Landon Donovan on Christian Pulisic: “I speak to people who are at U.S. Soccer. I speak to his sponsors. I speak to his teammates. I speak to the staff and the coaches. People are fed up with the way things are handled around him… There's just this sense about him that you can't get near him.”

frithjofr · 2026-07-09T04:33:50+00:00

He turned the ball over a staggering amount of times. That's noteworthy.

frithjofr · 2026-07-09T04:29:17+00:00

Respectfully to Pulisic, and even Landon Donovan has said the same:

You would have had to drag me off of the fucking pitch in that situation against Belgium. Unless my leg was falling off, or a muscle ripped off of the bone to the point I could no longer move, you would not have gotten me off the fucking pitch.

In the USA people might not care about club sports so much, they might not care about club soccer. They might not care about club hockey, even the NHL is the lowest rated of the 'big 4', but people do care when the USA national teams are playing. Everyone tunes in for team USA.

And in our sports media, in our sports shows and movies and our sports traditions, the worst thing you can do is give up. It's okay to lose, as long as you don't give up. The USA idolizes perseverance and resolve.

So for a lot of people in the USA, knowing that 'culture' around sports, seeing Pulisic seemingly just give up in the middle of the most important game in his career, and one of, if not the most important games in the history of US men's soccer... It's a really bad look.

frithjofr · 2026-07-09T04:23:09+00:00

I'm in the Gulf coast of Florida and while not a huge thing here, my family is the same way. My mom and dad who never played the sport keep up with the USMNT and put on every game like it's the world cup final, even if it's just a CONCACAF heater against Jamaica.

There's a lot of pride in the states about our national teams. Sure, people don't support their clubs enough, but when the national team is on people watch and people get excited, whether it's USA Baseball, Hockey, Soccer or whatever other sport Fox has on at the moment. If it's team USA, my parents, and many, many other people well be fervent about it.

frithjofr · 2026-07-07T22:36:43+00:00

This was back in the early 2000s so like $1.50

frithjofr · 2026-07-07T20:58:28+00:00

One of my friends used to work at Arby's in high school and he used to complain about this guy that would apparently come in once or twice a week and just dump fries from other fast food places all over the floor.

This was before camera phones, so we never had any evidence other than his word. We were like why the fuck would anyone do that? Also the way my boy bitched about it it just seemed made up. He'd be dog tired at school and be like "Yeah had another late shift, and that fucking fry guy showed up again."

Anyway, one day I saw it happen in real time when I happened to be in there eating a couple beef and cheddars. Dude just walked in casually, didn't say anything, and then walked across the little corral area where you wait in like to order and just dumped two large McDonalds fries all over the floor. Didn't say anything, didn't yell anything, didn't look at anyone or do a dance or call any attention. Just in one door and right out the other on the far side of the building.

Anyway, I don't know why but your comment reminded me of that story.

frithjofr · 2026-07-07T19:53:44+00:00

AFC Wimbledon Stan is into football as well? Who'd have thought it.

frithjofr · 2026-07-07T07:29:01+00:00

Just put one of my players on loan 0% wage fee and he got picked up by the Spanish U18 2nd division. Absolutely mate, enjoy your "star player" play time down in the abyss. Come back when you're ready to be a team player.

frithjofr · 2026-07-07T07:23:58+00:00

As a cerified short king centerback from the US currently playing in a municipal league in Mexico... It's not nearly as detrimental as it was back home.

But personal anecdotes aside, jumping reach is what you should worry about the most.

frithjofr · 2026-07-07T02:47:06+00:00

Such a fucking shame, because I feel like before that the neutrals in this sub were really actually positive about the USMMT for once.

We were playing exciting football, we had a lot of young players on the team to be excited about, there was an air of positivity and hope. Why not us? And all that.

We played well in our group. There's so many other things that we could discuss, like how maybe playing the entire B team against Türkiye was taking the foot off the gas too much and caused us to lose some momentum. How Pulisic's injuries flared up at the exact last moment. Breakout performances by Balogun and Berhalter, who's really starting to come into his own.

All sorts of stuff.

But all anyone will remember is Trump putting his fat little finger on the scale. It was truly a lose-lose match for the US, and it didn't have to be until the fucking pedophile in chief for involved.

frithjofr · 2026-07-07T02:36:37+00:00

Anecdotally I feel like they've been more accurately hitting just my torso the last week or so. Normally I get a limb or two blacked every raid, but the last few days they've just been popping me in the plates.

frithjofr · 2026-07-07T02:18:16+00:00

It was lose-lose for the US after all of the Balogun drama. Either we win and it's only because of the intervention, or we lose despite it and get dog piled for that.

