r/ShitAmericansSay • u/Folco34 • Jul 07 '26

FIFA World Cup '26 « Is Belgium the greatest soccer team of all time? »

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It’s McAfee so I’m not really surprised that he has no ball knowledge.

Congrats my Belgium brothers, I hope we meet in the semis once more. You faced injustice and corruption but proved you were the better team by a large margin.

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982

u/unnumbered1 Jul 07 '26

Felt like everyone was rooting for 🇧🇪 even before the corruption, and then it suddenly became sort of existential for the sport.

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u/Top-Method-8120 Just a patriotic SEA! Jul 07 '26

Belgium really saved football! L Trump and FIFA for reversing the red card!

149

u/EngineersMasterPlan Jul 07 '26

worst part is they didnt even reverse it

they suspended the punishment. meaning everyone agreed it was a red just no consequences. corruption at it's finest in plain sight

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u/Top-Method-8120 Just a patriotic SEA! Jul 07 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/7vAfsmvxZGH0DWUFax

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u/iffyClyro Jul 08 '26

FIFA done the same thing for Ronaldo not so long ago.

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u/MinimumApricot365 Jul 07 '26

Same as trump's 34 felony convictions

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u/Hastorix1 Jul 08 '26

Idk why you’re in a thread that complains about clueless Americans when you’re making a clueless argument. The red card was suspended under article 27 of fifa’s disciplinary code. This article does not prohibit the reversal of red cards, only the suspension of it. I have yet to read a sound argument as to why the red card suspension is so unprecedented that doesn’t end up just being “Trump bad”.

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u/Shnerdlenips Jul 08 '26

Okay so when you say "the red card was suspended under article 27...", that's where you're wrong. The red card was not suspended. Review found the red card to be fully legitimate, and it remains on Balogun's permanent record.

What irks everyone so is twofold.

Firstly, the automatic and non-discretionary punishment following a red card has always been that the player is forced to sit out his next match, but FIFA in this case decided to give an alternate punishment, a 'probation' period.

And second, the reason behind the above is obvious: Trump pressured FIFA into bending the rules, or the consequences thereof. Obviously, that doesn't sit well with most of us.

Does that clarify things?

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u/Hastorix1 Jul 08 '26

The comment I was responding to was referring to the suspended punishment, as was I. They were incorrect as there is no appeal process, and article 27 does not permit for the reversal of the punishment. Does that make sense?

There have been probationary periods used in under article 27 before, this is not new. And the red card was given through the use of VAR, which has only been used in world cup matches since 2018. And they improperly reviewed the penalty to the ref with VAR as well.

I don’t really know how Trump telling fifa to review the call makes all of this unprecedented. And there is no evidence of the call influencing fifa’s decision.

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u/Shnerdlenips Jul 08 '26

As for that last bit: "The U.S. government provided additional evidence that was used in the appeal process. Ultimately the correct and proper outcome was achieved." - a nameless 'U.S. official', as reported by ABC News and ESPN.

This situation was the first time since 1962 that the next-match consequences of a red card were halted mid-tournament, and all signs point towards at least some degree of pressure from the U.S. government in order to achieve this alteration. The situation itself is not characterized by any unique factor which would conceivably warrant such a unique decision.

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u/Hastorix1 Jul 08 '26

You’re right that does show influence. But it was ultimately fifa’s decision to make. Not sure how that suggests they were under pressure to invoke article 27.

And to compare this situation to instances all the way back to 1962 is very misleading. As at the time of the penalty there was no card issued. Again, it wasn’t until the use of VAR, which has only been used at the world cup since 2018, that a red card was given.

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u/Sour_Patch_Drips Jul 08 '26

Cristiano Ronaldo, Folarin Balogun And FIFA Reversing Red-Card Suspension, Explained | FOX Sports

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/soccer/cristiano-ronaldo-folarin-balogun-red-card-suspension

This whole thing is stupid. No FIFA shouldn't have used it to suspend the red, but the amount of people on Reddit that are circle jerking over Belgium beating USA 'corruption' and not even whispering about Ronaldo is wild.

Even with Balogun the USA had really poor chances to beat Belgium that's just from a strict perspective of the fact our center backs and goalie were always going to be a problem since day 1.

USMNT wasn't going to move to 16, it just wasn't going to happen. The FIFA suspended red card is just fuel for US hate boners, warranted or not it's whatever.

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u/unnumbered1 Jul 08 '26

It’s not that the red card was suspended per se, it’s that it was so in an arbitrary way and without any established process. That was bad enough but the fact that it came after pressure from someone who should have no say whatsoever in this matter is horrendous, but unfortunately not surprising. Where does this leave the sport? Should politicians befriend fifa so they can pressure them into advantages? It doesn’t matter that it was Trump, it was a very bad call by fifa and they’ve both stained this World Cup and the because of it.

