World Cup 2026 Thread

[Samurai Bucky]

20 hours ago, yourout said:

Mexico versus England has been a fun watch.

It was just a good game all around.  The referees did a good job of keeping things under control.  I was thinking it was going to be another France v. Paraguay matchup with Mexico being the bullies.  That isn't what happened, though.  Yes -- there were a little physical, but not like other teams... I mean "sides."

Hopefully, the US stays disciplined tonight.  They are probably more athletic, but they need to be smart, too.

[Samurai Bucky]

4 hours ago, ErnieRilesBrianGiles said:

A bit of a tangent, but I found this half serious article amusing as to why soccer doesn't resonate in the USA

https://thefederalist.com/2026/06/30/soccer-is-spiritually-third-world-sport/

Quote

Even baseball, if you squint hard enough, is a series of duels between the batter and the pitcher. Maybe that’s why the Japanese love baseball so much — it harkens back to the one-on-one duels of the samurai.

Aha!  That is why I am drawn to baseball!

No mention of Cricket, though.  How about hurling?  Wait... not THAT hurling...

 

[adambr2]

Yeah we look totally overmatched.

That was just terrible defense.

It also seems like the referees are letting Belgium get away with anything they want.

[adambr2]

I was kind of afraid of this when they reinstated Balugon. That it would just absolutely light a fire under them and piss them off and make it worse for us than it would have been to just play without him. Feels like that’s what is happening.

[adambr2]

On the other hand this USA team is unrecognizable from their first 4 cup games. Getting beat all over, no ball control and repeated turnovers.

That defense was absolute ass in the box on the goal, 

[adambr2]

There we go!

[adambr2]

Annnnd more wonderful defense in the box. 

[OldHeidelberg]

3 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Annnnd more wonderful defense in the box. 

It's like they are just standing around..

[adambr2]

1 minute ago, OldHeidelberg said:

It's like they are just standing around..

They’re not cutting off any passing lanes, that’s for sure. 

[adambr2]

Hopefully they serving turnovers at concessions. The USMNT certainly is. 

[Joseph Zarr]

This is unfortunately what I personally foresaw as the competition stiffened and the USMNT began facing legitimate offenses. Plenty of Game left to recollect BUT our defense as a whole is just too vulnerable against better opponents. It is and has been our Achilles heel for yearssss.

[adambr2]

They looked a little better since the break, but overall honestly pretty lucky to only be down a goal. 

[adambr2]

Is our goalie throwing the game?

[Joseph Zarr]

5 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Is our goalie throwing the game?

That was an All-Time goalie gaffe on the biggest stage. Can not happen. Really a shame our former strength - the USMNT has historically always had elite gk's - is now pretty much a glaring weakness. Man. That was as bad as it gets. And, the Chef's kiss was Reamsy whiffing the block and clear under his foot as he tried to kick parry it aside.

[owbc]

The rest of the world is surely enjoying this 

[adambr2]

1 minute ago, owbc said:

The rest of the world is surely enjoying this 

This was part of the reason that there was a part of me that didn’t want to see Balogun play. At least we could have walked out of here with pride. Instead, it took political shenanigans to get our guy on the field and we still embarrassed ourselves on the big stage as the host nation. 

Just an absolute worst case scenario and a nightmare WC for the USMNT now. 

[adambr2]

That was their best chance this half, 1 on 1 with the goalie and still couldn’t get it done. 

[Joseph Zarr]

7 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

That was their best chance this half, 1 on 1 with the goalie and still couldn’t get it done. 

They had the Bethalter chance and Balogun's mis strike at a tough angle. I think he had upper near post but he got crossed up. Pulisic being made of glass certainly has done them no favors most of this WC - Pepi just isn't very good. All around, Belgium is just a much better squad. More poise. More size. More skill. Bummer to go out like this but not all that surprising in the end.

Grateful they gave the country some inspired moments. More than I anticipated.

[adambr2]

2 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

They had the Bethalter chance and Balogun's mis strike at a tough angle. I think he had upper near post but he got crossed up. Pulisic being made of glass certainly has done them no favors most of this WC - Pepi just isn't very good. All around, Belgium is just a much better squad. More poise. More size. More skill. Bummer to go out like this but not all that surprising in the end.

Grateful they gave the country some inspired moments. More than I anticipated.

At the end of the day, basically the same legacy as any other USMNT in the World Cup. Good, not great, putting the corruption part aside. 

[homer]

I didn't think they'd get much further but didn't expect them to go out like a fart in the wind.

[Samurai Bucky]

Late to the party tonight.  We were at a bar (trivia actually) and I was very frustrated by what I saw.  We also sucked at trivia probably because we were watching the Brewers on one TV and Soccer on the other.

The pregame narrative seemed to focus on Belgium's shape and tact vs. the "Athleticism" of the US.  I guess athleticism means running hard with no real plan?  When they would put pressure on in the back, they didn't break down when they reached the person with the ball.  It would be an easy touch for the Belgium player and the US player was out of the play.

