Fear The Chorizo

I know there are years where it isnt the case, but this team seems to find a way to have train wreck series in Pittsburg right before the AS break routinely, especially at the end of a long string of games without off days ot extended road trip. Hate seeing road games against the pirates in July on the schedule

Brewers may easily get through a day night doubleheader in the midst of summer in STL using 5 pitchers. Amazing in the middle of thjs extended stretch without a day off!

Hard for me to not see the air go out of Egypt's sails after getting robbed of one of their own goals scored...understanding that they did post a 2nd goal not long after that couldn't be stolen from them after the fact. Once Argentina got rolling Egypt wasn't going to slow them down and they mentally fell apart.

I get it, Argentina is great at soccer.... They're also the benefactor of an outrageous amount of favorable calls and reversals in a sport where just one can determine the outcome of a match. In a way it's sickening to watch - Egypt deserved to win and advance

Soccer is accessible here, too - it's simply that there's more money stateside in other sports and the USMNT rostering model within the US is far too reliant on collegiate programs who get their players from suburbia and not develop athletes starting at young ages. That's also part of the reason so many players on the USMNT happen to be dual citizens or were part of military families stationed overseas, because they benefitted from European training academies.

For anyone watching Argentina/Egypt....So VAR can be used to take a goal away due to a common foul not called during the game on the entire opposite side of the field roughly 45 seconds earlier in the match? How is that a thing? That's like taking a touchdown off the board at the end of a 6 play drive by going back to instant replay and having an offensive holding call retroactively imposed on the first 3rd and 5 conversion of the drive that wasn't even flagged by an official. I'll say it again, soccer rules are stupid....and quite frankly they really need to rein in what VAR can be used for.

If I had my choice to trade between Mitchell and Sal, I'd go with Sal. I get your point about trading in-season, but with the extensions to both Pratt and Lara and the real possibility there won't be a 2027 season, I think this organization finds itself in a unique spot where they could trade pieces from their existing MLB roster to dramatically improve areas of perceived need come postseason (IMO another impact starter and a shutdown reliever) and then actually improve or at worst maintain the level of production of the guys you trade away with prospect promotions like Lara.

The US needs better goalkeeping and needs to prioritize getting freak athletes with size to develop into defenders who are also terrors on set pieces in the penalty area. I think they have enough quality and options in the midfield, wings, and striker positions to take the next step, but they continually ask too much of those positions to help with a weak back end. The team this cycle really struggled to keep any opponent from scoring, so when the opponents get better and pressure ramps up, it winds up looking like this when they can't keep possession and control the game.

I think one of Sal or Mitchell becomes trade bait - you dont bring a prospect up youve already signed to a longterm extension without having an idea he's a starter. I'd give the Red Sox a call and see if they'd have interest in Sal + a prospect for Chapman

lol - somehow this is going to wind up in front of the Supreme Court. If that appeal happens after the decision is made (assuming Belgium wins they won't appeal, but if they lose I'm sure they will), do we just have to start the whole World Cup over?

The combination of the teams, venue, and moment made that match one of the most entertaining I've seen - I'm no soccer diehard, but that was awesome to watch.

The reaction to all this is a big reason why soccer just doesn't resonate in the US the same way the other major sports followed in our country. Feels like the feigned outrage is based on how an off-the-field procedure was followed/interpreted for what was a universally-panned and unfair red card issued on the field. The end result is getting a perceived star player onto the field in an elimination game, and every other team besides the USA is upset about it in the spirit of "fairness". I'll ask this simple question - if Messi, Haaland, Yamal, or any other country's star player switched spots with Balogun on that exact play - would VAR have even called down to the sideline to have the referee review the play knowing the still images would lead to that player getting red-carded? European fans upset over this because of fairness when that continent gets 1/3rd of the World Cup bids to start with is laughable. US culture wants teams to be at full strength or as close to full strength playing each other so it's "best on best", and star players get special treatment - it's high time this sort of break goes in the US' favor for soccer, when we all know the rest of the world's stars wouldn't ever find themselves under that sort of VAR scrutiny/review for a penalty that wasn't called directly on the field by a referee in the flow of the actual game.

As if everything in the history of FIFA doesn't reek of political influence, much of which has been driven by European countries in the history of soccer. Care to dive into how Qatar ever got to host the event 4 years ago? If you dislike political influence and the corruptness of FIFA, I'd advise you not to crack that egg. If the US were to win the entire world cup without this nonsensical red card drama, Soccer purists would deem it tainted anyway because the US was one of the host countries for the event this go-round - despite the fact it's been an incredible success for a sporting event of this caliber.

Eh, I don't care...lol

No way its tainted in my book - honestly if they lose tomorrow without him because of a bogus red card that would be tainted. FIFA has always made up rules as they go, for once it benefits the US