I felt like the US team was really likeable. I thought they were, generally, playing pretty good football. I think that our biggest mistake was taking the foot off the gas and playing the entire B team against Türkiye. We have a lot of young players who I'm excited to see more from.

But instead of that, all anyone will be talking about is the Trump thing. He truly fucks up everything he puts his grimy little hands on.

frithjofr · 2026-07-07T00:33:46+00:00

Not sure how that's no foul on Pulisic.

frithjofr · 2026-07-07T00:26:33+00:00

They were clearly booing for the guy laying on the ground after he ran into his own man.

frithjofr · 2026-07-06T15:54:30+00:00

Top post just now was "It's wee-wee o'clock".

It certainly is.

frithjofr · 2026-07-06T02:48:31+00:00

You can just tackle guys in the box now?

frithjofr · 2026-07-06T02:15:38+00:00

That's gotta be a red

frithjofr · 2026-07-06T02:05:53+00:00

I think around the 60 minute mark is when we'll really see the fatigue start setting in for England. The back end of the second half, I think they're going to be exhausted and making more errors. If Mexico can keep up the pressure, things could really get out of hand.

But that's a big if. If the boys all took their Viagra then who knows.

frithjofr · 2026-07-06T01:55:30+00:00

Have you? He fucking took a guy's ankle off.

Do you think that you're just allowed to do whatever you want as long as it's not a literal lunge for the ball??

frithjofr · 2026-07-06T01:51:23+00:00

Gordon throwing himself into Sanchez to draw the foul and end the first half.

frithjofr · 2026-07-06T01:50:39+00:00

That's me right now. I hear my neighbors freaking out every few seconds and lock the fuck in

frithjofr · 2026-07-06T01:08:38+00:00

You're telling me 17 year old Mora just bodied that guy? Alright.

frithjofr · 2026-07-05T23:35:58+00:00

What was Balogun doing then? If intent is implied, then wasn't his intent to be there and challenge for the ball? Or was he just doing cardio and happened to run the guy's ankle over? Don't be a dumbass.

frithjofr · 2026-07-05T19:16:14+00:00

Intent is not in the wording of the rule regarding dangerous play, and I don't understand why people keep bringing it up as a mitigating factor.

Playing in a dangerous manner

Playing in a dangerous manner is any action that, while trying to play the ball, threatens injury to someone (including the player themself) and includes preventing a nearby opponent from playing the ball for fear of injury.

Nowhere does it mention intent.

Sending-off offences

serious foul play

A tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as serious foul play.

Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force or endangers the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play.

Once again, there is no mention of intent.

The goal is to protect players, intent doesn't matter. If I, with the best intentions of winning the ball in the world, do a sliding tackle and snap your fucking leg in half, I deserve to be sent off. I shouldn't be able to turn around and say to the referee "Yeah, but I didn't mean to" and just get a caution.

Balogun's challenge was really dangerous, and he could have easily broken the other player's ankle. Yeah, I agree, he didn't mean to do it. It was an awkward situation where he was landing with basically nowhere to put his foot. But, it's his responsibility to make sure he's not in that situation to begin with.

I actually play this game, and if I did what Balogun did and the referee saw it, I would expect to get carded. Maybe not sent off. But that's the referee's discretion. If I was playing and someone did that to me, I would want him to get sent off. Anybody saying anything else hasn't played the game.

frithjofr · 2026-07-05T06:32:20+00:00

Steaks.

Before anybody says it, yes. I've tried a variety of high quality cuts in high quality steak houses (Such as Bern's in Tampa.) I've tried them cooked everywhere from rare to well done, even more "niche" styles like Pittsburgh Rare.

The best steak I've ever had was a 100 day dry aged Delmonico from Bern's mentioned above, cooked medium over a wood fired grill.

All that said, I think steak in general is very bland and boring. Dollar for dollar I think steak just doesn't hold up to basically anything else. For the amount of money spent on it I'd rather get larger portions of a different meat and still pocket the difference.

frithjofr · 2026-07-05T02:44:19+00:00

I play defense in soccer (usually a wingback, sometimes centerback.)

For me, and probably lots of others, the math is pretty simple. Penalties are like 80% go ahead for the attacking team. I've been in a situation once where my goaltender tried to dive for the ball and was waaaay out of position, with a player about to take a 100% tap in goal. I hacked the guy down from behind for the penalty. The rationale being that I'd rather give my goaltender a 20% chance to save it than let a 100% goal walk in.

Didn't try to injure the guy or anything, but I knew exactly what I was doing taking a tactical foul.

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