Tag: Fifa

In Response to the Ridiculous Bashing of the US Women’s National Soccer Team

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There are those out there who are going to roll their eyes hard after reading the headline or think this is just another article trying to pander to certain groups and capitalize upon the success of recent social movements. I can’t stop you from feeling that way, and I’m also not going to sit here and pretend to be the world’s biggest soccer fan. I am certainly not.

But it still doesn’t change the fact that the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team should unquestionably be considered as one of the most important and iconic teams in the history of American sports. (No, but really though. I’m not exaggerating in the slightest.) Yet, for some reason, while many are indeed celebrating the team’s epic World Cup run this year, there are those out there who have gone out their way to vilify and criticize the players for various reasons which are just becoming absolutely absurd. And to be honest, I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut anymore.

It all started after their 13-0 SHALACKING of Thailand back during group play on June 11. I think everyone already knew the U.S. was going to blow through the opening stage, but nobody was expecting such a devastating evisceration on a global stage against a team that, while certainly nowhere near as talented as the U.S., was still playing in the freaking World Cup! At least show up!

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That had to hurt, but come on!

As if all the “running up the score” chatter after the game wasn’t bad enough, the team was more so criticized for being too “arrogant” and “celebrating too much” after each goal. After all, that “poor Thailand team” didn’t need to continually be “taunted” and the U.S. women should have shown “more respect.”

Couple things: 1) They weren’t outright targeting or taunting the opposing players during their celebration. They were simply enjoying the moment with their teammates; 2) The World Cup is something that comes around every four years, but it is something that these women train for each and every day of their lives. Do you know how hard it is to score a goal in soccer, no less during what is the biggest sports tournament in the entire world? I’d celebrate every damn one of my goals, too!; 3) There is nothing – NOTHING – in professional sports that annoys more than the “running up the score” complaint. Again, the point of soccer is to score goals and stop the other team from doing the same; if you are a team of world-class athletes, going against another team of world-class athletes, that entire argument goes out the window. If you can’t stop them, that’s on you. Do better next time. That simple.

The team then went on to beat Chile and Sweden before the single-elimination Round of 16 began, only to follow that up by beating each of Spain, France, and England by the exact same score of 2-1. They now have the chance to try and win it all this upcoming Sunday.

Before yesterday’s match with England, however – after playing four whole games since beating Thailand – the British media still made sure to point out how “arrogant” (apparently this is the buzz word everyone is using) the U.S. team was with B.S. like this:

Just absolutely pathetic. Again, the players got their vengeance by ultimately winning the game, and at least the English players were very humble and accepting of their defeat, choosing to blame themselves afterward instead of an incredibly talented opponent who did absolutely nothing wrong.

BUT WAIT, MATTES! What about this little gesture from Alex Morgan after scoring what was ultimately the game-winning goal??!! See, what a cocky A-hole! SO UNNECESSARY!

I mean, look! She’s even upset Piers Morgan!!!

First of all, don’t even get me started on Piers Morgan. Secondly, this won the game and it was hardly anything worse than a little ribbing of our friends across the pond. At least she wasn’t hoping for “cocky yanks” to “choke on it.” Also, it was her birthday, she had just punched her team’s ticket to the championship game, and she was feelin’ herself a bit. OH THE HUMANITY!

Look, I can understand the flak coming from other countries; it’s all a part of the fun. Also, I don’t think the whole “ignorant, arrogant American” sentiment is being attributed solely to U.S. women’s soccer players. (NEWS FLASH: This is how we are viewed by much of the world anyway, average citizens included.)

But again, what bothers me most is the constant backlash they’ve been receiving from those in this country and the incredibly unfair double-standard they have been subjected to. If this was the U.S. men’s team, would we be getting on those guys for celebrating or showing emotion on the field? Nope. It would just be a part of the game, and nobody would think twice about the completely non-essential screaming and shirt-removing that occurs after almost every score.

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But this is OK, right??

And above all, how about Megan Rapinoe, one of the USWNT’s greatest all-time players and a true hero for those in the LGBTQ community, being ostracized just for speaking her mind? She is getting ripped to shreds for simply stating that she would not go to the White House (while also saying the “F” word!!!) – which is actually something she said months ago – and continually clapping back at Donald Trump on a variety of issues. The rest of her teammates have done nothing but simply support her, with most not really adding much more commentary other than the fact they believe in what shes doing. As a result, they’re being called “unpatriotic” and are being shunned entirely by a lot of people, many of whom I know personally. In fact, I saw one friend who said they would go so far as to root against them, solely because of Rapinoe’s comments. Just wow.

