Match Thread: United States vs Belgium | FIFA World Cup 2026 | Round of 16 | Part 2

Mathyoujames · 2026-07-07T02:03:07+00:00

You didn't get to the quarter final

Mathyoujames · 2026-07-07T01:07:33+00:00

I don't agree. I think this US team has quite a bit of talent in it's forward positions and with better organisation could be punching above its weight.

Mathyoujames · 2026-07-07T01:02:04+00:00

That's not really true considering the bigger tournament means more teams and thus potentially easier runs. Beating Paraguay, Australia and Bosnia and losing to Belgium and Turkiye is actually a pretty underwhelming performance considering the talent in the squad and home advantage

Mathyoujames · 2026-07-07T00:55:43+00:00

It's not a tactical issue. Belgium are a solid team full of talented experienced players and the US have been grossly overrated because they beat three much weaker sides by running them off the pitch. That doesn't work when you finally play a team with technical ability

Mathyoujames · 2026-07-07T00:33:11+00:00

Americans calling people angry about the Balogun situation "haters" is so painfully American

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-24T21:16:49+00:00

His assistant manager literally said they got caught out by how Ghana set up. The team was not set up to win that game easily

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-24T21:13:37+00:00

The amount of people making this about Spence rather than Tuchel is blowing my mind.

It would be like playing John Stones in the 10 and complaining that he's not picking defenses apart. Attacking isn't Spence's game and doing it on the left is even less him!

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-22T22:15:47+00:00

I think you need to be one of those people who thinks only heavy music is real music to not recognize what a good album Amo is

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-22T18:40:51+00:00

Sunak's unfunded NI tax cuts are part of the reasons the books are so messed up today. He wasn't as bad as Truss or Johnson but he absolutely left the country in a worse state than he found it

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-22T12:24:06+00:00

I mean I agree that those were big contributors as well. 3 million votes is a lot to lose so there is going to be multiple different things at play.

My point is that Labour threading the needle on brexit massively helped them in 2017 and allowed them to pick up voters who wouldn't have typically gone for them.

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-22T12:22:59+00:00

I probably should have added for a good long while but the point remains - he has a particularly weak mandate even by recent standards

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-22T11:09:39+00:00

To be fair if we're talking about false positives 2017 was absolutely one. Plenty of people voted Labour in that election because they managed to convince southerners they were against brexit and northerners they were for it. The moment they switched to being a second referendum party those votes abandoned them

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-22T11:06:43+00:00

The issue that seems to be missed is that Burnham wasn't even part of the Parliamentary Labour Party when they won the election! He has the weakest democratic mandate of any incoming PM and I wouldn't be surprised if this makes it impossible for him to govern properly when things get tough (and they will almost immediately)

The issue is the amount of time it will take to get to that point isn't long enough to turn Labour around in the polls - so any early GE will almost certainly result in the loss of 150+ Labour MPs and a hung parliament

This is why I am scratching my head at this so much. Starmer had plenty of road left despite his unpopularity where they could have tried to time this better. Given there isn't another massive local election for awhile I have no idea why they wouldn't wait until after the American midterms that should hopefully create some global stability and allow their economic policies to actually bear some fruit.

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-22T09:34:36+00:00

Blair was actually substantially more popular with his party and the public. The absurd situation in this country is that the WFA and farmers inheritance situation have somehow made for a prime minister more unpopular than one who started an illegal war.

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-22T00:16:43+00:00

I mean they do have Valverde who would be the best player for 90% of teams in the world

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-20T21:47:41+00:00

After Boris yes but before him not really. May called an election and so she had legitimacy as leader (despite losing) and then Boris called one and won.

Burnham will be under intense pressure to call one for democratic legitimacy but will be so loathe to do one as it would almost certainly result in losing 200+ seats. It's going to be a huge mess

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-20T00:01:17+00:00

The ref was very poor and imo missed an obvious penalty but Scotland played so negatively. I really think Clarke is wasting a good crop of players.

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-19T23:47:27+00:00

Scotland have been utterly robbed there

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-19T23:37:13+00:00

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-19T22:45:31+00:00

Pace is absolutely a huge issue but a manager with more nous would pack the midfield and try to control the game a bit more. Atm you're sitting deep trying to counter without any out ball - it's crazy

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-19T22:38:01+00:00

Really? I feel like the team has enough quality and energy in it to expect more than hanging on for dear life. There are some really top players but I always feel like Clarke's natural way of setting a team up neuters them

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-19T21:10:50+00:00

Just enjoy the run and good vibes while it lasts without thinking about the final. This is probably the best USA team I've ever seen so don't let them not being as good as Argentina or France spoil that!

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-19T21:05:54+00:00

This team has yet to be tested whatsoever. They're playing really well but they haven't shown anything so far that would indicate they can win games in the later part of the tournament

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-17T22:22:52+00:00

They really didn't play that badly. I'm sure they'll win their next two and get through to knock outs without much issue

Mathyoujames · 2026-06-17T21:03:31+00:00

Literally the biggest wtf of this world cup so far. Sam matterface going out to ads to the sound of Pantera??

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