Stop the Idiocracy: Soccer

Showing posts with label Soccer. Show all posts

Sunday, July 19, 2026

“Congratulations... now look at me”

A celebratory World Cup medal presentation unfolds before a packed stadium as Spain’s national football team gathers upon the podium wearing gold medals and red-and-blue kits, smiling, pointing and preparing for a commemorative photograph. Standing conspicuously at the front of the group is Donald Trump, dressed in a dark navy suit with a bright red tie, smiling directly towards the cameras while a FIFA official reaches from the right as though attempting to guide him aside. The Spanish players remain focused upon one another and the celebration behind him, creating a striking visual contrast between the jubilant team moment and the prominent figure occupying the foreground. Bright afternoon light illuminates the colourful, crowded sporting spectacle.

Getty Images

After being mercilessly booed, Trump refuses to leave the podium as the Spanish players celebrate their World Cup victory. {The Telegraph 19 July}

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/da89c91b7768d83e

Another giant embarrassment for the former United States of America inflicted by this man, on the world’s biggest sporting stage. King Felipe IV of Spain was on the field, but he did not deign to upstage his own countrymen in this manner. Trump hath spent recent weeks loudly expressing his displeasure with Spain — specifically related to trade — so this is an especially brazen gesture on his part. No, I do not believe this was mere aloofness. He knew exactly what he was doing. Trump must be the star of every show, no matter what it is.

Could not have happened to nicer guys: Andrew Tate and his little brother under arrest in Miami. {AP 18 July}

https://apnews.com/article/tate-brothers-social-influencers-arrest-82b6638219839dcf653c09309da66f16

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

No favour could save them

Two dejected footballers in dark navy USA kit stand consoling each other after a match. The player wearing number 13, with blond hair tied back, covers his face with his hand in visible distress, while the player wearing number 14, with curly brown hair, has his arm around his teammate's shoulders and gazes off to the side with a sombre expression, holding a small towel in his other hand. Both wear a "2026" FIFA World Cup patch on their sleeves. The blurred background shows a stadium advertising hoarding and spectators

Getty Images

Trump, always quick to boast and even quicker to complain, is curiously silent after the former US is drubbed out of the World Cup, despite having first been granted a special favour at his insistence and with the acquiescence of FIFA boss Infantino. {The Sun 7 July}

https://www.the-sun.com/sport/16649921/trump-ignores-usas-world-cup-hammering/

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Monday, July 6, 2026

The great #Murican pout at the World Cup

A warmly lit, nostalgic hospital-room illustration depicts a compassionate red-haired nurse attending to a young blonde woman recovering in bed. The nurse, dressed in a traditional white uniform and cap, gently places a cool cloth upon the patient’s forehead while resting her other hand reassuringly on the bedding. The patient reclines against crisp white pillows beneath neatly arranged sheets, gazing upward with an expression that combines fatigue, vulnerability, and gratitude. A red spotted rash is visible across her face, neck, shoulders, and upper chest, indicating illness. Sunlight filters through a nearby window, illuminating floral curtains, polished wooden furnishings, glass medicine bottles, and a vintage metal bed frame. Rich golden tones and careful period detail evoke a mid-twentieth-century atmosphere of attentive care, quiet dignity, and human compassion in the face of sickness.

generated via ChatGPT

FIFA succumbs to Trump pressure, will allow suspended US star to play Monday night. {ESPN 6 July}

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49287344/fifa-reject-belgium-request-balogun-clear-play-belgium

FIFA's decision to suspend Folarin Balogun's automatic red-card ban after intervention from President Trump hath provoked outrage across the sporting world, with UEFA describing the move as ‘unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable’, whilst Belgian officials have questioned the integrity of the tournament itself.

How can anyone be blamed for being furious?

The issue is no longer whether Balogun deserved the red card. Reasonable people can disagree on that. The problem is the appearance that the host nation's star player was granted relief after the President of the United States personally sought a review from FIFA's leadership. Trump has publicly acknowledged contacting FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and FIFA subsequently lifted the suspension using a rarely-invoked disciplinary provision. Critics across Europe have argued that the decision creates the perception that one nation is playing by a different set of rules from everyone else — and I believe it is more than mere perception.

Should America somehow advance to the World Cup Final and lift the trophy — already unlikely, but even more so without Balogun — this controversy will not simply disappear and their win shall be tainted. An asterisk will forever be attached to that achievement. The Americans would be confronted by a question that no champion should ever have to answer: did they prevail because they were the best team, or because political influence succeeded where sporting merit alone could not? For a nation that once championed the rule of law and equal treatment — however imperfectly — that is a humiliating question even to have to answer.

I believe this country hath a collective humiliation kink now. No other way to explain bringing this corrupt tyrant back to office. One who hath continually humiliated America and its people on the world stage for years, and the people just spread 'em wider for him.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Saturday, June 13, 2026

#Murica’s World Cup: the scarlet pilgrimage?

A surreal allegorical fantasy illustration of a petite red-haired woman kneeling upon a rocky outcrop in deep space, her head thrown back as she crieth out in anguish. Her pale skin is covered with intricate crimson branching patterns—a vast network spreading across her body, making her a symbol of contagion or interconnected crisis. Behind her riseth an immense circular megastructure, a futuristic gateway suspended above a sprawling floating metropolis. A colossal ring-shaped causeway crowded with countless tiny human figures encircles the city; sleek trains travel along its perimeter. Vivid nebulae in crimson, violet, blue, and gold fill the cosmos. Individual suffering against vast systems of movement—global transmission, vulnerability, mass travel, and civilisation-wide consequence.

generated via Grok

World Cup travel to and from Trumpistan and its unfortunate neighbours is expected to accelerate global measles resurgence. {The Telegraph 12 June}

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/world-cup-could-cause-wave-of-measles-outbreaks-globally/

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