The shape was abysmal, too.  I have no idea what the centerbacks were doing when the US was attacking.  The third goal was really crappy by the keeper, but what do you expect when there is a ball over the top and your two center backs get their doors blown off?

And the first two goals allowed.  I guess marking grass is the name of the game instead of marking a player.

I was also frustrated that when the US actually tried to work the ball up the field, there were a bunch of weak, crappy one-touches where they were trying to do a 1-2 from 30 yards without their hips squared?

Oh well.  Haaland has a vlog where he is buying Stetson hats and cowboy boots.  Maybe Norway is the team I am pulling for.  Or maybe not.

[adambr2]

1 hour ago, homer said:

I didn't think they'd get much further but didn't expect them to go out like a fart in the wind.

 Collectively played about the worst game you could possibly imagine. Dest was terrible. Freese made an all time botch. Pulisic was a walking turnover.

They can say “we’re better than that” all they want but when you do it on that stage you don’t get a chance to show it again.

 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Belgium were tactically much stronger, I thought. They took Balo away and just dared anyone else to do something. Nobody did. When Gio (who can't crack a mediocre Bundesliga side) is subbed for Dest at halftime, you know you've reached the throwing stuff at the wall phase.

Big picture, we have seen too many World Cups like this. Feeling good about producing some moments like Donovan's goal, Tim Howard's valiant effort, or the blowout of Paraguay or draw against England. Then, you come up against a decent European side in the R16 and lose by multiple goals, never looking like a threat.

I have deep worries about US soccer as a federation. I watch Leeds every week. Aaronson is super important for them. He does a lot of things even in a league where he is undersized. He also brings an attacking element that would fit right in. He didn't play well against Turkiye, but he's also just not valued by the big club. It's weird. Weah, same thing. He was awful vs. Turkiye, but a lot of it was just not being able to time up his runs and avoid getting caught offside. Easily explained by rust. Again, I know those guys weren't going to save us, but this team seems to want a kind of "flash" that's just not that important to winning games in the latter stages of the tournament. This game needed an Aaronson (I would've subbed him in for Pulisic) or Weah to create space, and they weren't even given the last-ditch, good-guy sub reserved for Wright and Arfsten. I'm just not sure the federation understands development or roster construction. It's like they're playing to not get criticized.

Anyway, this is a great final 8 no matter what happens tomorrow. And the tournament has been excellent. Sad to watch the hosts play the worst game so far, but lots of good football left to enjoy.

[adambr2]

I’m not saying we otherwise would have won, but I’ll also stand by the assertion that the red card controversy and political distraction did us absolutely no favors.

They were prepared to play without him. Pepi was ready to go. 

Then came the media circus following Balogun getting cleared and I can’t imagine any of that was good for the locker room, 

This was predictable and I truly believe that if Balogun was simply suspended without any of this I truly believe this game ends closer than 4-1.

Just a really embarrassing day. There’s no moral victory to take from this one. It’s an actual loss and a moral loss. 

[Joseph Zarr]

1 hour ago, adambr2 said:

I’m not saying we otherwise would have won, but I’ll also stand by the assertion that the red card controversy and political distraction did us absolutely no favors.

They were prepared to play without him. Pepi was ready to go. 

Then came the  the media circus following Balogun getting cleared and I can’t imagine any of that was good for the locker room, 

This was predictable and I truly believe that if Balogun was simply suspended without any of this I truly believe this game ends closer than 4-1.

Just a really embarrassing day. There’s no moral victory to take from this one. It’s an actual loss and a moral loss. 

Come on, man. I'm sorry but we shouldn't allow ourselves to invest meaningful thought here. Balogun was their best scoring threat the entire tournament. That's a boon to a club looking to win. Pepi is a non-factor national team international player as he currently stands today. He hasn't been a meaningful USMNT player since 2024.  These are professional athletes. The red card controversy may have been a distraction for fans of soccer but, unless you think these players are made of egg shells, the team would have dialed in and tuned out that noise. You're down 2-1 coming out of the gates of the second half. You are maintaining decent amounts of possession. Then Freese does whatever he does in that inexplicable botched moment. Is that because Balogun was allowed to play? Come on. That was the finishing blow. It was over. This wasn't even the first time such a suspension of a red card in a World Cup has happened - I believe it's the fifth? The team laid an egg but, regardless of their feel good play in the early stages, this team lays lots of eggs as it is. Take the Turkey loss as a microcosm. They have had many performances like this over the past four years. Their weaknesses were exposed by a much more strategically and fundamentally sound squad. Their defensive woes are and have been their issues for some time. Belgium is simply put the better squad. Pulisic was a no show for most of the tourney after re-injuring himself yet again. They have to get better - they've had to get better for quite some time. On a side note, I am somewhat validated the nation finally saw how truly below average Tim Ream is as a defender on this stage. He has been a net negative player nearly his entire career. The fact the USMNT program hangs their hat on a 38 year old below average defender tells anyone who pays attention all they need to know about the state of the USMNT developmental program. @Cool Hand Lucroy hits it square on the head: the problems in the USMNT program continue to be the problems of the program. They truly struggle with the big picture.