World Cup World Cup haters thread

[Essexyellows]

"US President Donald Trump thanked Fifa for "reversing a great injustice" in a post on Truth Social.
Trump, a friend of Fifa president Gianni Infantino, wrote: "Thank you to Fifa for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice! President DONALD J. TRUMP."


Nothing to see here............................ except wide open corruption and nepotism.

 

[unification]

Would they do it for any other nation? I suspect not. The fat, drug addled, incontinent, sex offending, orange man baby gives a call to the egg with eyebrows and bends the rules to his favour.

They’ve been a drag watch but we’re all Belgium on Tuesday morning, aren’t we?

This is 1978 all over again. It stinks and once again shows FIFA are unfit for purpose yet no one will do a thing about it.

 

[Marked Ox]

"US President Donald Trump thanked Fifa for "reversing a great injustice" in a post on Truth Social.
Trump, a friend of Fifa president Gianni Infantino, wrote: "Thank you to Fifa for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice! President DONALD J. TRUMP."


Nothing to see here............................ except wide open corruption and nepotism.

This is FIFA's equivalent to the EFL's Sheff Wed.

 

[Emilio]

I mean, it is the correct decision - the ridiculous part was using VAR to send him off for something that was clearly accidental in the first place!

If it were the case that it shouldn't have been a red card then the ban would have been rescinded. Instead, it was suspended for a probationary year. Therefore his guilt still stands, it's just the punishment that has been amended.

 

[tonyw]

If it were the case that it shouldn't have been a red card then the ban would have been rescinded. Instead, it was suspended for a probationary year. Therefore his guilt still stands, it's just the punishment that has been amended.

As utterly ridiculous as it sounds, there is no mechanism in the FIFA disciplinary code for appealing or rescinding red cards at the World Cup. FIFA have confirmed this multiple times since the USA-Bosnia game

What they’ve done is their only way to rectify a f**k up.

Course whether they would have done it if it had been Norway or Egypt (or England) is another question (though we know they would have done it for Argentina)

 

[Osei Yaw]

As if it couldn't get mor farcical...

View attachment 36246

World Cup 2026: US striker Folarin Balogun's one-game red card ban suspended by Fifa

Folarin Balogun is available to play for the United States in their World Cup last-16 tie against Belgium after his one-game ban is suspended by Fifa.

www.bbc.co.uk

Fifa said that the automatic one-match ban will be suspended for a year.

"In line with article 27 of the Fifa disciplinary code, the implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year," it said in a statement.

"If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement."

Just you wait, it's only a matter of time until Fifa give Paraguay the fair play award.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

As utterly ridiculous as it sounds, there is no mechanism in the FIFA disciplinary code for appealing or rescinding red cards at the World Cup. FIFA have confirmed this multiple times since the USA-Bosnia game

What they’ve done is their only way to rectify a f**k up.

Course whether they would have done it if it had been Norway or Egypt (or England) is another question (though we know they would have done it for Argentina)

Let’s see if they do the same for other teams and suspend all future red cards in this World Cup.

 

[Foley]

I mean, it is the correct decision - the ridiculous part was using VAR to send him off for something that was clearly accidental in the first place!

No way was it the correct decision.
The rules clearly state that no red can be rescinded.
Absolutely corrupt. No other player wouod have had that card 'suspended ' except an American

 

[tonyw]

Let’s see if they do the same for other teams and suspend all future red cards in this World Cup.

They shouldn’t suspend all future red cards - just wrong ones.

Balogun’s red card was blatantly incorrect and the result of misuse of VAR (they are not supposed to use super slo-mo to adjudge the severity of a challenge for exactly this reason…..it makes accidental contact look way more sinister than it actually was)

 

[Foley]

No way was it the correct decision.
The rules clearly state that no red can be rescinded.
Absolutely corrupt. No other player wouod have had that card 'suspended ' except an American

And Rubio suggested that it should be looked at. And Trump thanked FIFA.
Not sure anybody not living in the US would think this anything but a disgrace

 

[Steve Gilbert]

They shouldn’t suspend all future red cards - just wrong ones.

Balogun’s red card was blatantly incorrect and the result of misuse of VAR (they are not supposed to use super slo-mo to adjudge the severity of a challenge for exactly this reason…..it makes accidental contact look way more sinister than it actually was)

But there is no review of Red cards in the World Cup so FIFA aren’t saying it was wrong, they are just suspending it. The decision stinks of corruption. Do you believe that if it was a Belgian player the same outcome would happen?

