World Cup 2026 – Day 2

The Sorees (Canada) 1 vs The Golden Lillies (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 1 – Toronto

B&H with a set piece goal. Turns out eastern Europeans are big boys and know how to use free kicks. If you have been with me before, you know that one of my biggest pet peeves is when someone does not take a good free kick. My fans in eastern Europe have been listening.
78th – very strong goal from Canada’s striker. Pretty boring game.

The Yanks (USA) 4 v. The Guaraníes (Paraguay) 1 – L.A.

USA absolutely dominated Paraguay (for most of the game)! In particular our first was something to behold. We had so many good chances, Pulisic was absolutely crushing the left side of the field, Dest came alive toward the back part of the half, and WE HAVE A StRIKER in Balogona-make-me-scream!!!! Not only did we have chance after chance and individual play that was beautiful to watch, the team was on the same page and moving the ball in a way that I don’t know I have seen from the USA before. It was lovely to watch. But, lets linger on Pulisic, Dest, and Baloguna-make-me-scream for a second, all three were making Paraguayans look silly, all three were showing speed/skills/composure of the highest class, and all three were strong. If those three can keep doing what they did last night, we might be [not going to jinx us yet]. All that said, even in the first half, Weston showed he is going to be a liability. Multiple times he had the touch of donkey in or around the attacking box and ended an attack/turned the ball over. The problem though is that he has heart and so he is unlikely to be replaced. He also is a great attacking force for free kicks, but keep an eye on him because he could be a weak link that we need to do something about (not in a mafia sense).

Second half was a bit of a snooze fest (particularly compared to the first), but we did well in not completely giving up the boat and then ending the game with a fourth goal.* It would have been nice to have let in any goals, but I don’t think we need to look into that much yet. Though we weren’t as dominant in the second half, we still had plenty of good chances. However, Adams did get a terrible yellow card which is not great because of the new yellow card rules this tournament.** Adams has a history of doing this (bad fouls after getting pissed off about something), and to get a yellow in the 58th min of a game you are up 3-0 in is not smart. Also, we need to talk Pulisic. He was subbed out during half time, that definitely affected the teams play in the second half. Poch (head coach) said after the game that CP had a knock on his calf at the end of the first half, was having trouble walking during half, and so they subbed him out just out precaution. While I think it is smart to keep your star player healthy and not push something when we were already up 3-0, I am a little weary of how injured CP might actually be. We have time until our next game (Thursday June 25), and he will get treatment, so he should be good to go, but we have all seen how calf injuries can come back on people (Jason Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton). With that big ol bucket of cold water thrown on everyone, lets come back to the good. We looked good, we played good, and we scored good! We ARE A GOOD TEAM!!! If we play like our first half going forward, we can do something in this torunamanet, and that is EXCITING! Great first game for USA… usa … Usa …. USa …. USA …. USA!! … USA!!!! ….. USA!!!!!!****

Some other notes
– Poch (an Argentinian) was dressed like a cuban or central american dictator, an interesting look

– I like Poch – he speaks his mind, he is a smart coach, and he demands the best. He seems to have put the team in the spot he wants them (caring about the team and playing with passion) – https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRP7RYgEluf/?igsh=MTFiMGJtY3d4bHBlcg%3D%3D
– Jozy Altidore speaks spanish?! Huh?! Since when? And it sounded really good
– Good use of VAR taking away the yellow initially given to Ream and then giving it to Almiron for a big ole floppy flop (that is when the caption on the screen said “mistaken identity”)

Lets talk about water breaks a little more:
1) My fury hath no boundary when it comes to this topic. The more I see them, think about them, they exist, the more I am intoxicated with rage.
2) It is absolutely nuts that FIFA has taken all sorts of measures to stop time wasting (5 seconds for throw ins/goal kicks, 10 seconds for subs, players have to be off the field 1 min if they get medical attention on the field***) but then they waste FOUR fucking minutes for water breaks when it is 75 degrees with no humidity! FIFA goes beyond the pale by saying every game will have a water break. They don’t care about the players or the game, they care about profit.
3) BOYCOTT FOX – found out yesterday that Telemundo’s broadcast does not go to commercial break during the water breaks, instead (like every other time there has been water breaks) the broadcast stays on the game and the announcers try to figure out if they were just shown Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds (it was Reynolds but it took them nearly the entire game to sue that out)
4) BOYCOTT FOX part du – in addition to fox going to commercial breaks, the american/English announcers on fox are the worst. Watching a game on Fox is boring and annoying. There is no life in the announcer’s voices and no story is being told. Not to mention they don’t get above a gentle murmur at any point in the game. Even if you cannot understand Spanish, watch Telemundo. You will feel happier.
5) I am not the only that is enraged by the water breaks – https://www.instagram.com/p/DZegp6Gls38/
6) Not actually connected to water breaks, but I beat they could have used a water break – don’t forget that this World Cup is in the midst of chaos and disorder – In Mexico City, the opening game was being played was thousands protested outside – https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZd_fdAvZch/

*Gio Reyna scored the fourth goal. He and his family are the worst.

**in previous tournaments, if you get 3 yellow cards (in three different games) before the semifinals then you would get suspended for the next game. This was not the best system as you had star players missing knockout matches because of this (up to missing the semifinal games). This year the rule changed to suspension after 2 yellow cards (in two different games) but the yellow cards get rest after the group games and after the quarterfinals. I am not really sure what to think about this rule change. On the one hand I like that they are resting the cards more than once, on the other hand a suspension after 2 cards in two games seems overly harsh. I guess we will see how it plays out.

***This rule is going to be problem. Last night Chris Richards (our stud center back who makes our defense go from suspect to decent) had a head knock with a Paraguayan. They both got medical attention because of it (as they both needed it). But, because of the rule both had to wait a minute to get back into the game once the game restarted. Paraguay had the ball on the restart and were in our half and we didn’t have our most important defender in. This is not what this rule was meant to punish and if something happens in a game because of this rule, there will be issues (in the mafia sense, even though there is no such thing as the mafia (wink)). This rule is meant to stop players getting “cramps” at the end of games and wasting time with “medical attention” and then just coming right back into the game after all that. But, because it is not tailored specifically to that situation, you will have more scenarios like last night throughout this world cup. Not good.

**** I thought this was funny even though it is AI and dumb – https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZWPnClTVgE/

Tomorrow’s Games
3 pm – Qatar v Switzerland
6 pm – Brazil v Morocco (Morocco were my black horse team in the 2022 world cup, I think they are still good, this should be a good game)
9 pm – Haiti v Scotland (With Peru not making to this tournament, and because of family, Scotland is my the team to root for.
– https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYhB5JzCg4_/
– https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYhUolOCYMe/
– https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYzrjb7tSIt/