I don't like anything about soccer the game but I love everything that surrounds it. The fans dressed up like their countries, the announcers, the big build-up to the Cup, the bizarre rules and the clock going backward and forward in time, which I will never in my life understand.
I woke up this morning upset about a red card. I don't what a red card is or the name of the player who received it or even why its bad, but rest assured I am very angry about it.
For sure, one of the things that drew me to the World Cup was seeing how much fun everyone was having. Similar to what college football does for me -- everyone's having a blast.
Slightly off topic, but India at least could have a pretty competitive soccer team if they wanted to. It’s just that they have stupid (in my opinion) laws against dual citizenship, which means they can’t recruit from the massive Indian diaspora to find viable players. Tons of Indian immigrants and children of immigrants, especially in the UK, could put together a capable national team, if only India would let them
Interesting! The find-people-in-soccer-powerhouse-countries-who-are-eligible-for-citizenship strategy has definitely worked well for other teams, e.g. Morocco and Curacao. The US, too, honestly.
Hah. A former housemate of mine sometimes went to see the cricket. When I asked the obvious question (i.e. "Why?") he told me you don't spend much time watching the cricket, it's more an excuse to get drunk in the sun.
I also enjoy the World Cup, but I'm disappointed this year in the lack of vuvuzelas. I love the vuvuzela even more than the bagpipes or the didgeridoo. I come for the world wide sporting event but I stay for the goofy folk horns.
Balogun is an important player and he's been outstanding this WC but he is not the keystone of this team. And unlike some positions on the field, there's a clear replacement: Pepi has played well for PSV and lacks Balogun's speed but brings size. Wright is also an option (though I'd opt for Pepi). Losing Balogun hurts for sure but not impossible to overcome.
I think the people saying “intent doesn’t matter” are misinterpreting what “intent” means in the rulebook. “Intent in that context means you don’t have to be thinking “to hell with the ball - Ima break me a leg.” But you still INTEND to go into the challenge recklessly. What Balogun did was different, he was jockeying for the ball in a normal and legal way, their legs got mixed up, and he landed on the guy’s ankle, which happens sometimes. His studs were only “exposed” in that your studs are always exposed when you jump. I think they’re taking a rule meant to address high, studs-up tackles and applying it to normal, nonviolent actions in a way that doesn’t make sense. Keepers sometimes come out for a punch, miss, punch a guy in the head, but it’s not a foul because that’s a normal soccer move that sometimes ends badly. This was that — terrible call, IMHO.
But why? Didn’t seem like a dirty or egregious play at all. It was a legitimate soccer play that ended badly because sometimes that’s what happens when two fast athletes try to occupy the same place at the same time.
The fact that it looks awful in slow motion, because of a result that wasn’t Balogun’s intent and was outside his control, shouldn’t turn something the ref wasn’t going to call in real time into a 45 minute power play for Bosnia and the US being out their best goal scorer in the next round.
Using frame by frame VAR to elevate a simple foul into a red card goes against the spirit and I think actually the letter of the rule.
I thought Balogun was reckless. I agree, not dirty, but reckless nonetheless, and it resulted in a dangerous play. As far as using replay to retroactively issue a red card, I don’t watch enough soccer to have an opinion. In fairness, even wrt the foul itself I’m such a casual watcher I’m open to argument, but the eye test told me that was a legitimate red card.
I guess my objection is that the things that would make it “pass the eye test” for a red card (spikes contacting the Bosnian player’s leg, landing on his ankle) look pretty incidental in real time. At the time he went airborne I think Balogun was making an aggressive but not excessively reckless challenge on the ball. The Bosnian player’s near-injury had as much to do with his own reckless leap as it did with Balogun’s.
Only in slow mo frame by frame can you convince yourself that the action was due to an excessively reckless, let alone intentional move by Balogun. If every foul (and a lot of non fouls) got that level of scrutiny, you’d be seeing multiple players sent off per game.
The game is played, and largely meant to be officiated, in real time. So while I’m fine with VAR for determining elements of fact, e.g. goals and offsides positioning, I think it’s illegitimate to use in cases where the technology warps what is an inherently subjective call - in this case turning instantaneous contact into a frame by frame Zapruder film analysis.
