US Soccer had no right of appeal. Red cards cannot be appealed at the World Cup. This was clearly a political gift to Trump.

Red cards at the World Cup cannot be appealed. There was never any appeal.

We’re watching the Americanisation of football in real time. If it happened to any other country, it would be an entirely uncontroversial red card. But I guess that’s soft now. If you wanna play a manly sport, you should expect to get away with smashing people’s ankles with your studs as long as...

I mean OK, if you want to take Infantino’s side and claim this is somehow a normal reversal, I’m not gonna stop you. That’s certainly a…take. I suppose even FIFA needs defenders. Personally, I’m a Belgian tomorrow. I’ll be cheering for them like it’s the Socceroos.

I can’t see any debates. He nearly snapped the guy’s ankle in half by landing on it with his studs. In what world is that not dangerous and/or reckless play? It’s such an easy red that I can’t believe there’s even any discussion. The subsequent corruption is just out of this world. They don’t...

What is wrong with you? It wasn’t unfair in any way. It was a clear red that would be given in any league with VAR in the world. And justice has been served??? This is as obvious a case of corruption as you can get. It’s outrageous.

He failed in Japan too. Good on him if he’s going well in Vietnam, but surely he has to be tested at a higher level than that before being considered for the Socceroos. Even a few years in the A League might do. Vietnam simply isn’t enough.

There is something wrong with Kewell. It seems he’s just not good enough as a head coach. He gets sacked after a couple of months wherever he goes. And apart from his extremely underwhelming stint in Japan, he’s only coached in League 2 and the conference (where he had no success at all). I...

Now you’re just being absurd. Why would you think this group was easier than the last one? I don’t agree with that at all. This was actually a pretty tough group in which we did well to finish second. Take out France, and we got quite lucky with our 22 group. Denmark and Tunisia both turned out...

I don’t mind domestic coaches as a policy. Unless you can get a Hidink or someone of that stature, it’s usually not even worth looking. Otherwise you end up with garbage like Verbeek, Holger or BVM. Might as well give the locals a go. It’s just a shame Popa isn’t much chop. We’ve had good luck...

It had to be Ange. No regrets at all about that one.

Round of 16 would be an easy birdie if not an eagle. This is a clear par (if not a birdie). Made it out of the group without too much fuss and didn’t even need to rely on the third place table. Exposed some talented youngsters to the pressure of the World Cup, which should stand them in good...

It was a par tournament. Could have been better, but it certainly could have been a lot worse. We made it out of the group in second place. Had a great win in the first game. Gave a number of young and promising players invaluable exposure. Those are achievements in themselves and shouldn’t be...

I don’t think this is actually a thing. I can’t find anything about it in any serious publications.

Japan will be the runaway favourites. If the last 2 are any indication, a petro state will probably win it. We’ll be out in the quarters or semis. …and it won’t matter. This world cup has exposed Asia as a mickey mouse confederation. The standard is so embarrassingly low that it will be hard to...

I don’t think Egypt is more talented at all. Most of their players play in their domestic league and Salah is past it. I also don’t think USA have a particularly great squad. They’re just playing at home and have a good coach. I certainly don’t think they are miles ahead of us as a team.

Start either Toure or Yengi at striker, Irankunda on the wing. It’s really not that hard. It worked against Turkey yet was immediately abandoned for some odd reason. Irankunda as the target man is absurd.

It’s so hard to care about the world cup now. That game has sucked all the joy out of it. I just watched Cape Verde score and felt nothing.

Is this for real? If they fielded an ineligible player, can the result be overturned?

I strongly disagree that Egypt and Paraguay are better teams than us. USA is debatable, but I certainly don’t think the gap is as big as it looked in that first half. They just got lucky we had Popa as coach. We won the Japan game.

Trewin was pretty bad. So slow and ponderous. Killed all impetus whenever he got near the ball.

Yeah the Souttar one killed us. By the time it got to Herrington, it was pretty much over.

Those are hard. The keeper needs to be very brave not to dive.

The one with Japan was a splendid result. That was one game well suited to Popa’s style. Japan is clearly too good for us to go toe to toe with. Egypt, Paraguay and USA really shouldn’t be.

Tbf I don’t think Beach would have saved any either. They were all solid, well-taken penalties.

We’ve had a few bad ones. Verbeek was shocking and wasted the end of the golden generation. Van Marwijk was abysmal and I actually think even worse than Popa, but he at least had the decency to fuck off straight after the World Cup. Popa’s really bad though. He’s exactly the opposite of what...

The order was weird and the keeper switch even more so, but shootouts are a lottery at the best of times. We just got unlucky today. What pisses me off is that we barely threw a punch in the preceding 120 minutes. It was a massive opportunity to win a knockout game. Egypt is shit. We couldn’t...

Useless. Shocking game. I wish Popovic would resign

Fucking hell

I might feel more sympathetic towards the Americans if they showed even a tiny bit of humility. But no, they win a couple of games at home against moderate opposition and immediately it’s all arrogance and hubris. And I’m supposed to feel sorry for them because their forward got a red card for...

Messi is a unique case. FIFA can’t allow their golden goose to be suspended at his last World Cup. He gets special dispensation.

So it wasn’t a red because the ref didn’t see it? That’s what VAR is for.

The Qatar guy obviously didn’t mean to break Kone’s leg. Does that mean it shouldn’t have been a red?

Messi definitely should have been a red and this one was worse. He raked his studs on the player’s leg before landing full force on his ankle. It’s crazy there’s any discussion about it. That was as dangerous as it gets. You can’t allow leg-breaking contact like that. It’s insane.

There doesn’t have to be intent. It just needs to be reckless and dangerous, and Balogun’s action was both. It’s a red every day of the week.

The red card was as stonewall as it gets. I really can’t believe there’s any controversy about it. I thought it was just the idiot Americans questioning it. There’s not even a hint of doubt about it. Are you saying it’s ok to break people’s ankles as long as you didn’t really mean it?

It was as clear a red as you could ever see. He nearly snapped the guy’s ankle in half with his studs. Since when is that kind of contact not reckless and dangerous?