The Belgians are different
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The World Cup highlights cultural differences between continents and countries.
Korean fans shocked the world with how they cleaned up after themselves. The rest of the world isn’t so fastidious.
Americans shocked the world with how welcoming and friendly we were. Most of the world isn't so welcoming and kind.
European fans impress Americans with how enthusiastic they are and with the camaraderie they show. American fans are a bit envious.
But now the flap over an unwarranted red card and a suspended suspension has brought another cultural difference to the fore.
American striker Folarin Balogun was wrongly given a red card in the Round of 32. The U.S., playing a man down, nevertheless held on to and expanded its lead, defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina. The red card meant Balogun would be suspended for the Round of 16, though, perpetuating the injustice. FIFA has since suspended the suspension, allowing Balogun to play against Belgium in the Round of 16.
A wrong was righted, and now both the U.S. and Belgium can play at full strength. Belgian soccer leadership is responding by complaining.
BREAKING: The Belgian federation is challenging FIFA's decision to let U.S. forward Folarin Balogun play in World Cup match. https://t.co/yHYgbs4xcI
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 6, 2026
This is startling to American fans, even those of us who think Trump shouldn't have made the phone call to FIFA officials about Balogun's suspension.
What a farce all around. I have some sympathy for Belgium given the ah, hmm, irregularity here, but theatrically trying avoid playing against a good player is the weakest shit in the world. Do you want to compete or not? https://t.co/tBFseei73G
— Zachary D. Carter (@zachdcarter) July 6, 2026
This is loser behavior. If you can't beat your opponent unless they're unfairly handicapped, then you don't deserve to win. Embarrassing! https://t.co/Cn07YcRRlU
— Billy Binion (@billybinion) July 6, 2026
The Belgians don't believe that Balogun is dangerous — they just want him suspended. This is at odds with the American view.
For instance, during the NBA Finals, Knicks fans thought Spurs star Victor Wembanyama should have been called for a foul, even a flagrant foul, for assaulting Knicks' star Jalen Brunson. But we knew one obstacle to such a call: The NBA rules would have required Wemby be suspended for a game if he were assessed another flagrant foul.
A flagrant foul would have been the right call, but suspending Wemby would have sucked. If the Knicks had beaten the Spurs when the Spurs lacked their best player because of a debatable call by a ref and an ill-considered NBA rule, that would have placed something of an asterisk on the Knicks' win.
We want to beat the other team at full strength. Belgians are different, it appears.
This difference shouldn't be shocking: You want to beat their best team is a cultural attitude. Our attitudes about competition are different.
Interestingly, another Belgian attitude I learned about in a different soccer tournament almost cuts in the opposite direction: Rooting for the favorite.
My older brother lived in Brussels more than 20 years ago. He was in a bar during some match that didn't affect Belgium. Maybe it was Spain vs. Korea in the 2002 World Cup. Maybe it was Spain vs. Georgia in the 2004 Euro Cup. Whatever the matchup, there was a clear favorite and a clear underdog.
My brother, being an American, was rooting for the underdog. All the Belgians in the pub were rooting for the favorite because they were the favorite. They wanted the better team to win because that would mean better matchups in subsequent rounds. Who doesn't want to see higher-level soccer?
You can see the logic to this Belgian position, but if you're an American, it just grates on your sensibilities. We tend to root for the underdogs.
You can argue about which view makes more sense, but such arguments won't be very productive. These are not really logical propositions, but cultural sensibilities. Cultural sensibilities are inherited, even absorbed throughout one's life. It never even occurred to me that I should make an argument for rooting for the underdog .
Similarly, it seems obvious that you don't try to disqualify your opponents' starting players unless you really think that player did something egregiously wrong.
A final point: I have played sports or coached youth sports my entire life. The most embarrassing losses my teams have suffered often came after we hoped or tried for some sort of lame or cheap advantage. A couple of times, the other team was late, and we started counting on a forfeit win. We thought the other team's ace pitcher had hit his pitch count, but we were mistaken, and so we sat around waiting for the reliever. We had a rain delay while leading, and we hoped the game wouldn't restart. In these cases, our coaches tried to prevent this anti-competitive mindset from taking hold, because it's a loser mentality.
Belgium now has that loser attitude. They have an excuse to lose, and they convinced themselves that playing against a full-strength U.S. team is not a fair match. I think this helps the Americans.
