• merc@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    What’s funny about this to me is that some of the US fans were talking like they thought they had a real shot this year. They always think that the American team is better than it really is. But, they were knocked out in the Round of 16, which is normally the first knockout round of the World Cup.

    Even a Belgian team with almost no members of the “golden generation” was much better than them.

    • adam_y@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      That’s the thing. They thought they were taking to the pitch as equals.

      The US had an unsurprisingly easy ride to this point in the competition but came up against a genuinely decent team. Bragging about narrowly beating a team ranked 44th.

      The shenanigans just added to the drama, not their chances of winning and that’s the real shame, they could have gone out with some honour and class and, instead, Trump made sure they went out as villains.

      It was genuine wrestling promo nonsense.

    • FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      They’re 'Muricans

      They think they are special, just because

      I mean, they’re “special”…

      But they genuinely can’t understand why the civilised world sneers at them

      • zqps@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        A national self-perception steeped in exceptionalism has them convinced it can’t be anything but envy.

    • JargonWagon@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Most people in the US didn’t realize there was even a US team in the World Cup at all. Any who thought they had a “real shot” are definitely in the minority, and they exist in every country.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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        FOOTBALL(soccer) isnt as popular as in EU or the rest of the world, less resources devoted to that sport than in the EU. the people in my university in the states that played soccer aspires to be in a EU league, or at least one that plays in the EU more, they know the US teams are shit.

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        The kinds of people I’m talking about are ones who have a local MLS team whose matches they attend, but they also have a favourite European team… and yet, somehow they don’t realize the vast gulf in quality between a player for Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid.

        Timothy Tillman? He wasn’t good enough for any club in the Bundesliga, but he plays for LAFC. He should do fine in a midfield battle against Kevin de Bruyne and Youri Tielemans!

    • JenitalJouster@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      some people saw the usa beat some low ranking fifa teams and thought they’d win the whole world cup🤣🤣

  • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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    1 day ago

    Damn it. As soon as FIFA overturned the red card ob the behalf of Trumpty. I was like “Finally, a chance to get in on the corruption. Time to place all my bets on Team USA.”

    Now, I am fucking broke.

  • DarkFuture@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    As an American I approve.

    The US team played like shit and our corrupt pedophile president pulled strings to alter the odds.

    And the last thing we need is another win the Pedophile-In-Chief can steal valor from and portray as his own for political gain.

    • YeahIgotskills2@lemmy.world
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      It’s a shame, as there was actually some goodwill towards the US team from the rest of the world, out of respect to the hosts and an ability to separate them from the insanely run government. Then he steps in, starts fucking with the rules and most of that evaporated.

    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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      1 day ago

      it only further deligitimizes a US football team playing against other countries in the future, since nobody will take them seriously now, and likely call out the us team out more once THE PEDOPHILE is gone from WH.

  • redlemace@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    @belgium, on behalf of the world : Thank you and well done! Whoever wins the cup, you are the team of the tournament !

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        You’re right but also extremely wrong:

        Unbeknownst to most, Belgium was one of the absolute WORST colonial powers back in the day, which deserves all the condemnation in the world.

        King Leopold II was probably the worst colonialist oppressor of all time.

        That being said, MODERN DAY Belgium isn’t doing any of that, much less the national football team.

        • Jiral@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          I thought it was pretty much general knowledge that Belgium was one of the most terrible colinial powers in europe?

          I do see the lack of relevance of that for that football game though. It is like talking about the genocide(s) the US was built upon, just because of a football game.

        • shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          History doesn’t exist in a vacuum I’m afraid. If an entity, whether it’s a person or a nation, commits atrocities and then stops doing so after becoming rich from it, can we call that justice?

          Leopold II turned the Congo Free State into his personal, horrific rubber-and-ivory fiefdom from 1885 to 1908 and used the profits to bankroll massive architectural and infrastructure projects in Brussels, Antwerp, and Ostend (e.g., the Cinquantenaire park, the Royal Palace of Laeken, and the Antwerp Central Station).

