Boycott the World Cup

In a recent post I have stated how disappointed and sad I am about this World Cup. You can now add the FIFAs pandering to politicians to the list. 

Folarin Balogun was given a red card against Bosnia-Hercegovina. According to the rules, a red card means an automatic suspension in the next match, meaning that the US top-scorer would not play  Belgium when the USA faces them in the next match. The US Secretary of State called for FIFA to lift the suspension, and lo-and-behold, today they lifted the ban on Balogun, getting a big thanks from the US President along the way.

FIFAs possible favouritism had already been announced while lifting a suspension on the Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo when entering the tournament, but this is the first time it has been lifted during an ongoing tournament and with such obvious interference.

So much is wrong with this tournament, and I sadly see no other option than to boycott it. By just watching it I feel that am condoning all the bad things about this World Cup; we are as guilty as FIFA by following it. Criticism is not enough, but something must be done to end this systematic destruction of the game that real football fans love.

So this will be my last World Cup 2026 post, and I strongly urge everyone to stop watching the World Cup, no matter who you support or how your team is doing.

Would you not want them to compete in a fair competition anyway...? 

USA in the house

 No matter how it goes USA under manager Mauricio Pochettino will be talked about a lot, and with the 4-1 victory against Paraguay, USA has stamped into the World Cup in style. It was characteristic Pochettino style high pressure and possession that the North Americans used to completely dominate the South American. Damian Bobadillas’s clumsy own goal after 7 minutes set the pace, and then the Monaco striker Folarin Balogun scored two goals before halftime (first time a US player scores twice in a World Cup match). Second half US lowered the pace but continued to dominate. Nevertheless a mistake gave Paraguay their goal, by Mauricio, and a glimmer of hope against the odds, but in the end Giovanni Reyna scored a splendid goal to give the USA a solid victory in their opener.

They play great football and their matches look to be entertaining, but we will only see their real strength against better opposition in the the knock-out stages, as they are in a very easy group where they should win all matches.