Mauricio Pochettino’s USA side bowed out of their World Cup campaign embarrassingly, being on the receiving end of a 4-1 thrashing by Belgium. The host nation had a promising start to the tournament, finishing top of their group and beating Bosnia & Herzegovina in the Round of 32, but that soon changed in the next game.

There was controversy before the game, with Folarin Balogun’s red card being suspended after intervention from USA President Donald Trump, meaning that the ex-Arsenal striker was allowed to feature, much to the benefit of the USA, as the Monaco man had already scored three in four games.

As much as it frustrated Belgium, it didn’t matter as they went on to dominate from start to finish. Pochettino’s side looked a shadow of themselves in previous games, and they became the final host nation to be knocked out of the tournament, as well as missing out on the chance to make it to their first quarter-final since 2002.

Reuters/Blake Dahlin

Christian Pulisic is one of the biggest stars in the USA national team, but he has failed to show the expected performance levels throughout the tournament, only managing to register one assist.

The Milan winger was subbed off in the 59th minute of the 4-1 loss, and many are arguing his American legacy has been tainted. Despite being the leader of the national team for some time, Pulisic has failed to lead the side to glory or even to the latter stages of any tournament, and his performance against Belgium hasn’t helped his case.

American-based website Sports Illustrated hit out at Pulisic following the disappointing game. They said: “The USMNT needed its talisman to step up and be the difference-maker, and he failed the task. Even before his premature exit, the star winger struggled to generate anything offensively. He had just one touch in Belgium’s box and didn’t get a single shot off.”

They weren’t the only ones to give their verdict on Captain America, as former USA women’s star Carli Loyd told Fox Sports: “You wanted some of those big-time players to step up in a big moment. I gotta be honest, I was a bit disappointed with Christian Pulisic.

FOX Sports Radio’s Jamie Fox also said: “It’s an uncomfortable conversation because for the longest time it was, ‘Pulisic’s gonna do it. Pulisic’s gonna do it. He’s our guy; he’s Captain America.’ And now you’re looking at Christian Pulisic, where his World Cup career is just about done.

“When you say, OK, his legacy, Christian Pulisic, the golden era, it’s not what we thought it would be or not what we needed it to be. The hype for him and what we thought he could do … he’s just been OK and he’s been injured. The whole Christian Pulisic era is underachieving.”

Reuters/Blake Dahlin

Pulisic has led the team for many years now, and there still isn’t a lot to show for his efforts. The furthest the team has reached in the World Cup is the round of 16, and Pulisic failed to step up to the plate in this tournament.

In fairness to the former Chelsea attacker, he did pick up an injury against Paraguay in the group stages, and has been trying to manage the injury since, which makes it no surprise he was subbed off in the 59th minute against Belgium.

Pulisic registered 36 touches during the game, completing only 2 of his 6 attempted dribbles, whilst losing six out of his 8 duels. It doesn’t come as a surprise that he was subbed off during the game, and many would’ve expected more from ‘the LeBron James of Soccer’.

Hossam Hassan could be in serious trouble with FIFA after shocking footage emerged appearing to show him taking part in disgusting actions towards Argentina fans. Egypt were just 11 minutes away from reaching the World Cup quarter-finals after goals from Yasser Ibrahim and Mostafa Ziko put the Pharaohs two goals to the good.

But strikes from Cristian Romero, Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernandez completed a dramatic turnaround for the world champions, who moved one step closer to a second shot at immortality after a devastating 14-minute onslaught. During that spell, however, several contentious decisions added fuel to the fire. A number of Egypt players vented their frustrations at the referee after two penalty appeals were waved away, with a VAR expert later claiming one of those decisions were incorrect.

While a bit of needle is part and parcel of a World Cup tournament, emotions were clearly running high in the aftermath. Footage appears to show the Egypt manager letting his frustrations get the better of him as he became involved in a heated altercation with Argentina supporters while heading down the tunnel, just minutes after being shown a yellow card and drawing backlash for an apparent ‘X’ gesture.

Hassan is a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause and has used the World Cup stage to make political statements on several occasions throughout the tournament. As a result, the sight of an Israeli flag being waved in front of him by supporters of the nation that had just inflicted such a cruel elimination appeared to be the final straw.

