World Cup Thread

Smeegs

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Making Soccer Great Again


There is a certain irony to Trump going to bat for Balogun given why he’s American.

He’s never actually lived in the US and is only a citizen because he happened to be born here while his mom was here on a tourist visa. In other words, a classic “birthright citizenship” case of the sort Trump hates and has been trying to get rid of.

Seems those anchor babies ain’t so bad when they’re helping us win World Cup games.
 

Dead Cat Bounce

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The keepers in this tournament have been as impressive as the scoring superstars. The Norway keeper was fantastic today and this England keeper has made a couple of brilliant saves.
 

Runt#1969

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England up 3 - 2 but down to ten men, 74:21 and counting

just an insane atmosphere at the Azteca tonight, nobody is sleeping in England right now.

High Drama
 
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Son_Of_Saul

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I wonder if that red card was part way influenced by the crowd and/or the cartels. I know I would be concerned if I was the lead ref. Same for the 11 minute extra time.
 
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mjj_2K

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I wonder if that red card was part way influenced by the crowd and/or the cartels. I know I would be concerned if I was the lead ref. Same for the 11 minute extra time.
That red card was pretty standard. You go in that hard with your foot and get the guy's shin you have a problem. The Kane penalty and the 11 minutes were sketchier. I guess the Kane penalty is a by the book rules' thing, but it still seemed cheap. He didn't even see the guy he accidentally kicked, the guy just happened to get his foot higher than Kane's.

And I know England had its back to the wall and it worked out, but I still question the tactics the last 20 minutes. Yeah, you want everyone back deep, but they didn't even attempt to possess the ball. It was kick it way down field and hand it right back to Mexico over and over and over again, and at least 3 or 4 near misses from Mexico because they had so many opportunities.
 
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Ash Williams

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There is a certain irony to Trump going to bat for Balogun given why he’s American.

He’s never actually lived in the US and is only a citizen because he happened to be born here while his mom was here on a tourist visa. In other words, a classic “birthright citizenship” case of the sort Trump hates and has been trying to get rid of.

Seems those anchor babies ain’t so bad when they’re helping us win World Cup games.

Well, he does represent the country against the rest of the world and he’s not running around waving some other country’s flag and trying to undermine us.
 

Laparkafan

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That red card was pretty standard. You go in that hard with your foot and get the guy's shin you have a problem. The Kane penalty and the 11 minutes were sketchier. I guess the Kane penalty is a by the book rules' thing, but it still seemed cheap. He didn't even see the guy he accidentally kicked, the guy just happened to get his foot higher than Kane's.

And I know England had its back to the wall and it worked out, but I still question the tactics the last 20 minutes. Yeah, you want everyone back deep, but they didn't even attempt to possess the ball. It was kick it way down field and hand it right back to Mexico over and over and over again, and at least 3 or 4 near misses from Mexico because they had so many opportunities.
Def helps their goalkeeper was incredible
 

Smeegs

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just an insane atmosphere at the Azteca tonight
No doubt. You’ll rarely watch a sporting event where you can just feel the intensity and emotion coming through your TV screen like that game last night.

I know a lot of (deserved) criticism has been lodged about the behavior of Mexican fans at the Azteca. But those games are good for the sport. There’s just something about the raw electricity of that atmosphere that can’t be reproduced in our fancy climate controlled stadiums.
 
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StuBlue270_uk

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That red card was pretty standard. You go in that hard with your foot and get the guy's shin you have a problem. The Kane penalty and the 11 minutes were sketchier. I guess the Kane penalty is a by the book rules' thing, but it still seemed cheap. He didn't even see the guy he accidentally kicked, the guy just happened to get his foot higher than Kane's.

And I know England had its back to the wall and it worked out, but I still question the tactics the last 20 minutes. Yeah, you want everyone back deep, but they didn't even attempt to possess the ball. It was kick it way down field and hand it right back to Mexico over and over and over again, and at least 3 or 4 near misses from Mexico because they had so many opportunities.
I didnt like the Kane PK because both players were going for the ball and the Mexican player wasn't involved in a scoring opportunity.

The 11 minutes of stoppage time given was absolutely ridiculous. The fact they got over 12 minutes extra is even worse. Felt like the fix was on for Mexico, glad England held on.

Wonder wall at the end is awesome, even cooler in person. When me and my kid went to Atlanta we were leaving and thankfully got stuck in the crowd and heard it first hand. Gave me cold chills to see that many fans so happy, loyal and rooting for their team.
 
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Smeegs

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Well, he does represent the country against the rest of the world and he’s not running around waving some other country’s flag and trying to undermine us.
Maybe so, but Trump didn’t want to make an exception for those who represent us well, instead he wanted to end citizenship for ALL birthright cases along the lines of Balogun’s.

Which does make it kinda funny that he’s now become the big advocate for one of those anchor babies when he’s winning us World Cup games.
 
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Bill Derington

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Maybe so, but Trump didn’t want to make an exception for those who represent us well, instead he wanted to end citizenship for ALL birthright cases along the lines of Balogun’s.

Which does make it kinda funny that he’s now become the big advocate for one of those anchor babies when he’s winning us World Cup games.
Balogin's family were in the Country legally, they were prevented from flying home due to his Mothers pregnancy.
 

Smeegs

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Balogin's family were in the Country legally, they were prevented from flying home due to his Mothers pregnancy.
I really don’t want to be guilty of making this thread political, but I’ll just say this doesn’t change the point. Trump also wanted people who visit legally on tourist visas to lose citizenship for babies born during the visit (like Balogun). In fact, that’s precisely the sort of “anchor baby” scheme the right has long claimed is being abused.

Which, again, is what made me chuckle a bit at Trump now going to bat for one of those guys.
 

Bill Derington

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I really don’t want to be guilty of making this thread political, but I’ll just say this doesn’t change the point. Trump also wanted people who visit legally on tourist visas to lose citizenship for babies born during the visit (like Balogun). In fact, that’s precisely the sort of “anchor baby” scheme the right has long claimed is being abused.

Which, again, is what made me chuckle a bit at Trump now going to bat for one of those guys.
The Balugin family didn't come here to have a child, they tried to go home to the UK. If you can't see the difference in that, and someone that comes here to have a child for citizenship or entering illegally and having a child then you don't want to see the difference.

Either way, I'm glad Balugin is on the team, and available, he's a difference maker.