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The fact is that these are a bunch of ladies who are damn proud of who they are in every way, and they’re not afraid to show it. Good on Rapinoe for standing up for those who are still fighting for their rights in this country. Or how about the law suit they filed against the U.S. Soccer Federation in March due to the ridiculously unfair pay they receive as compared to the men’s team, who cannot even hold an effing candle to the success that the women’s team has achieved over the years? But still, the men make millions upon millions more for literally zero reason. This was the first time anyone had ever dared to challenge something which most had just decided to accept for far too long. This team will not take anything lying down, on the pitch or off.

And worst of all, the surrounding commentary is taking attention away from their actual play on the field, which has been astounding. Again, I’m not using hyperbole here; this is one of the best teams I’ve ever watched play, in any sport. OH, and they’re also the defending champs. How about we talk about that??!!

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I know, Alex. Seriously!

So if you’re one of those who simply has no interest in the sport and couldn’t care less about what this team does on Sunday, that’s fine! I totally understand that. But if you’re going to try and paint these women as anything other than true American heroes after everything they’ve accomplished – and are still trying to accomplish on so many levels – then you are just plain ignorant.

You don’t have to like some of Rapinoe’s comments, or perhaps even some their “celebrations.” But stop making them out to be bad people. That’s just not right. If anything, there might not be any better group of role models for young girls in this country, both in terms of how to be as a person and as a great soccer player.

OK, I think I’ve made my point, and I’ll end my rant now. All I know is that I, for one, will be rooting hard for them to take home the gold this weekend, and I know many others out there will be right there with me. Happy Fourth to one and all, and here’s to hoping our ladies continue to make our country proud.

With the USA Out, What Team Should You Root for in the World Cup?

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With the United States Mens National Team missing the cut after failing to qualify for the World Cup, I am a free agent in terms of rooting interest. Lets find us a team shall we?

You don’t necessarily want to ride the coattails of the favorite, but you gotta have a team that actually has a shot at going deep because if you pick Tunisia and they’re out in group play well then you’re back to square one.

Since the last year I bought FIFA was like 2010, I’m a bit dated in my knowledge. Wayne Rooney is on the verge of joining MLS so he’s clearly not playing for Team England. I just learned Schweinsteiger is out on Team Germany. I need to catch up quick.

Rooting for Brazil is like rooting for the Yankees. They have the most talented team in the world just about every year. Plus they have absolutely massive amounts of Team Brazil shit every time I walk into the Marshalls in Watertown. But Neymar though…

Neymar is back and healthy after having his previous World Cup run cut short by what looked like an incredibly painful back injury. Brazil is always fun as all hell to watch though as they just breed soccer players down there.

Russia is apparently instructing its citizens to not have sex with foreigners so they’re out. Its like the Olympic Village except the World Cup is twice as long. If you can’t have some fun with someone who doesn’t even speak the same language then why even go?

Portugal and Argentina are always great to watch with the 2 greatest players in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi leading the way for each squad. Plus this might be the last World Cup for each of them so you could ride off into the sunset with one of those studs if you like that vibe.

If you want to join forces with the country that is voted the Happiest Country in the World just about every year then Denmark is your team. Christian Eriksen is pretty goddamn good at soccer too. The Ringer described him:

“Eriksen’s carrying tool is that ineffable ability to just make the ball do what he wants—stick to him in possession, curve gently to a teammate’s foot or the corner of the net in attack. In Denmark’s last competitive game, Eriksen scored three sublime goals against Ireland to secure qualification.”

If you’re like me and follow the English Premier League like an absolute savage, and by that I mean watching games when you’re hungover on the couch or when you’re out for Hooligan Saturdays drinking a Guinness at 9 am in Cambridge, then the name Eden Hazard is familiar to you. Hazard plays for Chelsea in the EPL, which is the only team I moderately follow, so this is a solid candidate for my team as he leads Belgium into the World Cup.

Egypt is a pretty good choice if you’re looking for an up and coming dark horse as they’re in the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. They’re also led by a dude named Mo Salah who Vox said “took the soccer world by storm in 2017 and seemingly came out of nowhere to become one of the planet’s best players.”

If you want to be a bully and root for the champ then Germany is your team as they’re looking to repeat after winning the World Cup in 2014. Oh and Thomas Müller is a beast with 10 goals in the World Cup including 5  last time around to help Germany take the title.

Just a fan of general, all around assholes? Then you should go with Luis Suarez and Uruguay. He’s the guy that literally bites opposing players on the field and is a bit of a racist.

Are you a degenerate gambler looking to play the odds? Well Brazil is the favorite at 7-2, followed by defending champion Germany at 4-1, and then France is at 6-1. If you want to just burn your money, the biggest long shots are Saudi Arabia (they lost 5-0 to Russia today), Iran, and Panama at +4,000!