However, as footage appears to show, he may have crossed a line during his fury. A video circulating on social media allegedly shows Hassan spitting in the direction of Argentina fans as tensions boiled over in the immediate aftermath of the dramatic defeat (watch the incident below):

Under FIFA rules, spitting at another person is treated as a serious offence and can lead to a significant suspension. FIFA’s Disciplinary Code lists spitting as a form of assault, alongside actions such as hitting, kicking, biting or punching. As such, the code states there should be at least three matches’ suspension or an appropriate period of time.

He was later asked if his comments on Palestine were the reason Egypt were punished. “I don’t want to talk about that. We were speaking about a humanitarian cause. Does anyone feel for the one who lost his sight, or the one whose hand was cut off? We want football to help spread humanity,” he reacted.

“They must support this cause because it is a humanitarian one. In that country, children are dying while wearing Argentina, City, Real Madrid and Barcelona shirts. These people love you and they love football, but you are still killing them.”

Hossam Hassan Accuses FIFA of Favouring Lionel Messi For Marketing

Peter Hansson/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

During his post-match interview, he also stunningly claimed that FIFA are working with Argentina and Lionel Messi for ‘marketing purposes. He told media (watch his untranslated interview below):

He added: “I will boycott watching the remaining matches of the tournament as a form of protest. I told the players that I thank them and that they can face the biggest teams in the world, provided there is fairness. FIFA promotes fair play, but we don’t see it on the pitch.”

“I’m not convinced with this outcome. I’m not convinced with the way things unfolded during this match. I do not want ‌to try to put it nicely here with beautiful wording, selective wording, and saying hard luck, and so on and so forth. We ⁠have been treated unfairly today. We have suffered injustice.”

Lionel Messi came to the rescue once again, inspiring Argentina’s 3-2 comeback in their Round of 16 match against Egypt. Lionel Scaloni’s side did look to be heading out of the competition after going 2-0 down, and Messi missing a penalty, but you can never doubt one of the world’s greatest.

With just 10 minutes left to go, Messi assisted Cristian Romero’s header, then scored a goal of his own before Enzo Fernández sealed the deal with a header off a cross from Lautaro Martinez.

There were some controversial moments during the game, with Egypt having a goal disallowed for a foul that had happened at the complete opposite end of the pitch, whilst Argentina scored a goal in a very similar way. Still, the potential foul on Egypt star Mohammed Salah wasn’t awarded, meaning the winning goal stood and Egypt were eliminated.

It isn’t the first time that Argentina have been awarded some controversial decisions in their favour this tournament, and the post-match comments of Egypt forward Mostafa Ziko have only fuelled the conspiracies further.

FIFA Benefit From Argentina’s World Cup Win

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Sam Navarro

There is no doubt that Messi is one of the most recognisable stars on the planet, let alone one of the biggest footballers. The Argentinian has lit up the football stage for 2 decades, and his stardom has only been more commercialised since his move to David Beckham’s American side, Inter Miami.

Having Messi still participating at the World Cup in America will only generate more revenue for FIFA, as fans will happily pay more money for tickets to matches in which they can get a glimpse of one of the biggest stars in the world.

This looked like it was going to fail during Argentina’s game against Egypt, as Messi missed a penalty inside the first 30 minutes, and Egypt later took a 2-0 lead against Scaloni’s side.

However, Messi was able to do what he does best, as he inspired a comeback in the last ten minutes of the tie, assisting Cristian Romero’s header and scoring a half-volley, whilst Enzo Fernandez headed home in the dying minutes of the game to book a place in the quarter-finals of the competition.

It was reported that when Argentina were 2-0 down, tickets for the quarter-finals had dropped from the $1,900 mark earlier in the day to just under $1000, before shooting straight back up to $2000 when the full-time whistle had blown and Messi was 100% certain to be appearing in the next stage of the tournament.

Have FIFA Been Biased Towards Argentina?

Danny Medley via IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters

There have certainly been some decisions during this tournament which have favoured Argentina. Messi could have potentially received a red card in the group stages against Algeria, after appearing to catch the back of the Algerian player’s calf with his studs, yet the referee took no on-field action, and a VAR review was also in agreement that Messi should stay on the pitch.

Their most recent game against Egypt certainly hasn’t helped the biased conspiracy claims either, with Egypt appearing to have a perfectly good goal ruled out whilst Argentina got away with the exact same scenario when they scored their winning goal.

Egypt forward Mostafa Ziko accused the competition of being ‘rigged’ to favour Argentina, and whilst the suggestion seems very emotionally fuelled, FIFA haven’t helped themselves and could have some questions to answer.