          The profits were deeply integrated into Belgium’s financial and industrial sectors.

          DRC’s vast diamond wealth currently flows straight to Antwerp, meaning Belgium still captures the high-value “refining and trading” end of the supply chain, while the DRC is left with the environmental and human cost of raw extraction.

          Major Belgian conglomerates, or companies born out of the colonial structure (like Umicore, formerly Union Minière du Haut-Katanga), transitioned from colonial owners to powerful multinational players. They still hold significant strategic advantages and interests in extracting critical minerals like cobalt and copper from Central Africa.

          When the DRC gained independence in 1960, its first democratically elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, wanted to nationalize the country’s resources so the Congolese people could finally benefit from them. Fearing the loss of mineral access, Belgian officials (with the help of the CIA) were deeply complicit in Lumumba’s overthrow and assassination, replacing him with Mobutu Sese Seko, a brutal dictator who let Western corporations keep extracting wealth while plunging his own country into poverty.

          Colonialism may have come to an end but Belgium is still a neocolonialist nation. So we can’t even give it the benefit of saying that it has stopped.

          This is for informational purposes only. European colonial history is not well taught in the Western world so it’s important for people to realize that just because it was overlooked in their education that doesn’t mean it’s really ended.

          • zqps@sh.itjust.works
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            1 day ago

            Colonialism only took on modern forms. It’s always been might makes right.

            Now with some countries slowly rising from its shadows, a lot of people in the west are pissing their pants that the tables might turn. Even if we’re a very long stretch away from that, and climate change is ironically affecting us less than the so-called global south.

            • shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
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              1 day ago

              It may not be as long a stretch as it seems.

              Climate change is in many ways an extension of neocolonialism ie. localizing benefits while externalizing harms. Western countries, despite making up 20% of the global population, are responsible for 50% of global cumulative emissions.

              Back during the Earth Summit in 1992:

              “In view of the different contributions to global environmental degradation, States have common but differentiated responsibilities. The developed countries acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financial resources they command.”

              Based on this, the Rio declararion explicitly stated that developed countries must take the lead in combating climate change and its adverse effects.

              As we all know, these responsibilities were ultimately betrayed

              The world has a way of rebalancing itself. We may not see a complete rebalancing in our lifetimes but the process has already begun.

          • elucubra@sopuli.xyz
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            1 day ago

            Colonialism has generally never played nice for the conquered, however, some, like the Romans, and to a certain extent the Moors, Ottomans, Spanish, and others were somewhat integrating, excesses and plunder non withstanding, and contributed to the conquered. Belgian Congo was pure evil.

            I have Belgian blood, BTW.

          • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            2 days ago

            This is for informational purposes only

            Fair enough. I was about to be snarky about blaming the football team for it, so thanks for heading that fruitless discussion off at the pass 😁

            European colonial history is not well taught in the Western world so it’s important for people to realize that just because it was overlooked in their education that doesn’t mean it’s really ended.

            Too True.

        • dethedrus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          Leopold the First was some random minor German nobility who was placed on the ‘throne’ iirc.

          His son was one of history’s more horrific, while still utterly incompetent, monsters.

          • elucubra@sopuli.xyz
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            Europe’s royal shuffling is rife with things like that. Most royal families have blood ties with each other, and historically have agreed to place one of theirs on another countries throne to keep collective hold on the continent.

            “The German Kaiser (Wilhelm II), Russian Czar (Nicholas II), and English King (George V) were all first cousins. Their grandmother was England’s Queen Victoria, making the English and German kings first cousins. The English and Russian kings were also first cousins, as their mothers were sisters.”

  • chunes@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Corruption aside, I’m not sure the rest of the world understands how little Americans care about this sport. I’m not surprised our team sucks lol

    • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
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      Let’s say the adult population is 250 million. 25% of 250 million is 62.5 million people. That is almost as many people that live in France. And way more people than Norway, Netherlands and Portugal combined. Yet these three countries have a world class national team and produce top players.

