UEFA slams FIFA's 'unprecedented, unjustifiable' Balogun decision

Post by bastard_op » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

runarberg wrote: post #17

bhupy wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The goal is ultimately entertainment This is something I see so many people forgetting. The net result of this decision is simply that the USA gets to play with their full squad and you have an actually interesting competition. The reason we as a world spend hundreds of millions of dollars to let athletes play a game for a living is pretty much exclusively for interesting competition. It serves no other socially us…

Where is the fun in watching a rigged game. I‘m actually not sure this statement is true. “The goal is ultimately entertainment” is a thought terminating cliché. What about sportsmanship, competition, beauty, experiencing a common cultural phenomena with the entire world, etc? But even if this statement is true, FIFA needs to learn from the failure of Eurovision and see that people are not entertained by watching a r…

Post by glimshe » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 5:39 PM UTC

rjrjrjrj wrote: post #43

glimshe wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gee, we're not talking about Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo here... What kind of super secret, complex scheme was Belgium creating for Balogun?

> Gee, we're not talking about Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo here He's their leading scorer. His exclusion seemed kind of important to you a couple posts back. Along with the Secretary of the Treasury, and the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize recipient.

Post by runarberg » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 5:47 PM UTC

bastard_op wrote: post #51

runarberg wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is the fun in watching a rigged game. I‘m actually not sure this statement is true. “The goal is ultimately entertainment” is a thought terminating cliché. What about sportsmanship, competition, beauty, experiencing a common cultural phenomena with the entire world, etc? But even if this statement is true, FIFA needs to learn from the failure of Eurovision and see that people are not entertained by watching a r…

These are basically paid soap operas like American "professional wrestling", and they have quite the following, so what does it matter fake or not?

Post by ViewTrick1002 » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 6:14 PM UTC

bhupy wrote: post #27

NoboruWataya wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With respect, only an American would think that the competition ceases to be interesting just because the US loses. This is already shaping up to be a really interesting WC with or without the US. Political leaders intervening to give their countries an advantage is what makes it boring. Tilting the scales in favour of a country where you are trying to grow the sport may make financial sense in the short term but it…

> With respect, only an American would think that the competition ceases to be interesting just because the US loses With respect to you, I'm a lifelong football fan. And read more carefully, the argument I am making is not that the competition ceases to be interesting because the US loses. The argument I am making is that the competition ceases to be interesting because the US doesn't get to field its best squad on…

Post by sailingparrot » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 6:35 PM UTC

alephnerd wrote: post #26

sailingparrot wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How has France no cohesion? It just so happens that they have enough superstars to fill the entire roster. You can remove their top 3 best players and they would still be one of the favorite to win. Cohesion and superstars are not mutually exclusive.

> How has France no cohesion Look at the Paraguay game. When striking, Mbappe was trying to optimize for making goals on his own instead of coordinating with Kone or Rabiot. There were multiple cases in the Paraguay match when Mbappe attempted a goal in a risky manner instead of passing to Kone or Rabiot who were in better positions to score. Mbappe is basically concentrating on exclusively getting his own goals beca…