Give him a yellow and make him dial it back a bit, but with a red the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.
Even in that article, it’s to me pretty shocking the difference in impression you get between the live speed clip (which looks like two players simultaneously attacking a loose ball and getting tangled) and the worst-instant still frame (which looks like Balogun deliberately stomping the defender’s ankle).
Thanks! I read the article, re-watched the footage, and finally checked with my friend who reffed for a number of years. He told me he thought it was more of a yellow card because “reckless is yellow territory”. So I’m deferring to the crowd and my buddy. My mind is officially changed.
I will accordingly initiate a classic European style soccer riot. 🫡
As a non soccer fan (but friends with a few players/fans including someone who has been to several world cups) I have been swept up and enjoying this World Cup.
Like other posters, its not so much the games themselves, but the fans, the teams, US as host country stepping up, the social media fans loving the US (even if some are scammy - hello gorgeous Only Fans lady, I see you).
Between this and my recent obsession with the online Seterra geography quizzes I can honestly say I think I have a handle on world geography and can locate most countries. Except Curaçao. I mean come on.
I have to think after this edition of the World Cup, Linkedin is going to want to be a sponsor, given the role it played in Cape Verde employing The find-people-in-soccer-powerhouse-countries-who-are-eligible-for-citizenship strategy.
While I’m not disputing that soccer is the “global game” it’s interesting to me that club soccer has still naturally coalesced to a couple of major European leagues. Even the US sends its best players across the pond.
Compared to other major sports that have a single, undisputed top league in the world, soccer’s fragmentation across Europe is itself pretty remarkable.
I realized World Cup > Olympics when my visit to London coincided with England, led by Beckham, playing a WC match. I was amazed how everything came to a standstill.
Cricket LOL. There's a brain blast that makes soccer (oh sorry: Futbol) look almost not boring.
It's like some dude (it's always a dude of course) watched a baseball game, took a hit of LSD and asked "how can I make this game even more boring, wacky and interminable?"
FIFA is corrupt because most of the rest of the world is corrupt. It's how they do business and not how the U.S. does business, though Trump is trying change 🙄 that.
I used to watch the USA Women's Team a few years ago as they dominated everyone else and the games (or is it matches?) were exciting when I was drunk. I don't get drunk anymore and soccer (oh sorry: Futbol) is boring again. Is that a me problem?
I feel like you're on thin ice mocking football for being called "football", especially if you're from the country that uses that term to describe handegg.
I don't like anything about soccer the game but I love everything that surrounds it. The fans dressed up like their countries, the announcers, the big build-up to the Cup, the bizarre rules and the clock going backward and forward in time, which I will never in my life understand.
I woke up this morning upset about a red card. I don't what a red card is or the name of the player who received it or even why its bad, but rest assured I am very angry about it.
We appreciate your sympathy-anger!
For sure, one of the things that drew me to the World Cup was seeing how much fun everyone was having. Similar to what college football does for me -- everyone's having a blast.
The reason the Olympics hasn’t adopted the Kazakh sport where they try to throw a goat down a well is that it’s too similar to basketball.
Yeah plus because of Stepzhan Qūryuly they all chuck the goat from like 30 feet away now and it’s not the same.
I also don’t want to hear about Kazakhs who lack access to clean water. Carcasses poison wells!
Is there a shot clock?
It's actually pretty confusing trying to figure out which sport is which
Slightly off topic, but India at least could have a pretty competitive soccer team if they wanted to. It’s just that they have stupid (in my opinion) laws against dual citizenship, which means they can’t recruit from the massive Indian diaspora to find viable players. Tons of Indian immigrants and children of immigrants, especially in the UK, could put together a capable national team, if only India would let them
Interesting! The find-people-in-soccer-powerhouse-countries-who-are-eligible-for-citizenship strategy has definitely worked well for other teams, e.g. Morocco and Curacao. The US, too, honestly.
Balogun’s U.S. citizenship story is just soooooooo delicious right now!
