And that's all she wrote.
Really it was deserved. I love the US and really do want to see us succeed, but seeing us resort to Banana Republic-despot nonsense with FIFA was just really disheartening. Yes FIFA is a political organization, yes politics has been part and parcel of the World Cup for a century. Does that mean that the US should engage in it? Fuck no.
It was a red card hit. Had that happened in one of my games I would've wanted that individual off the field and the org to be having a discussion about why it's unacceptable. I'm tired of my fellow amerimutts saying it's not reasonable to call because of other happenings of this World Cup. Yes they aren't calling nothing on Messi or Ronaldo, but I also don't think that the US should stoop to acting like Argentina or Chile circa 1962 or Argentina 1978. Stooping almost never works out.
And tonight is the perfect example as to why that rings true. We had a game plan without Balogun, and just yesterday that went up in smoke. You've got players who are going in with a specific mindset who now have to make adjustments because Balogun is back on the field. You've got a replacement starter whose pissed their chance has been taken because a politician who knows nothing about soccer has butted in. On top of that you have Balogun, who probably felt quite a bit of weight on his shoulders for now having to think about how his president (who hates him for being an anchor baby) has now intervened on his behalf, and a huge swathe of supporters do not agree with that decision. This isn't even mentioning how pissed Belgium was about the situation and now really wanting to make the game look really one sided. A recipe for disaster when you're trying to win a game.
Well played all around. Despite what amerimutts in thread are saying the issue wasn't US defense, those crosses were phenomenal and damn near unstoppable for both goals 1 and 2. The 3rd goal was 100% on the "MVP goalie" and I missed the fourth goal but I can only imagine it was a comedy of errors. The biggest issue for US was not capitalizing on opportunity on the striking side. Several times Balogun just looked like his heart wasn't in it, and his wings weren't putting the ball in places where he would be able to feel it consistently.
I think I'm going to root for Norway for the rest.