have missed out on its top scorer. We're fortunate (for now) our tuition is about $2500 per year + travel and uniform kits. My son is at the N2L level, so we'll see what happens going forward. ...band aint much cheaper. His dadgum trumpet was over $2k.

How on earth do poor people support their kids.

On one of my son’s teams a few years ago we paid (anonymously) for a teammate’s year of registration and fees. Even then, he couldn’t make it to every practice because he had no transportation and nobody to take him.

 

[alaskanseminole]

They make them get jobs and work because they don’t have the privilege of growing up with means

Both my daughters had part-time jobs and so will my son (as did I growing up). However, it is difficult holding down a job with active sports committments. My oldest did theater, so Red Robin, Sonic, etc. was easy to manage. However, my middle child could only work summer jobs, and babysat during dance season.

It will be interesting to see how our son will be able to manage school, practice Tue-Thu and technical on Friday nights with matches on the weekend, often out of town.

Growing up, I worked 12-10 Sat-Sun, but our games were during the week.

 

[Hydro2.0]

Both my daughters had part-time jobs and so will my son (as did I growing up). However, it is difficult holding down a job with active sports committments. My oldest did theater, so Red Robin, Sonic, etc. was easy to manage. However, my middle child could only work summer jobs, and babysat during dance season.

It will be interesting to see how our son will be able to manage school, practice Tue-Thu and technical on Friday nights with matches on the weekend, often out of town.

Growing up, I worked 12-10 Sat-Sun, but our games were during the week.

Seems like burning a candle at both ends

 

[alaskanseminole]

Seems like burning a candle at both ends

Ya, that can burn a kiddo out quickly. I actually quit playing soccer my sophomore year because I needed more hours at Publix. We weren't rich.

 

[Tenacious E_rivals41982]

That’s just demonstrably false.

Which part? This team had really good athletes, but they don't look like athletic freaks such as Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson, Herschel Walker, Barry Sanders, Ja Morant, etc. Maybe I'm wrong?

 

[Anon1750875978]

Trump isnt the reason our goalkeeper looked like a mentally challenged 6th grader who had spent all day huffing gas while attempting to clear a ball. Trump isnt the reason a 40 year old center back got worked for 90 minutes including but not limited to getting posterized on a header. If we would have won you would be here bitching about how it was tainted due to trump. I dont like that he got involved either but your political nonsense is the rantings of a b1tchy man. Our "best player" is made from glass.

It isn't what the US team did.

This entire circus provided Belgium with MASSIVE motivation.
Sports work that way.
Rule#1...never, ever give your opponent that advantage.

 

[jaxhawk]

Which part? This team had really good athletes, but they don't look like athletic freaks such as Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson, Herschel Walker, Barry Sanders, Ja Morant, etc. Maybe I'm wrong?

This was a tweet that I agreed with, it wasn't the lack of athleticism that cost the US yesterday, it was skill

 

[aCEOuProbablyKnow]

Mostly rich kids

Clubs don't emphasize development


Landon Donovan: PRIVLEDGE Is Why America Can't Produce Soccer Stars

"PRIVLEDGE!"

 

[aCEOuProbablyKnow]

I saw he puts fries on his burger, though!

 

[BlIIlken2]

Haha Messi

 

[WDDT]

It isn't what the US team did.

This entire circus provided Belgium with MASSIVE motivation.
Sports work that way.
Rule#1...never, ever give your opponent that advantage.

Motivation, while playing at home upfront of our most raucous fans, was not the issue. Donald Trump had zero impact on that game once the whistle blew.

 

[Anon1750875978]

Motivation, while playing at home upfront of our most raucous fans, was not the issue. Donald Trump had zero impact on that game once the whistle blew.

The reaction of the Belgium team post game says otherwise.

You've obviously never played or coached sports.
Motivation is mental toughness and determination.
You're underestimating the Trump factor in this game.
If every game result was based on "physical" skills, upsets wouldn't occur.
There's a clear message here that seems lost on you.

 

[Tenacious E_rivals41982]

This was a tweet that I agreed with, it wasn't the lack of athleticism that cost the US yesterday, it was skill

I get your point, but there is a reason why speed demons like Haaland, Mbappé, Ronaldo in his prime, etc. are so dominant. Ridiculous skill and freakish athleticism.

 

[SeaPA]

Frigging Messi is something else. It has been a pleasure watching him throughout his career.

 

[OnlyTheObscure]

The reaction of the Belgium team post game says otherwise.

You've obviously never played or coached sports.
Motivation is mental toughness and determination.
You're underestimating the Trump factor in this game.
If every game result was based on "physical" skills, upsets wouldn't occur.
There's a clear message here that seems lost on you.

Agreed. USA probably go deeper in 2030 because Trump isn’t President.

says a lot about how soft American soccer players are. Suck it up and overcome. You had the crowd. They won’t get this deep again anytime soon. Instead of coming out like their hair is on fire they come out like they had a dirty diaper.

 

[BlIIlken2]

Well ****

 

[Dungeon09]

The reaction of the Belgium team post game says otherwise.

You've obviously never played or coached sports.
Motivation is mental toughness and determination.
You're underestimating the Trump factor in this game.
If every game result was based on "physical" skills, upsets wouldn't occur.
There's a clear message here that seems lost on you.

They may have had big feelings but it didn’t change their level of play.

