We’re all Team Belgium as USA lose to ‘woke mind virus’…for now | OneFootball

Everybody is pretty chuffed that karma has been served, except presumably Donald Trump. We await his reaction.

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Karma served on Infantino and Trump

When the president of FIFA bows to the leader of a country and changes the rules of engagement for the world’s greatest footballing tournament, there is a problem. When Infantino failed to protect the Iranian national team from US sanctions and the Senegalese team being subjected to checks on the runway, FIFA lost all credibility. As his name is, (Infantino) so is his infantile behaviour. Changing the red card rules accepted worldwide to please Trump, that was the ultimate joke.

What will happen going forward with red cards? Every country will demand to have any and every red card to be suspended for one year and the chaos will be unprecedented. Thank you, Belgium, for putting Infantino and Trump in their rightful place and sending the US football team out of the World Cup. Yiembe (Mombasa, Kenya)

…We all know if it wasn’t for the woke mind virus USA would have won against Belgium. In fact they did win but people are too brainwashed by Trump derangement syndrome to see that they won. Trump will call up FIFA and get the result changed, mark my words, and what will all you wokies do then? Cry into your alphabet rainbow laces no doubt.

Katie Hopkins for Prime Minister and Tommy Robinson as her first lady. Dan, not watching the legacy media, London

…You know what happens now? Trump calls Infantino and says the US team was robbed, the referee was biased and that the game needs to be replayed with a referee of Trump’s choosing. And Infantino agrees. JH Aruba

…That was a nice result for everybody else.

Americans and their Russell Crowe tribute act manager on the receiving end of a footballing lesson. And some karmic realignment with Infantino watching in the stands as the cherry on top. Eoin (Gianni probably relieved with this result) Ireland

…We lost (badly) because American foreign policy was due for a reckoning, in particular our recent antagonism towards our longstanding allies of the EU. Not to mention like…everyone else in the world basically. Except you know who.

So it just had to be Belgium to put us in our place. Shoulda seen it coming. I’m joking of course but the world does work in funny ways. MAW, LA Gooner (Truthfully, we just don’t value soccer at the youth / grassroots level the way we do our American sports. Once we do – which will happen in the coming decade(s) – America will be a truly formidable opponent on the world stage. We’re basically a really solid, well-drilled Championship side with some good players but lacking true star quality to take us to that next level.)

Portugal v Spain rotten reaction

– Easily the worst of the R16 matches up to this juncture. Was not even a tactical battle as one would expect. Rather it was a timid and below par performance from 2 of the favourites before the tournament began.

– While all the Portuguese exit blame will fall on Martinez and Ronaldo, Bruno should equally get the stick for a poor tournament. Our Captain has been underwhelming in all of the 5 matches barring a short spell against the Uzbeks. As a sane United fan and from a country that has not even qualified for the qualifiers of the qualifiers of the World Cup, I was simply expecting Portugal to win it all and Bruno to win the Ballon D’or. Back in the Champions league, hoping when everything is run through him Bruno will be back to his best. More than a month for the season’s start, take rest and take good care Captain.

– Cristiano, you are an absolute legend for Portugal and United!!! Expected a miracle but truth always hits differently. For this Portugal team to rely on you is either criminally bad management or just a poor pool of CFs. Either ways there should have been better planning and tactics to include Ronaldo. Yes the next World Cup will also be played in Portugal but don’t even think about it.

– On to Roberto Martinez. Last year after Portugal won the Nations League I was giddy about their World Cup prospects and claimed during a discussion with a friend of mine that Portugal are hot favourites alongside Argentina. He simply said “Not with Martinez in charge”.

– The reason Martinez didn’t substitute either of or both of CR7 and Bruno is because he was so keen on the Penalty shoot out and they were definite penalty takers. They were so settled on taking the game to penalties that if you watch the Spain goal again the Portuguese defense was not prepared for a quick free-kick against them. They were thinking that Spain would also settle for penalties. It was a poor error at that juncture of the game with so little time to play.

– And him not starting Leao who was the star performer in the previous match and Felix in his place just to curb Yamal is also proof of this defense plan. Spain were there for the taking but equally Portugal were inept tactically. Yet another Golden Generation spoiled by Martinez’s disaster-class.

– Spain can still improve and go toe-to-toe with Argentina provided they both qualify for the semis.

– All in all, barring a Tuchel master class, it looks like it will be a repeat of the 2022 finals. Hope I have jinxed enough teams. Vasanthan Coimbatore, TN, India

Loving England but that was not football

Loved the rear guard action on Sunday night, went the whole hog and was glad I did, if for nothing else just to see an England team get over the line in adversity it was worth it.

