That $1.2B could have been spent on any number of things that would have made normal people happier, healthier, smarter, etc. Instead, we are paying $1.2B to do literally nothing.

It’s telling that CONCACAF’s rationale for being against it was because they weren’t consulted first… not because they didn’t like the plan, just that they didn’t know about it ahead of time.

Europe did not love the latest World Cup. They complained heavily about all of it, from the commercial breaks to the bad officiating to the ticket prices to the handling of visas to the transportation to the stadiums. The Trump cheating thing was just the cherry on top of a banana split made from turds.

Of course the Moroccan police are standing idly by. The people are leaving not arriving. What are they supposed to do? Arrest people for leaving the country? They can block the border crossing facilities, but what Moroccan law are the people breaking?

Awesome, Trump brought us back into Iraq. It was so great the first two times.

This is probably how this has to work. If the flights were military or government-owned/operated planes, that is much harder to sue for, since it is the government following government policies (even if the policies aren’t legal, it’s hard to sue the government). But a private company doing something wildly illegal SHOULD be sued for taking on a contract to be paid to do something illegal.

Well, that wasn’t a rabbit-hole I was expecting to go down today. Yet here I am, deep in a hole.

Trump planned in 2018 to lose the 2020 election specifically so he could be president again when this World Cup happened to allow it to be a distraction from the Epstein files.

Are you seriously comparing the minor, temporary inconvenience of some people to make a point about the destruction of the planet to murdering people because they have a different skin color?

As an American who has cheered his whole life for the American team and has hoped they would eventually get good enough to win the World Cup, this would make me so sad. However, as an adult who hates how corrupt FIFA is and how disgusting Trump is, I actually do want to see it. I want this World Cup to have the biggest, brightest, most obnoxious asterisk next to it. I want everyone to know how awful this one was. In previous World Cups, the refs have bent over backward to screw over the US, because most of the world hates the US. Now I want the whole world to blow up FIFA and start fresh for having the temerity to force the US to win.

You are confusing reckless with careless. A red is either because of violent/intentional play or because of reckless play. Reckless is throwing your whole body at the play knowing there is a chance you seriously hurt someone. Careless is moving naturally without knowledge that your movement might hurt someone. In this play, Balogun is moving to the side through the air and needs to put his foot down somewhere. The other player is also moving through the air to the side but slightly from behind. His foot kicks Balogun’s foot, changing its trajectory, then his foot moves to the new location where Balogun’s foot is going to land.

Just because his foot lands on an ankle does not make it go to a red. The other player put his foot in the path of Balogun’s. That moves it from reckless down to careless.

Except a red needs to either have intent behind it or have very reckless play behind it. This was just one player being in the air while another player moves his leg into the space where the first player would be landing. That isn’t reckless. You can call it careless for leaving the ground and not having a clear space to land, but reckless needs to have more behind it.

Yes, a Red is about lunging at an opponent with excessive force in challenging for the ball. That is not what happened. He was moving sideways through the air and needed to put his foot down somewhere. His opponent was also moving sideways through the air and put his foot down in front of where Balogun was going to. If you watch the video, you can even see that the other player kicked Balogun’s foot FIRST, which changed the trajectory of Balogun’s leg, then put his leg in front of Balogun’s foot.

Sure, call it a yellow for careless play in being in the air without full control. But this was not reckless or violent.

Exactly what you said. FIFA removed Ronaldo’s 2 game suspension for no stated reason before the tournament, so this is not just Trump fixing it for the US. This is FIFA having no integrity from the beginning.

The red was very harsh. The VAR protocol was broken in giving the red. Belgium has been playing like shit.

And as incredibly sad as it has made me to miss the first World Cup in my country since I’ve been an adult, I’m boycotting it because I am not OK with looking away from their shittiness.

Most experts say it was very harsh and probably should not have been a Red.

The thing is, FIFA put in rules that the Red could not be overturned. They removed the appeal process. What FIFA should have done was say there was a VAR protocol error (there actually was), which invalidates the procedure to give the Red. They didn’t take that easy out. Instead they make it completely obvious that this was corruption and not a mistake.

Exactly. This is just like a billionaire CEO intervening to help an employee win a court case if that employee is important enough to the success of the company. That same CEO would happily throw that person under the bus if the profits would go up by doing so.

Trump would happily have this young man skinned alive if it would mean “his team” wins the next game.

I mean, Arsenal is owned by an American. But to your point, Balogun grew up in London and only happened to be born in the US due to airlines not allowing his mom to fly back to their home in London that late into her pregnancy. He has never lived in nor played in the US outside of international games.

I will excitedly open up a nice Belgian beer, regardless of the results of the match. It’s just a solid decision.

Might I suggest an ABT 12 or Pavel Kwak?