Fifa World Cup 2026

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#3508899 6-Jul-2026 08:57

And in completely unsurprising news from the most corrupt nation on earth, hosting a WC:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/donald-trump-balogun-ban-fifa-37390667

Donald Trump thanks FIFA for correcting 'great injustice' at World Cup after USA ban

Donald Trump has sent a personal thank you to FIFA ahead of USA's round of 16 clash with Belgium, citing how a 'great injustice' has been reversed by world football

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#3508935 6-Jul-2026 11:29

The shocks keep on rolling in!
Norway through to the quarterfinals at the expense of Brazil.

Norway won, despite the ref trying to even things up by awarding Brazil a (far too) late penalty for a non-issue in the Norway box.

It seems that the Brazilian team simply didn't have the right game plan today - Norway took it to them and they didn't really have the answer that everyone would have expected them to have.

Great to see the Viking Row on display again and they'll get to do it again, win or lose when they finish their next game against either Mexico or England.

The one thing I have noticed about this Norway team, is that they truly seem to be enjoying this tournament - lots of smiles, camaraderie, teamwork and team spirit. It's great to see. And of course their fans are thoroughly enjoying their time there!

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#3508997 6-Jul-2026 15:16

And England are through!!

That was a game for the ages.
Absolutely brilliant.

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huckster

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#3509007 6-Jul-2026 15:36

Handsomedan:

And England are through!!

That was a game for the ages.
Absolutely brilliant.

That has wrecked my nerves.

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#3509019 6-Jul-2026 16:54

huckster:

Handsomedan:

And England are through!!

That was a game for the ages.
Absolutely brilliant.

That has wrecked my nerves.

Bellingham was immense.
I wasn't a fan until this tournament, but I am all aboard the Jude Express!
He's not only a quality player, but appears to be a fairly decent human on field as well. Don't really know anything about his off field persona, so can't comment on that.

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#3509025 6-Jul-2026 18:05

Handsomedan:

And in completely unsurprising news from the most corrupt nation on earth, hosting a WC:

Thats a big call considering the furore around Qatar hosting the WC previously.

But not surprising from you. Try not to let your TDS interfere.

It says more about how corrupt FIFA is than anything else. They could have just said “No, the sanction stands.”

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

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#3509041 6-Jul-2026 23:30

Dingbatt:

Handsomedan:

And in completely unsurprising news from the most corrupt nation on earth, hosting a WC:

Thats a big call considering the furore around Qatar hosting the WC previously.

But not surprising from you. Try not to let your TDS interfere.

It says more about how corrupt FIFA is than anything else. They could have just said “No, the sanction stands.”

I agree, FIFA corruption is the issue. Similar dodgy decisions regarding yellow/red cards have involved Cristiano Ronaldo, Moises Caiceido and Nicolas Otamendi. Orange man bad is not necessarily the issue here. Plus Zlatan, Thierry and even Rio Ferdinand all said Flo Balogun’s red card was rubbish and should never have been awarded in the first place

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#3509063 7-Jul-2026 08:55

So, further to the debacle surrounding the USA player being given a free pass:

https://www.rbfa.be/en/news/update-rbfa-statement-regarding-folarin-balogun

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) is astonished by FIFA's decision to declare suspended United States player Folarin Balogun eligible to play in the USA–Belgium match on Monday, 6 July at 5:00 p.m. (Seattle time).

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) has received the decision of the FIFA Appeal Committee, signed by its member Mr Salman Al-Ansari, which declares the RBFA's case inadmissible and confirms the earlier decision allowing United States player Folarin Balogun to play.

To date, the RBFA has still not received any grounds for this decision, nor has it received the information it has been requesting since the start of this procedure id est a copy of the decision and the motivation declaring the player eligible as well as the referee's report. Which is a breach of FIFA regulations.

The RBFA has informed the United States Soccer Federation that it contests the eligibility of the player, should the player be listed on the referee's team sheet.
This leaves all further actions open.

