Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on July 08, 2026, 12:34:17 AMA lot of truth here -

https://x.com/TheSammahmood_/status/2074434672201785728?s=20

This is it. So sick of hearing about "pAy tO pLaY".  Of course, there are issues with that. But this is as much cultural as it is structural. Jurgen Klinsmann has pointed this out numerous times, as he is obviously a product of the European system as well as a witness to how things work here since he's lived here since the late 90s. Until there's a change in the cultural mentality of a significant portion of America not a lot will change. You will have to convince the parents in this country that think the most important thing they can do for their kids is to send them to the best college possible should change their focus and instead send their kids to a professional academy and completely forgo the idea of college. That is a major, major breaking of the social psyche of a huge portion of the country's population. And that is also contingent upon players at a young age having the hunger for soccer like kids do for basketball and football.

This is why I absolutely HATE all the changes to college soccer that are currently going on. Coaches are trying to act like college is the premier league. College soccer is an extremely unique and niche thing only seen in America. It is not where we develop pro talent. It is for players who simply want to play a few more years while getting an education. We should not be altering the sport to accommodate the egos of coaches who delusionally think they're all a bunch of Pep Guardiolas.

At a SLU game a few years back I sat next to the coaches of a New England Prep school program and listened to one of the new members of their staff complain about college soccer rules like unlimited substitutions being a reason why the US national team hasn't become elite. This is the kind of brain rot and misplaced attitudes toward US soccer structure that continues to make the soccer intelligentsia in this country make wrong decisions. 

Personally, I think that the main way is to keep creating MLS academies as a way to get young players scouted and bought by European team. Mathis Albert being the most recent example. Scouted by Dortmund in the Galaxy youth system and then bought and transferred over to their youth program at a critical age window for development. But that is still a somewhat rare thing happening for American players. For every 1 Mathis Albert there are 9 kids whose parents would rather light themselves on fire than be told their kid cannot go to college at 18-22 years old if he wants to pursue soccer seriously.

Netherlands and Germany didn't make it further than the round of 32. Brazil and Portugal got as far as the round of 16. All were considered World Cup contenders. Can say it was a disappointing finish last night since it was, but you'd think we finished in last place going off some of reactions.

Quote from: Ejay on July 06, 2026, 04:32:47 PMI was coaching a u12 team in a tournament several years ago and my player scored a goal after the ball had clearly crossed the end line but went unnoticed by the ref.  We'd always taught our kids to "play until you hear the whistle" so that's what my player did. But I saw it go out, the opposing coach saw it go out (and lost his **** when play continued), the parents saw it go out (and lost their **** when play continued), and the defense saw it go out (and stopped defending). 

I couldn't in good conscience accept this as a good goal and told the ref I agreed with the opposing coach and defense and that it should be a goal kick instead of a goal. He agreed to waive the goal off. My goal scorer burst into tears (sigh).

I don't expect the USA to sit Balogun, but I would love if they did and publicly announced it was because they had integrity and respected the game.

Did that game have VAR where the original call was no goal and then said it was a goal after review? Because if not then it's not analogous.

If the officials had integrity he would have never been carded in the first place. You don't get points for ceding the faux moral high ground.

This is partly why it's been hard for the sport to take off in the more mainstream in this country. Process over outcome is still the obsession. All because a lot of people want to be pat on the head from someone 3000 miles away.

Quote from: jknezek on July 06, 2026, 03:20:52 PM

Quote from: stlawus on July 06, 2026, 03:02:08 PM" This decision changes all of that. Belgium, and 90% of the world, is going to want to beat the "cheaters." 

As if that wasn't already the case, come on. Nobody besides Americans have wanted us to win, and that's always been the situation, especially this World Cup.

Again, its not about that. It's about a Belgium team that had every reason to look past this game, at least a bit, and now doesn't. You may not believe in that, but a lot of people do. It happens in every sport, every time. This was a quintessential trap game for Belgium. Now it's a lot less of one in my opinion.

Same thing was said about Australia.  All we heard for 6 months was noise about them having "extra motivation".  It's the world cup knockout round, everyone is motivated.  And all the outside noise about external motivational factors goes away the second the ball is kicked off and the game starts.   

" This decision changes all of that. Belgium, and 90% of the world, is going to want to beat the "cheaters." 

As if that wasn't already the case, come on. Nobody besides Americans have wanted us to win, and that's always been the situation, especially this World Cup.

Doesn't even have to do with the card itself, it was the improper use of VAR.  Immediately after the call was made you saw tons of former refs and officials say that it was the wrong call because they incorrectly applied VAR.  Even Clattenburg himself said as much on the broadcast.  The game lost integrity by the ref incorrectly using VAR so I don't see why the ref should be supported when he didn't abide by the rules in the first place.

If Belgium couldn't even be motivated to play a world cup knockout game before this then yikes.

Going to lose my mind, yet ANOTHER mid November game between Clarkson and SLU.  Who on earth is making these decisions?  Never mind the fact it's a league game played on November 14th which is ridiculous in itself, the rivalry series between these teams for decades was always played in December at the earliest.  And yet another season where SLU and Clarkson are the only teams to play 6 consecutive road games.

SLU

Swaps out Middlebury for Oneonta. First time playing Oneonta at home since 2011. 

The coach has a lot of work ahead of him in terms of getting back alumni support. 

Cortland

Replaces Manhattanville and Rowan with Clarkson and Hobart.

Should have stayed at Hobart. Left because he didn't think the LL could get at large bids, the very next season all of his players under Thompson get an at large bid and reach the sweet 16 before covid ended the season, and then doesn't make the tournament once at Conn. Grass is not always greener.

Pretty ambitious schedule for Vassar with F&M, Hop, Cortland, Messiah and Montclair. https://www.vassarathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

So Amherst finally ends up with a center from Ukraine after all

Clarkson is finally upgrading their turf.  Long overdue.

LL championship will be RPI, RIT, Hobart and SLU. I believe RPI will be hosting due to the better league record.

Not only does SLU make the playoffs for the first time since 2013, their best of 3 sweep at Union gives them their first playoff wins since 2011.

Shay John To Buffalo