DandA

Going down after contact and "embellishing" the contact to get a call is one thing. We see it every single game in the NBA and NFL. Acting like they just took a bullet from the grassy knoll is another.

Keep booking for simulation and if a player is writhing around on the ground for a set amount of time, say 10-20 seconds, consider them to be actually hurt and the trainers are required to come treat them and get them off the field. Once off the field, they are out for 3 minutes from the second they are outside of the lines. Put a timer on their return just like the NHL has on their power plays. There's not much that would realistically prevent this from happening unless the consequences are much more extreme than they are now. I don't want the use of VAR in-game to get out of control, so if a scenario that isn't reviewable happens and it is clearly shown that a player was not touched and still tried to simulate contact and injury, fine the frick out of them after the fact. I'm talking a big fine like half of their weekly pay. For some players that would be $150k and up.

I hope that what happened last night would be a huge wakeup call to players that want to play like that. Keep on with the fake pain, but don't cry when you get caught. Even if he was "bracing for contact" like Landon said during the game, you don't roll around on the field acting like your shin was snapped in half when you weren't touched. That is the part that was deserving of a 2nd yellow.

Wow. What a strike. Can't be mad at that one.

The physical distances between teams and travel also play a role in how a promotion/relegation system would work here. The entire UK is roughly the size of Michigan. The largest country in Western Europe, France, is a little smaller than Texas. To make any true promotion/relegation system more feasible, we would probably have to regionalize lower tiers and keep the top league as the nationwide league.

If we had a fair and honest media that wouldn't spew propaganda or provide cover for politicians on either side, but rather expose their corruption, we would be in a much better position.

The path to real success is getting our youth out of MLS academies and to European club academies. The younger the better. Kids in Europe grow up in the soccer culture. Our kids grow up in the baseball, basketball, NFL culture. Mens soccer has made HUGE strides in the US over the past 30 years, but we are still behind where we need to be to consistently compete. Our men will probably have to win a WC before we make the strides to get us where we should be long-term. Just like what that women's team with Chastain and Hamm did for our women's program.

I'd say give our military families serving abroad in Europe an extra incentive to get their kids involved in club academies while living over there. I would absolutely not be opposed to having a few more Dest's or Tillman's in our squad.

That's rich coming from the team that needed the softest penalty call I've ever seen, from VAR, to advance. Let the Belgian tears flow

HOLY frick WE ARE SO BACK

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That was shameful officiating.

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That's putting it lightly. The fact that Paraguay didnt get a single card is a travesty.

To go from the extremely unnecessary red for Balo from a ref that was involved in a match fixing investigation to that match in a matter of days really puts a bad stain on what has been a fairly good officiated WC so far. FIFA really needs to take a hard look at who they are trusting to officiate some of the most important games of the biggest sporting event in the world.

Before the WC, I felt that with the expanded field and extra knockout round that just making the Quarters would be a success for this team. Whether we got blown out or not.

However, after seeing how this team is capable of playing, and how the bracket has panned out, making the Semis is now my goal.

frick FIFA. We will keep this train going regardless of their bullshite. What I'd like to see is the American sports media to have a backbone along with some national pride and BLAST the image or video of Messi doing the same exact thing, but not receiving any kind of card. Show them that we see the hypocrisy clearly. Ohh, and ban the FIFA president from attending any more US games as long as we are still alive in the tourney.

I fricking love this team.