They were running players off of the bench who make as much in Europe as our highest paid starters. 4A varsity got really angry and beat the hell out of a 2A JV. Emotion wasn’t necessary for this result.

 

[RockyMtNole]

Frigging Messi is something else. It has been a pleasure watching him throughout his career.

Truly amazing.

 

[SeaPA]

Well ****

Lmao. He is him.

Im old, so i have always considered him 3rd best ever behing Pele and Maradonna. I think it is time i admit to my kids that he is the best ever.

 

[BlIIlken2]

International soccer has less parity than college WBB. This is garbage. Same 4 ******* teams every cycle.

 

[RockyMtNole]

Wow

 

[Anon1750875978]

They may have had big feelings but it didn’t change their level of play.

They were running players off of the bench who make as much in Europe as our highest paid starters. 4A varsity got really angry and beat the hell out of a 2A JV. Emotion wasn’t necessary for this result.

Sometimes...it's effort/drive>talent.

Sports can be like that.

Trump getting involved was unnecessary and a giant distraction.
It just was.

 

[Tenacious E_rivals41982]

International soccer has less parody than college WBB. This is garbage. Same 4 ******* teams every cycle.

^^^ WOB

 

[QChawks]

International soccer has less parody than college WBB. This is garbage. Same 4 ******* teams every cycle.

 

[Hawkfan_08*]

Then the U.S. needs to stop being "friendly" and send their A team. Beat the sh** out of France's C team and dare them to send their best........

I know it won't end well for us, but again how else do you convince these f***ers to let us sharpen our own skills playing actual top level competition?

Only way to do so is to insult their factually fragile egos.

I agree but the problem is you have to convince players to do it. Often times in sept-March they just don't want the extra games. Heck; sometimes they even sit out tournaments (not Malik Tillman, he's a dog).

We need to get rid of softness of this team. That is problem 1A. This team didn't look like they would kill to be out there like Dempsey, Donovan, McBride, Jones (Jermaine and Cobi), Ramos, etc... the 90s and 00s guys are mad. They set these guys up for success and they don't seem to want it as bad.

 

[JayDeeSC]

"Pharoah, let my people GOAL."

 

[Bro D]

They’re kind of beating up the USA

Meh it was fun while it lasted. Back to not caring about soccer

 

[Hawkedup]

Got dammit. I was so enjoying Argentina looking like they were going down because misery loves company. They disappointed me.

 

[SeaPA]

International soccer has less parody than college WBB. This is garbage. Same 4 ******* teams every cycle.

I know it seems that way but it's not really true. If you look at the semi-finalists for the last 5 cups:

France has been in 3 (2006, 2018, 2022) and is still alive. They won it in 2018. Germany has also made it 3 times, but since winning it in 2014 haven't made it to the semifinals.
Three teams have made the semis twice - Argentina (won last time, still alive this time), Croatia & Netherlands (both out this time).
Then there are 8 teams who've made the semis once, four of whom are still alive this time around.

 

[UrHuckleberry]

"Pharoah, let my people GOAL."

I thought the foul they overturned the goal for was incredibly weak to actually remove a goal off the board.

 

[Aardvark86]

International soccer has less parity than college WBB. This is garbage. Same 4 ******* teams every cycle.

I'm sorry, we have two violations here.

First of all, humorous WOB's are not allowed to be corrected via the editing process.

Second, the definitive illustration of this particular WOB is when I had a senior pharma product management exec tell me that he wanted to implement a "parody pricing" strategy relative to his competitor.

 

[Wobmam Rulez!]

I'm sorry, we have two violations here.

First of all, humorous WOB's are not allowed to be corrected via the editing process.

Second, the definitive illustration of this particular WOB is when I had a senior pharma product management exec tell me that he wanted to implement a "parody pricing" strategy relative to his competitor.

Did you move the decimal point in the price?

 

[noleclone2]

The way this are shaping up geographically (and why I predicted earlier US was in trouble with Belgium) is the Swiss will win because this is a Mediterranean/West Europe affair with all countries touching or separated by water.

 

[JWolf74]

I would rather have my CB turn around and punch a guy in the gut than let this happen:

You are 40 years old, how do you not know how to beat a guy to the spot and use your body to get under him so he cant get to the ball by now? ( aka for the basketball guys blocking out)

You sure as hell are not going to out athlete him, you need to read the game faster...and instead we got this.

I also think he should have got to that third goal and at least deflected it. Looked terrible last night.

 

[noleclone2]

redacted !

 

[aCEOuProbablyKnow]

The reaction of the Belgium team post game says otherwise.

You've obviously never played or coached sports.
Motivation is mental toughness and determination.
You're underestimating the Trump factor in this game.
If every game result was based on "physical" skills, upsets wouldn't occur.
There's a clear message here that seems lost on you.

@Torbee has never run a lap nor hit a lay-up and believes Franny Mac should still be coaching Iowa basketball.

 

[aCEOuProbablyKnow]

I think it is time i admit to my kids that he is the best ever.

Your kids don't give a ****, numbnutz.

 

[aCEOuProbablyKnow]

Got dammit. I was so enjoying Argentina looking like they were going down because misery loves company. They disappointed me.

Were you equally beleaguered about the Egyptian coach pretending to care about Palestinian retards while Egypt has a seven-wall border keeping them out of Egypt?

You'd think their A-rab "brothers" would welcome them in as "refugees," right?

Why don't they @Hawkedup?