Paarslaars

Dammit... silly mistake of our backup goalie... can't afford that against Spain. Bad way to get taken out of the tournemant but so be it, our boys did well and Spain is a great team.

I'll get drunk if Belgium wins tonight

Exactly. I still make dark jokes today, but it's usually while drinking with friends at a bar, not recorded in a facebook or whatsapp group.

Yeah this was in my country and kinda ridiculous... Don't get me wrong, some of those posts were quite vile: "man that bitch has a punchable face" or "you know the nazi also used to send the gays to camp too". But in the end no actions were committed, just a bunch of college guys with dark humor taking it a bit too far. Unfortunately this started during the whole woke era and they kinda made an example out of him because he was the 'head figure' of the fraternity.

France got past Morocco pretty smoothly, they sure are the team to beat in this world cup. Today we face off against Spain, probably the first match where we are the underdog. Going to be a difficult match, Spain has great possession and hasn't conceded a goal yet this tournament. If we can get ahead quickly I think we are in for a good match, if they get ahead I'm afraid we'll be struggling.

In Paris everything is getting locked and boarded for todays game. They know no matter who wins there will be riots

Yeah we are on the same page there, the only difference is my gut feeling tells me this still has some juice left. That said my gut feeling is basically 50/50 so don't mind me.

The question is, what is different than 3 months ago? They were trading at high levels back then too, did not stop them from doubling. I am sure there will come a moment prices and margins come down but I am not sure this will be within the next year.

Ah great game, totally worth not getting any sleep for! Spain is going to be difficult though...

Ready for it!

Hey we agree on that, I am glad he is playing, I just disapprove the way it happened. Should have just been yellow.

I can concede to this when I see it applied more frequently in the future, without political involvement. But I remain convinced if it was our player, there was no way we would be able to make FIFA make the same decision.

The VAR is ready

For those guys it was a specific rule that suspensions do not carry from qualifiers to tournament.. this is why nobody gave a rats ass about it. Just as nobody cares if he plays or not, people care because this is a fkn US president enforcing rule-breaking favors during a world cup. That is the reality because if FIFA actually wanted to make this decision they would have done this way earlier. Also everyone agrees it wasn't red but this is always yellow. Claiming it wasnt even a foul makes you lose any credibility as far as the game is concerned mate.

You think any other country, including the US, would act differently than Belgium in this situation?

Article 66.4 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code: A player sent off (direct or indirect red card) is automatically suspended for the team's next match. This is meant to be straightforward and non-discretionary for red cards. Article 10.5 of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Competition Regulations: Explicitly states that a red card results in automatic suspension for the subsequent match, with possible further sanctions. FIFA World Cup 2026 Circular No. 16: Reinforces the automatic one-match suspension following a red card. The core complaint is that FIFA used a general provision (Article 27) to override specific, automatic tournament rules designed for consistency and fairness. This is seen as unprecedented in this context, especially for a high-stakes World Cup knockout game, and potentially influenced by external factors (e.g., reports of U.S. presidential involvement). (AI copy paste)

I can link u several Belgian papers if you want to translate from Dutch or French. He is right, we are merely following official procedures for consistency in the rules. Not all of us have a direct phone line to the FIFA president...

Here is the thing, I strongly prefer he plays, would be so much sweeter beating their cheating asses that way. The problem is that only the US gets the exemption here... if that is how you really feel, eliminate the suspended match for all players that got a red card. That is integrity.

You're misunderstanding me. If Belgium would try to do the same, the US administration would lobby against it and win for sure. My point was simply, this would not be possible for any other team. This is uninformed, here is the difference: FIFA changed the rules before the tournament so that red cards from qualifying rounds do not carry over into the tournament. Ronaldo actually got 3 banned matched and served the first one in the qualifying rounds, the rest got suspended. All the others had their one banned match not carry over into the tournament. None of them got their immediate suspension revoked in the middle of a tournament except Balogun...

Ask yourself this question: if the roles were reversed, do you think Belgium would have gotten its main striker back? Or would the US actively try (and succeed) to prevent it? I think the world knows the answer to this and that is where the outrage comes from. Nobody thinks he shouldn't play, clearly wasn't a valid red card. But the way it happened stinks...

Let's make the world happy tonight!

So the FIFA dismissed Balogun's red card after pressure from the U.S... Didn't know the US was scared of a country literally 0.3% your size and 3.5% your population. That said his red car was very light so... bring it on! I'll be up at 2 am with friends watching in silence so we don't wake up the kids.

Solid football from Canada here, they are not letting Marocco play their game and seems like Marocco doesn't have a good answer yet. Here is where a coach needs to intervene.

Yeah these African teams are really showing up this year... respect.