So there’s your breakdown of who to watch at the World Cup and some insights if you’re looking for a new team sans the USMNT. As for me? I’m going with Belgium. They’re a healthy -140 and feature by guy Eden Hazard. Lock it up.

Who should I root for? Who are you rooting for? Tweet us @the300sboston to state your case as we all pretend to be soccer hooligans for the next month.

United States Wins Bid to Host the 2026 World Cup

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Yahoo – For the first time in 32 years, the men’s World Cup is coming back to North America. FIFA’s 200-plus member associations gathered in Moscow on Wednesday and voted to award 2026 World Cup hosting rights to the United States, Canada and Mexico. The North American bid – the product of over a decade of planning and campaigning – beat out one rival bid, Morocco’s, by a vote of 134 to 65.

The World Cup is coming back to the United States! Well, not this year because they failed to actually qualify for the tournament this time around. But in 2026 the World Cup will be here! Technically its the United States, Canada, and Mexico splitting hosting duties, but the good old USA will get 60 of the 80 games with our neighbors to the north and south getting 10 each.

The United States is a huge country so now the question is where exactly will these games be played? With just about every major city having a professional team from some sport, there are plenty of stadiums and arenas to choose from.

“The U.S. must cut a list of 17 cities down to 10 over the coming years. It has proposed the Rose Bowl (Pasadena, Calif.) for the opener; Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta) and AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Tex.) for semifinals; and MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, N.J.) for the final.”

The final game that decides the World Cup might be played at MetLife Stadium? That sounds like an AWFUL idea. Have you ever been to MetLife Stadium? I know its right next to NYC, but it is an absolute nightmare to get in and out of by public transportation. Unless your taking a bus or just driving yourself, forget it. Do people not remember the mayhem the Super Bowl caused at MetLife?

Fans were literally waiting in line for hours just to *leave* because theres one goddamn train in and out of the place. So sure lets host the final game of the WORLD CUP there, that should go well.

Also in the running to host a game is Gillette Stadium, which I would love, but I can’t honestly campaign for it after just eviscerating MetLife’s transportation setup. Gillette is worse and it takes literally 2 hours to get from your parking spot back to I-95 so that wouldn’t be ideal. And thats after a Patriots game. I can only imagine the hell that would be World Cup traffic. I would honestly recommend looking into Foxborough real estate and buying a house today, rather than sit in that traffic 8 years from now.

The biggest soccer tournament in the world has been in Qatar, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and Germany over the last dozen years. So obviously its a prime opportunity to travel to an exotic location for some new experiences while watching the best players in the world. I would love to cross going to a World Cup game off my bucket list, but getting to do so less than an hour from the comfort of my own home is the most Ugly American thing I’ve ever heard of and I look forward to it.

Want to know the best perk of all for hosting the World Cup?

“The successful bid also means that the U.S., Canada and Mexico will qualify automatically for the tournament.”

Perfect! As we all know the US failed to qualify for the World Cup this year so its a great solution to a potential problem in 8 years.

When the U.S. Mens National Team still sucks and fails to qualify again, then we’ll just automatically be given a spot, which really is the American way of life.

This was not an easy process though, hence why its been 30+ years since we last hosted the World Cup.

“The U.S. partnered with its North American neighbors to launch a revamped bid, and convinced FIFA to fast-track the process. Morocco jumped in on the eve of the deadline to give the heavily favored United Bid competition.

And over the past 12 months, to varying degrees, the North African nation seemed like a real threat to a North American World Cup. Rampant anti-American sentiment around the world, both inside and outside soccer circles, cooked up worry.”

It sounds like despite Making America Great Again, Donnie Jr. nearly fucked this whole thing up for all of us. The U.S. Soccer Federation had to shake hands and kiss babies until the 11th hour just to beat out MOROCCO.

Now hopefully the U.S. is smart enough to avoid the financial pitfall that massive events like this and the Olympics seem to cause. There are countless stories of unfinished stadiums and huge sums of debt incurred by the host countries, but I think a lot of that stems from simply not having the infrastructure in place to begin with. The U.S. is loaded with gigantic, shiny, brand new stadiums around the country just dying to be put to use. So we won’t have to sink big money into building arenas for the sole purpose of a soccer tournament that lasts a month.

This news is a reminder that the World Cup kicks off tomorrow, which is awesome, but its a sad reminder that the U.S. won’t be a part of it. Its a lot easier to be an alcoholic during the Olympics and the World Cup because nobody bats an eye when you’ve had your third beer before noon if Team USA is playing. But being hungover after lunch because you went out for the Russia – Saudia Arabia game doesn’t really fly with upper management.