You’d think so, but how many premier league players would be eligible to play for India under FIFA but not necessarily India’s rules?
You’d think out of a billion people living in India there would be 11 good soccer players. Is it just not very popular there?
But that would take focus off cricket
"South Asia’s sports culture is dominated by cricket, which is surely the most heinous legacy of British colonialism."
Yeah, fair. I'm British and even I can't justify cricket.
I’ve been telling cricket jokes for a long time and discovered it has no defenders!
(Honestly it’s fine but it has so many rules and customs that it’s bizarre at first glance to outsiders)
I think the multiple days of drinking surrounding the match might have something to do with it’s popularity.
Hah. A former housemate of mine sometimes went to see the cricket. When I asked the obvious question (i.e. "Why?") he told me you don't spend much time watching the cricket, it's more an excuse to get drunk in the sun.
I also enjoy the World Cup, but I'm disappointed this year in the lack of vuvuzelas. I love the vuvuzela even more than the bagpipes or the didgeridoo. I come for the world wide sporting event but I stay for the goofy folk horns.
I'm 95% sure that this is sarcasm but if not it's the type of scorching hot take that this blog really values!
LOL, I was going to include the shehnai too, but then I remembered what Nietzsche said about beating a comedy horse to death...
Unlike the commentators, I thought the red card last night was the right call. How the hell are we going to beat Belgium now? Why, Balogun, why?! 😭😭😭
Balogun is an important player and he's been outstanding this WC but he is not the keystone of this team. And unlike some positions on the field, there's a clear replacement: Pepi has played well for PSV and lacks Balogun's speed but brings size. Wright is also an option (though I'd opt for Pepi). Losing Balogun hurts for sure but not impossible to overcome.
Did you agree with the red card?
Nnnnnnnnnnnnnope!
I think the people saying “intent doesn’t matter” are misinterpreting what “intent” means in the rulebook. “Intent in that context means you don’t have to be thinking “to hell with the ball - Ima break me a leg.” But you still INTEND to go into the challenge recklessly. What Balogun did was different, he was jockeying for the ball in a normal and legal way, their legs got mixed up, and he landed on the guy’s ankle, which happens sometimes. His studs were only “exposed” in that your studs are always exposed when you jump. I think they’re taking a rule meant to address high, studs-up tackles and applying it to normal, nonviolent actions in a way that doesn’t make sense. Keepers sometimes come out for a punch, miss, punch a guy in the head, but it’s not a foul because that’s a normal soccer move that sometimes ends badly. This was that — terrible call, IMHO.
We’ll know soccer has fully made it aa a major sport in the US when dudes start saying, “I’m coming at you studs up”, as a threat on the streets.
Or when “danger man” *isn’t* a warning to stay away from that guy on the street
But why? Didn’t seem like a dirty or egregious play at all. It was a legitimate soccer play that ended badly because sometimes that’s what happens when two fast athletes try to occupy the same place at the same time.
The fact that it looks awful in slow motion, because of a result that wasn’t Balogun’s intent and was outside his control, shouldn’t turn something the ref wasn’t going to call in real time into a 45 minute power play for Bosnia and the US being out their best goal scorer in the next round.
Using frame by frame VAR to elevate a simple foul into a red card goes against the spirit and I think actually the letter of the rule.
My working theory is that someone let Todd Blanche into the VAR booth.
I thought Balogun was reckless. I agree, not dirty, but reckless nonetheless, and it resulted in a dangerous play. As far as using replay to retroactively issue a red card, I don’t watch enough soccer to have an opinion. In fairness, even wrt the foul itself I’m such a casual watcher I’m open to argument, but the eye test told me that was a legitimate red card.
I guess my objection is that the things that would make it “pass the eye test” for a red card (spikes contacting the Bosnian player’s leg, landing on his ankle) look pretty incidental in real time. At the time he went airborne I think Balogun was making an aggressive but not excessively reckless challenge on the ball. The Bosnian player’s near-injury had as much to do with his own reckless leap as it did with Balogun’s.