      It’s not that not enough Americans care it is the sports college system for this sport doesn’t work to create elite players. I bet California has enough people interested in the sport to replicate the European promotion and relegation system for a comprehensive multi level amateur league system to produce top players. Like if a tiny nation as Portugal can do it a rich state as California with more inhabitants can probably do it too. 25% of California inhabitants is almost 10 million that is the same as inhabitants in Portugal. And California has a GDP per capita that is more than twice that of Portugal

      • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        Not all adults are sports fans though, so those numbers are still inflated. Proportions may still work though. While I have no issues with sports, understand people following them and enjoy playing them, I don’t follow any sports myself. There are people like me and people who do the tired scoffing “sportsball” joke all around in the us (not like our interests are any less affordable).

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      I wonder if there’s any country above 84%. Some small countries like Bosnia seem even more obsessed than Brazil, but they have such a small population that they don’t have the reputation of Brazil.

      • YawningNostalgia@thelemmy.club
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        The problem with the current Brazil team is that they all play like jugglers. Like yeah man it’s super cool that you can pull nifty tricks while you’re juggling with your friends at the beach, but that’s not the game you’re in now so lock in

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          22 hours ago

          Not being able to play as a team has always been a weakness for Brazil. The country also expects them to attack and play other teams off the park. It’s a team that always has superstars, and those superstars want to have their moments, and a coach that doesn’t allow that doesn’t last long. Meanwhile teams like Japan put the team first and aren’t too proud to focus on defending.

          But, the bigger issue this time is that Brazil is a really aging squad lacking decent players in some key positions. Their main GK plays for Liverpool. Their CBs play for Arsenal and PSG. Their central midfielders play for or just left big European clubs. But, their fullbacks were major weaknesses. One is about to turn 35 and left Juventus a year and a half ago after barely playing in his final year, and he’s mostly a CB not a fullback. The other is a 32 year old who has been playing in Russia for the last 7 years. Brazil used to have world class fullbacks. Marcelo, Dani Alves, Roberto Carlos, Cafu, etc.

          Age was also an issue. Despite having 2 teenagers in the squad, the third youngest player was 25, and they had almost as many over-30 players as they do under-30s. They were the 6th oldest team at the World Cup, and 3 of those 6 didn’t make it out of the group stage. Only 2 of the 6 were reasonable contenders, Brazil and Colombia, the other one that made it out of the group was the surprise story of the tournament Cabo Verde.

          So, I don’t think it was really that Brazil played too many tricks. They always do that, and they frequently win. The problem this time was that their aging squad lacked good fullbacks which put them under pressure when opponents could get down the wings.

        • 🧟‍♂️ Cadaver@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Nah football is football. You play it with your foot and a ball, however you see fit and within the rules. Shenanigans are Brazil’s trademark, they have always been. Stop trying to europeanise football.

    • NotJohnSmith@feddit.uk
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      2 days ago

      You can think what you like, I for example think the rest of the world understands perfectly well that soccer isn’t one of your primary sports.

      For a sport in its infancy in your country, I didn’t think the US team were that bad

      • Atomic@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        It actually is one of the primary sports for women in the US. And their womens team is one of the best, having won the world cup 4 times, 91, 99, 15 and 19

        And for 1 in 4 sportsfans to follow football in the US isnt THAT bad. More than i expected.

        • NotJohnSmith@feddit.uk
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          1 day ago

          Interesteling info. I just got vibes of “we didn’t lose, we weren’t really trying”. Mix that with an american suggesting the rest of the world isn’t culturally aware is the perfect ragebait lol

    • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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      What amuses me is the soccer fans here who think we’re going to get better. I first encountered this in '94 when we (the US) hosted the world cup and got spanked by a Brazil team playing with 10 players. It’s like Indians saying they’re going to be good at basketball soon (they aren’t, because they love cricket).

      • elucubra@sopuli.xyz
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        So, because they love cricket, they can’t love basketball? Spain, which has 2 orders of magnitude less the population, is a powerhouse both in football and basketball.