Following its previous statement, the RBFA wishes to publicly explain the events of the past few hours.

After learning through media reports of FIFA’s decision to lift the automatic suspension of player Balogun, the RBFA sent a letter to FIFA requesting a copy of the decision, an explanation of the process that had been followed, and setting out its position regarding the applicable regulations.

As its only response, FIFA sent a letter to the RBFA stating that it considered this correspondence to constitute an appeal, that a judge had been appointed, and that the RBFA had only a few hours to complete that appeal. No information whatsoever was provided by FIFA.

For an appeal to be admissible, FIFA’s own regulations state that the reasoned decision must first have been communicated to the appellant. While the RBFA was merely seeking legitimate explanations, FIFA itself created an appeal and immediately ensured that it would be declared inadmissible.

All of this occurred while FIFA simultaneously refused to respond to the RBFA’s legitimate requests.

Furthermore, during the match coordination meeting, FIFA deliberately removed the section concerning the automatic suspension of players from its presentation. This topic had nonetheless been part of all such meetings before each of the previous four matches. The RBFA questioned FIFA, both orally and in writing, about the reasons for this change, yet once again received no response.

To be clear, as of this moment, the RBFA has still not received any decision or any explanation from FIFA regarding this matter. It therefore has no alternative but to challenge the player's eligibility for the upcoming match.

Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole.

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#3509066 7-Jul-2026 08:58

But on the pitch - some beautiful football being played and some absolutely brilliant atmospheres being created.
One thing you can say about the US stadia - they are large and atmospheric - they've done a great job converting them to football-ready venues and the crowds have been awesome.

Looking forward to another week or so of quality football.

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#3509090 7-Jul-2026 09:42

Dingbatt:

Thats a big call considering the furore around Qatar hosting the WC previously.

But not surprising from you. Try not to let your TDS interfere.

It says more about how corrupt FIFA is than anything else. They could have just said “No, the sanction stands.”

You could have replied without the personal attack. Accusing someone of TDS, not cool.

A world that has gone totally insane.

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#3509098 7-Jul-2026 10:00

Fun fact. NZHerald are totally silent on the Trump FIFA story. Suppressing news that doesn't align with political leaning?

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#3509105 7-Jul-2026 10:38

dafman:

Fun fact. NZHerald are totally silent on the Trump FIFA story. Suppressing news that doesn't align with political leaning?

Apart from this piece that is.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/football/football-world-cup/fifa-world-cup-donald-trump-confirms-he-asked-fifa-boss-gianni-infantino-for-review-of-balogun-red-card/SQPKWDDFCJHWRMK5EYBBDTERN4/

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#3509112 7-Jul-2026 10:58

@Dingbatt:

But not surprising from you. Try not to let your TDS interfere.

The personal attack is uncalled for. I am blocking this account from this discussion.

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#3509114 7-Jul-2026 11:03

axxaa:

dafman:

Fun fact. NZHerald are totally silent on the Trump FIFA story. Suppressing news that doesn't align with political leaning?

Apart from this piece that is.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/football/football-world-cup/fifa-world-cup-donald-trump-confirms-he-asked-fifa-boss-gianni-infantino-for-review-of-balogun-red-card/SQPKWDDFCJHWRMK5EYBBDTERN4/

I stand corrected. If you scroll down past Top Stories, World, Just in, Best of premium, New Zealand, World, Puzzles & quizzes, Podcasts, Business and finally land on Sport it is the 4th story.

It's the lead story on BBC and towards the top selection of most other news outlets.

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#3509161 7-Jul-2026 14:10

Speaking of lead stories...great result for the world today as Belgium beat tyranny and Infantino.

To be fair, the US team did exceptionally well to get to this point in the manner they have - they've been pretty entertaining.

The Belgium team are just another level - imagine having a bench that includes Lukaku, Doku and De Bruyne in a must-win knockout against the hosts!!

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