Only in slow mo frame by frame can you convince yourself that the action was due to an excessively reckless, let alone intentional move by Balogun. If every foul (and a lot of non fouls) got that level of scrutiny, you’d be seeing multiple players sent off per game.
The game is played, and largely meant to be officiated, in real time. So while I’m fine with VAR for determining elements of fact, e.g. goals and offsides positioning, I think it’s illegitimate to use in cases where the technology warps what is an inherently subjective call - in this case turning instantaneous contact into a frame by frame Zapruder film analysis.
Give him a yellow and make him dial it back a bit, but with a red the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.
Basically I agree with this assessment: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7415223/2026/07/01/folarin-balogun-red-card-appeal-world-cup/
Even in that article, it’s to me pretty shocking the difference in impression you get between the live speed clip (which looks like two players simultaneously attacking a loose ball and getting tangled) and the worst-instant still frame (which looks like Balogun deliberately stomping the defender’s ankle).
Can you share a gift link?
Sadly no. Try an archive link?
https://archive.ph/U1YyB
Thanks! I read the article, re-watched the footage, and finally checked with my friend who reffed for a number of years. He told me he thought it was more of a yellow card because “reckless is yellow territory”. So I’m deferring to the crowd and my buddy. My mind is officially changed.
I will accordingly initiate a classic European style soccer riot. 🫡
This is well argued. It’s too bad soccer is so unpleasant to watch though. Pick a different global sport, Entire World!
As a non soccer fan (but friends with a few players/fans including someone who has been to several world cups) I have been swept up and enjoying this World Cup.
Like other posters, its not so much the games themselves, but the fans, the teams, US as host country stepping up, the social media fans loving the US (even if some are scammy - hello gorgeous Only Fans lady, I see you).
Between this and my recent obsession with the online Seterra geography quizzes I can honestly say I think I have a handle on world geography and can locate most countries. Except Curaçao. I mean come on.
I have to think after this edition of the World Cup, Linkedin is going to want to be a sponsor, given the role it played in Cape Verde employing The find-people-in-soccer-powerhouse-countries-who-are-eligible-for-citizenship strategy.
That's not something you see in the Olympics.
https://www.nbcmiami.com/world-cup/roberto-lopes-linkedin-cape-verde/3822019/
While I’m not disputing that soccer is the “global game” it’s interesting to me that club soccer has still naturally coalesced to a couple of major European leagues. Even the US sends its best players across the pond.
Compared to other major sports that have a single, undisputed top league in the world, soccer’s fragmentation across Europe is itself pretty remarkable.
Wait, it's actually a goat, and not the other thing? No wonder Kazakhs want to execute Sacha Baron Cohen.
I realized World Cup > Olympics when my visit to London coincided with England, led by Beckham, playing a WC match. I was amazed how everything came to a standstill.
Sport needs to be renamed to Flopper.
"Plunder curious." You make it sound so cute.....
Cricket LOL. There's a brain blast that makes soccer (oh sorry: Futbol) look almost not boring.
It's like some dude (it's always a dude of course) watched a baseball game, took a hit of LSD and asked "how can I make this game even more boring, wacky and interminable?"
FIFA is corrupt because most of the rest of the world is corrupt. It's how they do business and not how the U.S. does business, though Trump is trying change 🙄 that.
I used to watch the USA Women's Team a few years ago as they dominated everyone else and the games (or is it matches?) were exciting when I was drunk. I don't get drunk anymore and soccer (oh sorry: Futbol) is boring again. Is that a me problem?
I feel like you're on thin ice mocking football for being called "football", especially if you're from the country that uses that term to describe handegg.
Pan: A little light touch in honor of my relatives from Mexico with whom I discussed Mexicos's recent win.
Everytime I say soccer they immediately scream "FUTBOL!
ES EL FUTBOL!" Apologies for any perceived negativity. I should leave the humor to Jeff.....
Heh. Fair enough!
Superstars are shining and the Golden Boot race is like a dream. 7 usually wins it.
https://paulbenny2000.substack.com/p/the-world-cup-two-irish-boys-and?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=oh1h8