I wasn’t sure whether to write this one or not. My son Mark doesn’t agree with my analysis, but a Denver Post sportswriter does…

The US soccer team got hammered Monday by Belgium. 4 – 1. US was never in it. They played badly. Is it just because the US still isn’t in the top tier? Possible. But they had played really well up until that last game. What happened?

You may know that in their previous game, one of their best players was given a red card and sent off. US played the last 30+ minutes one man short. But it’s more than that. By rule, that player also sits out the next game. Everyone agreed it was a bad call. Shouldn’t have even been called a foul, much less a red card.

Then President Trump asks the FIFA President to “review the case” and FIFA found a way to “suspend” the penalty and the player was cleared early Sunday morning for Monday’s game. Instantly everyone turned against the US. Bad vibes? Soccer is a funny game. By all accounts, the US had a “bad night.” However, I think it’s a case of “win the battle, lose the war.”

As I said, my son Mark didn’t agree with me, but a Denver Post guy did:

But didn’t it feel like something shifted after FIFA’s eyebrow-raising decision to overturn Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension? Like, there was a disruption in the good karma and momentum the US Men’s National Team had accumulated in its first four World Cup matches? – Bennett Durando, Denver Post, July 7, 2026

I’m not a karma guy, but there’s no question the vibe shifted. Is there a Biblical example of not insisting on your “rights”? Maybe:

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?…To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? (1 Corinthians 6.1, 7, ESV)

I think the US would have done better if they had suffered the wrong.