NYT: Don't Let Trump Destroy the World Cup — Page 2

USA beats Paraguay before a sellout crowd 4-1 and national anthem before match is sung wonderfully by CW duo Dan and Shay. The crowd is singing along including actor Tom Cruise and chants of "USA USA" were being done before the anthem. Players showed respect while anthem was played and USA fans had a wonderful time. Link of anthem below.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hOdZ32kD2rk

By all major TV/Newspaper accounts and social media, the foreign visitors appear to be having a great time at the World Cup. They seem to really enjoy being in the US and discovering that the country is more than just big cities like NY or LA. They are seeing this is a beautiful country with friendly people and different type of food that has been a hit with our visitors. In addition, Americans have fallen in love with our visitors like the Tartan Army from Scotland who have taken Boston by storm. In other words, the World Cup has not been destroyed.

I have been watching coverage in Philadelphia, my home town. It has been nice to see all of the people at Lemon Hill and hearing visitors' comments on how they are loving the city.

Last night on our news in Colorado, they did a report on the games in Texas. They have shuttle busses to take visitors to various points of interest. International visitors found out about Buc-ees and they had to add a shuttle just to take people there.

American player gets red card rescinded after interference. Corruption at its finest.

I’m not wrong.

The President of the United States asked FIFA to overturn the decision.

That in itself is very wrong.

Naturally FIFA complied, the first time since 1962 a decision has been reversed in the tournament.

I hope Belgium win, as unpatriotic as that may be.

I find it funny how you attribute sinister motives to me, but give FIFA a total pass. Shrug.

I hope all visitors (those allowed in) to the US have an incredible time, and overall I think the tournament has been a success so far.

Jay Lerner-Z said: "I’m not wrong.

The President of the United States asked FIFA to overturn the decision.

That in itself is very wrong.

Naturally FIFA complied, the first time since 1962 a decision has been reversed in the tournament.

I hope Belgium win, as unpatriotic as that may be."

Not unpatriatoic but kind of silly. Balogun and the US men's team had nothing to do with it. And Balogun himself has a pretty remarkable story.

That's not to defend Trump. Everything this disaster of a President touches turns to sh*t. The worst part about it is the amount of hate this is going to bring to Balogun and the US Team who have otherwise been on a pretty amazing run.

Jay Lerner-Z said: "I find it funny how you attribute sinister motives to me, but give FIFA a total pass. Shrug.

I hope all visitors (those allowed in) to the US have an incredible time, and overall I think the tournament has been a success so far."

I guess you missed in my post where I said FIFA should have had a backbone and told Trump the suspension stands if they believe the correct decision was made. How is that giving them a pass, nice try Jay.

Updated On: 7/6/26 at 12:26 PM

Jay Lerner-Z said: "P.S. I don't recall you posting about the shameful visa refusal for the best referee in the world, purely because he is Somali.

If you expect full balance from me, I expect you to hold yourself to the same standard."

I was just stating opinion and your pattern of negativity. It is not just this thread but to be honest most threads. If somebody like yourself would have posted about the visa refusal, I am sure I would have commented on it. I have no idea if people from Somali in general have trouble getting a Visa, so I don't know if this referee was being targeted individually or it is US policy not to let people in from that country.

USA loses 4-1 which is embarrassing, losing by 3 goals is huge in soccer. The player whose red card was reversed was a non-factor in the game. All of this "noise" was for no reason; games are decided on the field not by telephone calls. I guess Jay is happy now.

World Cup is over with Spain winning 1-0 in "extra" time. By all media reports the game was dull and boring. There were complaints that halftime was too long, 27 minutes instead of 15. The halftime concert was supposedly awful. You always hope a championship game is exciting, shame this game was not. That being said, congratulations to Spain.

Trump was involved in handing out medals and the championship trophy. He was heavily booed which is not shocking. IMO Trump did not destroy the World Cup. His mistake in getting involved in US player suspension amounted to nothing because the US got their butts kicked 4-1 by Belgium.

As I have posted before, it seems visitors to the US had a good time in this country during the World Cup. For the most part, they really enjoyed seeing some beautiful places and trying different food. They also mentioned the American people were very nice to them and the media portrays a different country than what they saw. Many of them were in awe of some of the stadiums they saw games in, shame the final was in the awful MetLife Stadium.

Finally, I will leave it to others in sports media to determine if the World Cup with US as the host country for the final was a success.

Updated On: 7/19/26 at 07:43 PM

I saw it more as an idiot bumbling around, unsure of what to do or where to go.

They cropped him out of the photos anyway.