 

[Steve Gilbert]

They shouldn’t suspend all future red cards - just wrong ones.

Balogun’s red card was blatantly incorrect and the result of misuse of VAR (they are not supposed to use super slo-mo to adjudge the severity of a challenge for exactly this reason…..it makes accidental contact look way more sinister than it actually was)

But there is no review of Red cards in the World Cup so FIFA aren’t saying it was wrong, they are just suspending it. The decision stinks of corruption. Do you believe that if it was a Belgian player the same outcome would happen?

 

[tonyw]

But there is no review of Red cards in the World Cup so FIFA aren’t saying it was wrong, they are just suspending it. The decision stinks of corruption. Do you believe that if it was a Belgian player the same outcome would happen?

Probably not. Probably only the favoured nations (I.e. the hosts, Argentina, maybe Brazil) get injustices corrected.

Just saying that it was an injustice that the US was going to be missing its best attacker for their biggest game in twenty years because of a Ref/VAR f**k up. As I said on here at the time whilst I was watching the game

 

[unification]

Probably not. Probably only the favoured nations (I.e. the hosts, Argentina, maybe Brazil) get injustices corrected.

Just saying that it was an injustice that the US was going to be missing its best attacker for their biggest game in twenty years because of a Ref/VAR f**k up. As I said on here at the time whilst I was watching the game

Two wrongs don’t make a right though, do they?

It’s a fudge and it doesn’t half feel that political interference has made this occur rather than FIFA coming to their senses.

 

[tonyw]

By the way, in case anyone thinks this sort of thing is new for the World Cup or FIFA - go read up around Garrincha in the 1962 World Cup.

Sent off in the Semi, allowed to play in the final after intense political lobbying (and allegedly the changing hands of a significant sum of money!)

 

[tonyw]

Two wrongs don’t make a right though, do they?

It’s a fudge and it doesn’t half feel that political interference has made this occur rather than FIFA coming to their senses.

Player who shouldn’t have been sent off is not suspended.

I think that’s the right outcome even if the path to get there was dubious because of FIFA’s absurdly opaque regulations

The Ronaldo one at the beginning of the tournament (under the same Article 27) was much worse because in that case the original decision was correct; FIFA just wanted one of their cash cows to be available from the first game

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Probably not. Probably only the favoured nations (I.e. the hosts, Argentina, maybe Brazil) get injustices corrected.

Just saying that it was an injustice that the US was going to be missing its best attacker for their biggest game in twenty years because of a Ref/VAR f**k up. As I said on here at the time whilst I was watching the game

Exactly, corrupt! The first decision of giving a red card may have been wrong but once it’s given then the player should be suspended.
The injustice in all of this is towards Belgium.

 

[tonyw]

Exactly, corrupt! The first decision of giving a red card may have been wrong but once it’s given then the player should be suspended.
The injustice in all of this is towards Belgium.

So if Harry Kane had been sent off for the same tackle in injury time against DRC, and was (wrongly) unavailable to play Mexico today, you would have been fine with it?

 

[Scotchegg]

So if Harry Kane had been sent off for the same tackle in injury time against DRC, and was unavailable to play Mexico today, you would have been fine with it?

I don't thinks its whether any of us would be fine with it or not. It's whether that punishment would have been suspended, and I think we all know that it wouldn't have been.

FIFA are corrupt, and Infantino has given up even trying to hide it. The whole FIFA Peace award and Trump hat was embarrassing. To then make this change to the rules following political intervention is not a good look - no matter how bad the original decision was.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

So if Harry Kane had been sent off for the same tackle in injury time against DRC, and was (wrongly) unavailable to play Mexico today, you would have been fine with it?

I would be angry that Kane had been sent off, just like I was angry that he didn’t get the penalty given the other day when it should have been but, I wouldn’t expect to have Kane play the next game because the rules are that red cards can not be overturned.

FIFA have set a standard now that red card suspensions can just be suspended for 12 months.

This is Infantino, yet again, wanting to be Trump’s mate, just like how he gave Trump a peace prize which he suddenly created to massage Trump’s ego.

It baffles me that someone like yourself Tony, who is very knowledgeable on all football, can’t see that is corruption, clear as day.