In a game like that, that’s the best result in my lifetime. Jude had it right, England teams of the past would and did crumble in similar situations. I was certain there would be a last gasp equaliser to take us to extra time and, ultimately, another heroic defeat. But they held firm. Mexico did exactly what we wanted them to do and big Dan Burn lapped it up.

Bellingham’s goals were great, in fact he was great. But best team performance ever? Come on. A 45 minute 10 man rear guard action is a unique situation. Who knows how good we would have been in the second half, before JQ’s red it looked like we were about to take the game by the scruff of the neck but after that it was basically clearance after clearance with a bit of chasing the ball. When we got hold of it we relied on Jude to hold onto it for as long as possible but it inevitably came back.

The effort they all put in was incredible, it did feel like we were tight and each player stood up and was counted but we are still yet to see what this team really is. Tuchel again talking of how he is not seeing what they are doing in training on the pitch – hope we see it soon! I do think his demeanour is refreshing, he seems to be taking it in his stride and his positivity can only be a good thing.

I’m trying hard not to get sucked in, I’ve believed too many times and it still feels like it could go wrong at any minute. I’d be quite happy if we manage to Arsenal our way through this but I don’t think it is sustainable. If we try and do that for 3 more games, I fear we may be visited by a familiar feeling at the end of one of them. Haaland, Messi and Mbappe only need a half-chance. Tom and over

This is Jordan Pickford

It is worth just writing in after the Mexico game, because as an Everton fan I am very in tune with Pickford’s strengths and weaknesses and think it’s funny to see people (especially in some of the international reactions) act surprised when he has a good game. No… He is not perfect. But in my opinion, he is as close to world class as you can be without being in the very top tier of keepers. He has been pretty consistent for a number of years now and without him, Everton would certainly have been relegated.

In terms of strengths: he has phenomenal reactions and stops shots that he has no right to. This is an area where he truly is world class. The Newcastle save this season was unreal. He is also fantastic at saving penalties – last night, he clearly had done his research, knew Jiminez was waiting for him to commit, dummy dived one way, dived the opposite direction. He outsmarted Jiminez, unfortunately the penalty was quality and struck hard enough into the corner that he couldn’t reach it.

The not so good: Distribution can be hit and miss. It’s frustrating because he has ability to ping a pass the length of the pitch, but they go out of play too often even under no pressure. Also, he is not the tallest chap, and doesn’t command his box as the very best do. I can clearly see how he has improved in this area though. The several good punches under pressure last night would have been ineffective flapping 5 years ago. However, it remains his weakest attribute. Although I’m not complaining because if he was 4 inches taller, or completely comfortable on the ball with perfect kicking, he’d probably be playing in the champions league.

In summary, it’s easy to see the antics and the mannerisms, and remember the Pickford from years ago who had some crazy moments and made some shocking errors. However, although he is not immune to errors (was very lucky not to give a penalty away vs Ghana) these are now few and far between. He is a consistent and brilliant goalkeeper who generally deserves to be applauded for how he has performed for Everton over the last few years, and England over the last few tournaments. Clearly the best English keeper at the moment, and I’m hoping has a brilliant rest of the tournament. James McGlynn

Brazil: Expectation v reality

So this is something I have thought about a fair bit being a United fan, but was prompted to write in after reading the feature on ex-Premier League managers who went on to manage International teams.

Specifically, this line about Ancelotti: “not managing to get Brazil to the quarter-finals has to be seen as a failure by his and their standards”. Now this seems like a perfectly reasonable criticism, given the history of Brazil, especially at the World Cup.

However, how long does this history count for? There will be top level players whose abiding memory of Brazil at a World Cup is probably the 7-1 vs. Germany. Given their comparatively poor form over a sustained period, what is a fair expectation for them at a World Cup? I’ve experienced this as both a United and England fan, being derided for poor performances/underachievement, while simultaneously being mocked for anything approaching ambition. To be clear, this isn’t a rant as I accept it is part of fan tribalism, and is something I do myself to rivals, just genuinely curious how others marry these two seemingly opposing views, whereby a team can both be arrogant based off their long ago history while also being underachievers vs. their long ago history?

Personally I just ignore my hypocrisy and pick whichever stance allows me to lord it over others based on the situation, which isn’t exactly a solid plan, but does make me feel like Mark buying Jeff some glow in the dark rubbers…