FIFA 2018’s Worst Rated Soccer Player Isn’t Actually a Soccer Player

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Kotaku – The lowest possible rating a FIFA 18 player can have is 46, and there are ten players plumbing these depths. Nine of them, like Grimsby Town’s Max Wright and Scunthorpe United’s Leslie Sackey, are professional athletes. The tenth is a former youth goalkeeper roped in to get around an administrative loophole. Tommy Käßemodel, listed in the game as a player for the German club FC Erzgebirge Aue, has a defensive rating of 36, while his pace is a comedic 23. For reference, most players in the game find their ratings nestled somewhere between 60-90. Those would be mortifying stats for someone paid to play football, but the weird thing here is that Käßemodel isn’t paid to play football: he’s Erzgebirge’s kit man , the guy responsible for looking after everyone’s shirts and shorts.

I guess this bottom of the barrel rating would sting if you actually, ya know, played soccer. But as the “kit man?” Well thats just gravy man.  Do you think Lionel Messi cares what rating they give him for his ability to file taxes properly? Come on, this guy’s job is to make sure the team walks out wearing the right shorts with their jerseys. The guy is probably stoked to even be in a video game.

I remember my borderline D-1 college was in the NCAA Basketball video game back before the NCAA basically cancelled all their games because nameless athletes got sick of selling video games without seeing any cash themselves. And let me tell you, these kids that were all destined to either sell insurance or maybe play in Italy were STOKED to be in a video game. No one gave a shit they had a 42 rating. Nobody was ever gonna cut down the virtual nets with this team, but it did make for some entertaining drunk video game betting on games with final scores of 32-38.

Although EA probably fucked ya boy Tommy on this one, exposing the loophole that had him likely collecting a second paycheck as a rostered player, despite not actually being a player. Woops.

United States Failing to Qualify for the 2018 World Cup is Downright Embarrassing

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CBS Sports – The U.S. men’s national team will only be spectators during the 2018 World Cup in Russia. That’s because the USMNT lost 2-1 at Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday night in the final match of the hexagonal group stage. The loss, plus a winning goal from Panama in the dying seconds against Costa Rica gave the Panamanians the third and final direct spot in the group, eliminating Bruce Arena’s squad. Honduras defeated Mexico to earn the fourth spot. 

For the first time since 1986 the United States won’t be playing in the World Cup. The USMNT failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup is downright embarrassing. The worst part? A goddamn DRAW against Trinidad and Tobago and they qualify, which was apparently too much to ask.

Just a quick side note, as of a September ranking by a little organization known as FIFA, the USA men’s team was ranked 28th in the world. Wanna guess what Trinidad and Tobago was? Come on, guess. Well, they came in at just under triple digits at No. 99.

A few spots behind Sierra Leone; a country made famous by Leo Dicaprio and Kanye West for fucking blood diamonds.

After a 2014 World Cup run that got people excited and legitimately asking if the US could finagle a Top-8 finish in 2018 and play with the big boys. Welp, a loss to motherfucking Trinidad and Tobago may have just killed an entire generation of young, budding soccer fans. Just to put this into perspective, the earliest the United States can make the World Cup next, I will be in my mid 30s.

People forget that qualifying for the World Cup isn’t exactly a foregone conclusion for the US, even if it should be. Well all that goodwill, excitement, and momentum that American soccer had built up over the last 7 years is gone. And they won’t even have a chance to redeem themselves for another 5 years. And who’s to say they’ll be any better?

American soccer has struggled to ever get a real foothold in the international scene. 2014 was one of the most exciting World Cup runs ever as the USMNT got to the round of 16 and were eliminated, but in absolutely thrilling fashion, which only got people that much more excited for 2018. Seriously, if you’re even half a soccer fan, read this quick recap of that final game and remember the good times. I know where I was. I was slugging beers at Clarke’s while the sun was still up like a goddamn soccer hooligan.

“The U.S. drew Belgium in the round of 16. After spending much of the match defending against Belgium’s potent attack, with goalkeeper Tim Howard setting a World Cup finals record for saves in a match, the U.S. survived with a 0–0 score after 90 minutes, sending the match to extra time. After quickly falling behind 2–0 to Belgium in extra time, the U.S. cut the deficit in half in the 107th minute when substitute Julian Green volleyed in a lobbed through ball from Michael Bradley, but were unable to score a second and were eliminated.”

Anddd now we’re back to square one. I don’t think anyone is more bullshit than our boy and former Revs player Taylor Twellman though. TAKE EM TO THE WOODSHED, TAYLOR.

At least we got this A+ quote Jozy Altidore to put it all into perspective:

“If you don’t look at yourself after this individually, then you’re fucked up in the head,” Altidore said.