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There varying opinions about things like this, you found this one on a right wing website.
I am glad the US can play at full strength. I am not glad Trump influenced the decision. He should mind his own business . World sporting events are not under the jurisdiction of the Trump Organization.
Agree 100%.
When sports and politics collide, both suffer. Now if we win it could be said it was a result of strong arming the officials. If the ruling had stood, we could have had a justified reason for losing. If we lose now we just look like a whiney and privileged team that can’t win even when we cheat. Trump just can’t keep his fucking mouth shut and forces everyone into the gutter with him. The guy who consistently cheats at golf is calling the shots for the World Cup.
***winning! (asterisks intended)
I think that's a fundamental difference with Americans. We want to beat the best, others don't.
There is a big difference between wanting to beat the best and thinking you are the best..
Belgium just beat the best...
America is far from the best at soccer, obviously.
but my point is we generally don’t want to win by technicalities, injuries or bad calls. We want to win by beating the other sides best. It’s more satisfying.
Good on them!
Absolutely and how...
You lot were running around like a mob of sheep and just seemed off from the start..
A rather disappointing game to be honest..
It's possible that there are some who are glad the USA team lost to Belgium because of Trump's interference over the red card, and because of the unfair roadblocks he threw at Iran's team. I'm a believer that politics does NOT belong in international sports such as the World Cup and Olympics. The worst example of interference was Munich, but when teams refuse to play against Israel it's just plain childish,
That would be me. Trump's never-ending penchant for cheating brings nothing but dishonor on us. I'm glad his shameful effort failed. The scumbag.
I can't stand soccer anyway. IMO, it's one of the most boring spectator sports ever invented. I can't believe its popularity around the world. Probably because it's so cheap to play, even the poorest countries can have a league. I can't watch it, and I've tried. I think they should market it as a sleep aid, especially all the games where the teams just run around for a couple of hours and nobody scores, and the even greater number that end in a simple 1-0. What a snoozer of a sport.
Arvo..
You will find most of the world are ecstatic been reading the comments..even I was wondering if that had put the players off after Trump's call..the team just seemed unenthusiastic and flat for some reason...
Yep if they aren't rolling around on the ground they are flopping around like wet fish..
First time I have watched part of a game in 42 years just to see if Trump was going to over rule the score or something..
Now just give the Brits the boot and it will be even better..
I am barracking for Norway..🇸🇯
Hockey is low-scoring as well, so why isn't it boring? If scores in football were not high for each touchdown or field goal the final scores would not appear so high either.
I wanted to watch the game last night, and started to, but as you say, it is too boring . I turned it off and just followed on line updates.
However, boredom is in the eyes of the beholder. I accept that the "rest of the world" engages with the intricacies of the sport and what we might consider pointless kicking the ball around at midfield is seen by the true fans as strategic feign and attack. There are many more statistics associated with a soccer match than meet the casual eye, for example if a team is successful in getting the ball into a certain part of the field that is considered an achievement, like a first down in American football.
But, in the end it is boring.
It is. Not as boring as soccer, though. Just my opinion, of course.
The rest of the world is not so used to watching high-scoring body bashing contact sports such as American football, so their taste in watching sports differs. They might think of American football as being more like martial arts.
Why soccer is boring for Americans, is once a team gets a 2 point advantage the game is technically over, while a double-digit point advantage in American football, even in the last quarter, doesn't mean the game is over and the 6, 3, 2, and 1 point system gives the game a strategic component.
Another thing about soccer, why is the field so large? I believe it would be more exciting if it were half as long and wide.
100%.
But,
They tried indoor soccer on a smaller field here in the US , a couple decades ago as I remember, but it didnt catch on.
Some need to understand something about this, it wasn't Trump that got the red card overturned. It was FIFA and for good reason. The US is hosting the games because FIFA wants to show off soccer to the American public for the dollars, not just now, but into the future by getting their foot in the door. Now comes a referee that makes a bad call and red cards the American's top player putting the US team at a disadvantage, FIFA doesn't want to lose the American audience over that. What would've been in FIFA's best interest, the US team winning the World Cup.
It's all about the money? Well, I guess the adage "Money makes the world go round" is appropriate.
The "red card" incident was not the only reason for my opinion.