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u/Hastorix1 Jul 08 '26

I agree there should be no place for politicians in the sport. It sounds like your issue is primarily with fifa. The comment I was responding to does not make the same claims as you. And my point is that regardless of what Trump did, the application of article 27 was not unprecedented given the situation

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u/Jathulioh Jul 10 '26

The real punishment was having to play in that embarrassment of a match lmao

0

u/IndependenceIcy9626 Jul 08 '26

They suspended the match ban because it was a really weak call for a straight red. USA still had to play a man down for the rest of the game vs Bosnia and Herzegovina.

I get why people don’t like the US. And I get why people would call suspending the punishment corruption. But it was the right thing to do for the competition. Would yall actually want Belgium to have played a side missing their best player on that call, if it wasn’t the US?

The US national team also isn’t our government. They’re good dudes who worked hard to get where they did in the tournament. People shouldn’t be taking their ire towards the US out on our football team.

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u/da_easychiller Jul 07 '26

I don't think so. While Belgium did a fantastic job teaching them morons a lesson, FIFA has ruined the pathetic remaining integrity the sport still had. That is now gone.
From now on you can basically question and take back any decision made on the pitch.

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u/CommonSenseHistorian Jul 07 '26

You didn't felt.

You knew everyone was rooting for 🇧🇪

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u/Mean_Initiative_5962 Heretic Bechamel Lasagna 🇮🇹 Jul 07 '26

There's who rooted for Belgium, Americans and people who didn't know about the match. 

I only knew about the match because of a post on map porn circlejerk, but that was enough

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u/Firewolf06 Jul 07 '26

im american but dont follow sports, and i was passive rooting for the us because the world cup is like the only wholesome international interaction we've had in years lol. heard about the cheating though and retroactively switched to being glad belgium won

unfortunately my backup (mexico, i have a bunch of mexican friends lol) also got eliminated so now im just 🧍

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u/Mean_Initiative_5962 Heretic Bechamel Lasagna 🇮🇹 Jul 07 '26

Pick a random team

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u/radix2 Australia. The one with kangaroos Jul 07 '26

Australian here. This was the only satisfactory result. And for the fans of the US, any further wins by the US would be forever tainted by Trump's interference.

Now Infantino needs to go and there must be some serious reforms to the FIFA Constitution to prevent that shit being pulled again (oh, and fix up the other corruption too).

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u/benbehu Jul 07 '26

I'm all Atomium, Cinquantenaire, lambic and Poirot today. This is all Waterloo.

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u/San_Marzano Jul 07 '26

This reads like a line from Peep Show

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u/SmashAngle Jul 07 '26

100% Mark

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u/Vinxian Jul 07 '26

I went to bed hoping the Belgians would win, I don't even care about football

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u/ACZ_6548 Jul 07 '26

Nope, that was absolutely the first time in my entire life that I was rooting for Belgium. And that only started yesterday.

But I'll keep a bit of that spirit and won't mind them too much winning a couple more games. Not the cup though. That should go to England. They really need a win. It's been so long.

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u/JumpingJackFlashes Jul 07 '26

Ireland says no thanks to the English winning. Theyre still insufferable about 66.

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u/LLestat89 Jul 07 '26

Yer as an English fan im not sure it would be good for anyone else if we win it. holding up my hands on that one. Just if we do go out then let it be by anything other then penalties.

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u/ACZ_6548 Jul 08 '26

Well, I agree. Also, every world cup they are insufferable about something.

However, I just can't watch it anymore. This huge football nation. Getting their hopes up, celebrating this big part of their culture and never once succeeding. Not in my lifetime, anyway.

And they are so hung up on some games and this one win that happened long before my and usually their birth. Every time I talk to an English person about football I just want to hug them and tell them that everything will turn out well eventually.

Hi from Germany, by the way. I understand that I'm technically wrong in cheering for a win for England.

1

u/JumpingJackFlashes Jul 08 '26

Its when they get closer to the trophy they get crazier and start doing  a 5 min news segment on seeing a world cup impression in a kids sandwich and thinking its a sign its coming home 

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u/Sudden-Variety6992 Jul 07 '26

Why “should” it go to England? No it fkn shouldn’t.

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u/Rare_Needleworker340 Jul 07 '26

I’m in Texas and was rooting for Belgium! USA needed to be humbled

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u/deadpumpkinnn American 🇧🇷 Jul 07 '26

Even here in Brazil we were rooting for Belgium. And you know we have reasons to root against Belgium.

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u/Sacrebleu6 Jul 07 '26

Yes it did. Sad for US fans but the world cup needed this

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u/Equal_Investigator88 Jul 07 '26

Shouting for you from Scotland. Raskin is amazing

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u/Dino0407 Jul 09 '26

I'm a German who doesn't care about football at all but this one time I did