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        I think the US is going to get better, but I don’t think they’ll be challenging any of the global powerhouses. Soccer / futbol is getting more and more popular over time. And, typically, when a country hosts the world cup, 10-15 years later there’s a new group of players who were inspired by the tournament and who have spent the time since then focusing on it.

        • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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          American athletes generally are multi-sport players when younger, and tend to follow the best money. The players who have the best chance at being star soccer players simply end up playing football or basketball. The sport being less popular than at least 4 other sports in America is a huge problem for developing homegrown talent for the national team.

          • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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            soccer/football seems to be the only sport that our state uni in my area has as a legit sports team, and msot of them want to be part of AN EU team after graduation anyway, they likely know the US one isnt very lucrative or very good at getting them to level of the EU, BRAZIL,etc. they only go for other sports if a specific university has the teams for those sports like FOOTBALL , or basketball.

            • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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              I mostly mean before college. There is definitely a path for american soccer players, but its not in America like you say. World class players still “retire” and then go play in America, which says a lot.

    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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      america only care about the americans only sports, football and basketball, and baseball. ive only ever seen heavily played in a university where students want to be professional in the eu.

  • brachiosaurus@mander.xyz
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    2 days ago

    Seem like everyone got successfully distracted over the epstein files and the ongoing genocide and wars

  • kalpol@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    US played badly. That first goal was just embarrassing. The third one was even worse. Belgium absolutely dominated.

    • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The fourth was extremely embarrassing as well, although who cares at that point. There’s a defender there watching Lukaku literally flat-footed, even though there was nobody else around for him to guard.

      At least with the header we had two defenders closely marking the guy, even though that just made it an even more spectacular goal.

    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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      1 day ago

      most likely, the usa team isnt going to be taken seriously now, if any of the players as aspires to become a player for another country, if thats even possible.

      • its_prolly_fine@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        Actually our team only has 7 players that are from Major League Soccer.

        If someone has duel citizenship, isn’t good enough to make the national team where they live, they will definitely be able to make the USA team.

    • fodor@lemmy.zip
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      You’d think he’d have learned his lesson from the Knicks game. I mean no, obviously he didn’t learn his lesson, but other people should have predicted what would happen because he destroys everything he touches.

      • Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world
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        You’d think he’d have learned his lesson from the Knicks game

        That’s implying he’s capable of learning the lesson and not just lashing out because that dementia-ridden puddle where a brain is usually located can’t comprehend he’s not 100% right all the time

  • Arancello@aussie.zone
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    2 days ago

    So even when the usa cheats they dont win. Love to see this pattern in their trade behaviour.

    • gergo@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      the sad thing is that the team actually didn’t cheat, their fucking president did. I feel for those poor guys in the US national team that have to bear the shame of their flatulant president cheating in their name.

      • McWizard@lemmy.zip
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        Well their coach had the option to not use the player in question. So it’s partly on them as well.

        • Fmstrat@lemmy.world
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          I imagine that would have been a tough situation. It was a clearly bad call overturned by the review panel. If you remove Trump from the equation, it may have happened anyway.

          Note: Not debating how rediculous this is, and happy there can’t be future tainting of games from it.

          Edit: I pull this back. Had not realized this had never happened before.

          • ohulancutash@feddit.uk
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            2 days ago

            It was the first time in 96 years that a world cup red card punishment had been overturned. This was american cheat karen energy.

          • Team_Satan@lemmy.nz
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            It was not a bad call, and it was not overturned.

            The cheating USA player committed a foul and still has the red card for that. The cheating USA player still has the red card, but in an unprecedented move the suspension is deferred. Because the USA cannot compete at an international tournament without resorting to cheating.

            This would not have happened without the United States being an openly corrupt nation, and this will taint every game that the United States team ever plays in the future.

            • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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              2 days ago

              Most people seemed to agree it should have been a yellow card because he wasn’t capable of seeing what he was doing. Careless vs malicious.

              But these reviews do happen in the premier and euro leagues. Just FIFA hasn’t done it before. And we all know fifa is a shit show anyway, now we just have more Trump induced proof of it.