Tag Archives: World Cup Soccer

Fixing A Mistake

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I am not a soccer fan, but I have watched some of the World Cup and marveled at the athletic ability of the players. Soccer seems to have the attention of the world, and it has been fun to watch the European fans and their adventures in America.

On Sunday, Breitbart posted an article about the reversal of a red flag card that was given to a member of the United States soccer team.

The article reports:

In a shocking reversal with mammoth implications for the U.S. Men’s National Team’s (USMNT) chances of advancing to the quarterfinals of the 2026 World Cup, FIFA has rescinded the red card given this week to star U.S. striker Folarin Balogun, making him eligible to play against Monday night in the U.S. men’s Round of 16 game against Belgium.

Balogun, who plays his club ball for Arsenal in the English Premier League, scored the game-winning goal for the USMNT against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but was shown a red card later in the match on a highly controversial play in which he inadvertently stepped on the ankle of a Bosnia and Herzegovina player.

The referee, Brazilian Rafael Claus, conducted a VAR review of the play, which did not even draw a yellow card during live action. While the announcers debated whether the play was even serious enough to review at all, Claus emerged from the VAR viewing area after a lengthy review and shocked the thousands in attendance and better than 30 million watching from home, by showing Balogun a straight red card.

Under FIFA rules, a player shown a red card is not only disqualified from the remainder of the current match but is also ineligible for the next game.

The article includes a video of the play involved. It appears to be simply a collision between two intense players trying to get the ball. Balogun is an important player for the United States team, and I am glad that the officials reviewed the film and changed their minds.

Freddie Goes To The White House

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I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the posts of the Europeans visiting America for the World Cup Soccer matches. Their impressions of America and their comments about what they saw on the news about America vs. what America actually is like were very interesting. One of the people who posted his journey on X was a German named Freddie. Unfortunately, Freddie de-activated his X account. He posted at Instagram to explain why:

“Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know why I deactivated my account,” he wrote. “1. This was the plan all along even before we started the World Cup trip. 2. Too many people seem to have a problem with us having a genuinely good time here in the country, and this is ruining the fun a bit for us because we really just wanted to document our road-trip and never expected that people would have a problem with it.”

But the story has a happy ending!

On Thursday, Townhall reported:

Even though Leftist trolls forced Freddy, the German World Cup tourist, to delete his X account, our favorite football fan is still enjoying his time in America. This is a great way to show him the best of America, despite the social media trouble.

Special Presidential Envoy Nick Adams shared the news and a statement on X.

Here’s what the statement says:

I arranged a visit to the White House for Freddy, the viral FIFA World Cup tourist from Germany, to cap off what has been an epic FIFA World Cup visit to the United States.

Despite the hateful and angry radical Left’s vicious attempts to doxx Freddy, launch personal attacks, and intimidate him into submission, ultimately forcing him to delete his social media accounts to protect his peace and safety, the West Wing visit will still take place.

Freddy’s only ‘crime’ was loving America and documenting his travels in a completely non-partisan way. This is what they do. They try to scare and silence anyone who doesn’t conform.

As the Special Presidential Envoy for Tourism, I am proud that Freddy enjoyed his trip here. I refused to let the radical Left turn something positive for our country into another victory for their politics of hate.

In the true spirit of 250, I lifted Freddy up and made sure their mob tactics would not win. The visit will go ahead as planned.

America remains open for business and open to visitors who simply want to experience the greatest country on Earth. We will never let the mob dictate who gets to enjoy it.

This is the spirit of America!

Some Thoughts On World Cup Soccer

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“You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Until You Lose It” was a 1961 hit song written by Paul Hampton and George Burton and recorded by Ral Donner. That lyric applies to a lot of Americans right now. I hope we never lose what we have in America, but many of us are a long way from appreciating our country and way of life.

The Europeans and Asians who are here to see the World Cup are giving Americans a lesson in appreciating the life we live in America. Our visitors are posting their adventures on X, YouTube, and Instagram, and the videos and comments are being shared on Facebook and across all social media. Please search these posts out if you have not yet seen them. The visiting Europeans and Asians appreciate many simple things Americans take for granted.

I love the videos of visitors experiencing Buc-ee’s for the first time. One visitor was amazed at people having their picture taken with a statue of a giant rodent. Visitors visiting a restaurant discovered ranch dressing. There is also a video of a visitor discovering free drink refills. These are things we take for granted as Americans.

The visiting Europeans and Asians brought some of their own national personalities here. The Japanese cleaned up one of the stadiums after the game. The Norwegians sat down on an escalator and rowed in sync. The Norwegians also did “the row” in one of the stadiums where Americans might do “the wave.”

I wasn’t all that excited when I heard that the World Cup was coming to America, but now I can really see the value of the event. Much of the world is simply having fun together and enjoying a sport. Many of the world’s ideas about America are being changed. Many of the visitors have talked about how friendly Americans are.

As Americans, we need to wake up and realize that we live in the greatest country in the world–and we are free.

This is one example of the adventures of our visitors:

Hopefully The Mainstream Media Understands This Was A Joke

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President Trump loves to excite the mainstream media. It doesn’t take much for him to make them totally crazy. Last night at a rally in North Carolina, he made a comment that I suspect may have that effect.

CNS News posted an article today about that comment:

Having some fun at the media’s expense, President Trump said Monday night he may have to run for a third term, so he’ll still be in the White House when the United States hosts the soccer World Cup in 2026.

Addressing supporters at a rally in North Carolina, Trump spoke of his meeting at the White House earlier in the day with Gianni Infantino, president of the world soccer governing body FIFA.

The U.S. is set to host the 2026 men’s championship, the largest event in global sports, in conjunction with Canada and Mexico.

“We’ve got a problem – it’s in 2026,” Trump said. “I said, well wait a minute. Under the normal rules, I’ll be out in 2024. So we may have to go for an extra term, OK?”

Needless to say, the crowd loved it.

There will also be a change in how the World Cup is hosted. The article reports:

The U.S. will host 60 games in ten cities including all the knockout stage games, while Canada and Mexico will host ten games each. It will be the first time in the competition’s almost century-long history that three countries co-host the event, which will see a newly-expanded roster of 48 national teams fight for the trophy.

An annual FIFA Congress in June 2018 handed the hosting rights to the North American trio, which saw off a rival bid by Morocco.

The United States has qualified for ten of the 21 World Cups held to date since 1930, reaching the quarter-final stage in 2002. The U.S. hosted the competition in 1994.

I remember the 1994 competition in Foxborough, Massachusetts–my daughters worked security for the stadium. At one point my middle daughter was watching the electronics equipment when a smart-Alec twelve-year old came up to her and said, “You can’t be security, you don’t have a gun.” She answered, “I don’t need a gun–I go to school in New York City!”

I am looking forward to the press reaction to the President’s statement.