 

[tonyw]

I don't thinks its whether any of us would be fine with it or not. It's whether that punishment would have been suspended, and I think we all know that it wouldn't have been.

FIFA are corrupt, and Infantino has given up even trying to hide it. The whole FIFA Peace award and Trump hat was embarrassing. To then make this change to the rules following political intervention is not a good look - no matter how bad the original decision was.

I’m not arguing that FIFA aren’t corrupt. The world’s finest lawyer would have struggled with that one.

But it is not a change to the rules; Article 27 has always been there and can always be used like this. It’s not even the first time they’ve used it this tournament - they applied it for Ronaldo too.

How they arrived at this result stinks to high heaven……but the result IS what would have happened with a well-organized organizing body with a sane set of rules.

 

[tonyw]

It baffles me that someone like yourself Tony, who is very knowledgeable on all football, can’t see that is corruption, clear as day.

I’m not saying that it isn’t corruption.

I’m saying that it’s a rare example of an occasion where corruption has actually led to the correct outcome.

Which is that a player who didn’t commit serious foul play is not being incorrectly suspended for it.

I’m a pragmatist not an idealist.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Hmm, I think you are dancing on the head of a pin here! I think we are all agreed that such a sequence of events wouldn't have happened for many (if any) of the other teams. And I think we also all agree that makes it corrupt. Justifying corruption in any walk of life because it got the 'right' outcome is a particularly 'current American politics' way of looking at it!

 

[tonyw]

Hmm, I think you are dancing on the head of a pin here! I think we are all agreed that such a sequence of events wouldn't have happened for many (if any) of the other teams. And I think we also all agree that makes it corrupt. Justifying corruption in any walk of life because it got the 'right' outcome is a particularly 'current American politics' way of looking at it!

I mean, it’s the only way to survive present day American politics.

To pick a rather more important example than Balogun’s red card, gay marriage in the US was only codified because of a somewhat dubious Supreme Court decision because the legislature are too inept to resolve something like that.

Should I hate the decision because it was the outcome of a corrupt and broken system? Or should I celebrate it because I think it is right?

Doing so doesn’t mean that you don’t also want the system to change to something more functional!

 

[Steve Gilbert]

I mean, it’s the only way to survive present day American politics.

To pick a rather more important example than Balogun’s red card, gay marriage in the US was only codified because of a somewhat dubious Supreme Court decision because the legislature are too inept to resolve something like that.

Should I hate the decision because it was the outcome of a corrupt and broken system? Or should I celebrate it because I think it is right?

Doing so doesn’t mean that you don’t also want the system to change to something more functional!

This isn’t just America though, this is the world football federation bowing down to Trump and USA. It sounds like Belgium are looking to take action against FIFA and rightly so.
It is also reported that Trump rang Infantino, where in any world is that right?

 

[Paul Cannell]

When you're not allowed to call a friend for a favour, when is that right?

 

[chuckbert]

By the way, in case anyone thinks this sort of thing is new for the World Cup or FIFA - go read up around Garrincha in the 1962 World Cup.

Sent off in the Semi, allowed to play in the final after intense political lobbying (and allegedly the changing hands of a significant sum of money!)

So this is a good thing?

 

[chuckbert]

Player who shouldn’t have been sent off is not suspended.

I think that’s the right outcome even if the path to get there was dubious because of FIFA’s absurdly opaque regulations

The Ronaldo one at the beginning of the tournament (under the same Article 27) was much worse because in that case the original decision was correct; FIFA just wanted one of their cash cows to be available from the first game

It’s a horrible, horrible precedent to set. Not uncommon in modern day US legal system, mind.

 

[Whingit]

Even with the obvious corruption (it's always been there), football is still the best game in the world and the World cup is the greatest tournament.

 

[tonyw]

Last comment on the Balogun situation, and then I'll shut up......

......but with all this talk of Trump ringing Infantino, and Trump thanking FIFA for injustices overturned......I wonder if he realizes that the only reason that Balogun is playing for the US is because of birthright citizenship? His parents were stuck in New York because his Mum was so heavily pregnant, the airline wouldn't let her on the plane back to London. So he was born in New York and became a citizen as a result. He has no other links to the country - his parents are Nigerian, and he grew up in the UK.

If Trump got his way and abolished birthright citizenship, folks like Balogun would be the first ones out the door!