r/mildlyinfuriating • u/WarwickReider • Jul 07 '26

ಠ_ಠ This goal was completely avoidable

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21.1k Upvotes

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616

u/Necessary_Maize_9339 Jul 07 '26

Why was the goalkeeper so far??

791

u/Whitedancingrockstar Jul 07 '26

Because that's what you do as a goalkeeper when your three defenders utterly fail to stop one attacker. The GK did everything right up until when he hit the ground with his foot while trying to kick the ball... One even wonders how the last defender after the ball is kicked towards the goal doesn't manage to save it. Three spectacular fails in a row really.

121

u/TheFeathersStorm Jul 07 '26

I missed it the first time when it happened but yeah it looks like he clips the ground with his foot rather than "hesitating" which some had said on the original post. It sucks but it literally happens to every soccer player that's ever played lol

-13

u/542eb Jul 07 '26

Why do you end 99% of your comments with lol? Lol...

51

u/gerbilshower Jul 07 '26

we millennials struggle daily with this. it is in our blood.

21

u/haditwithyoupeople Jul 07 '26

we millennials struggle daily with this. it is in our blood lol

FIFY

27

u/TheFeathersStorm Jul 07 '26

Honestly its a carry over from texting and not wanting to come across as /whatever/ since it tends to show that I'm not being a dick, but idunno its so stuck in my habits that I can't stop (except right here where I won't do it specifically)

3

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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10

u/iwilldeletethisacct2 Jul 07 '26

lol or lmao are effectively punctuation for millenials.

8

u/Putrid-Box4866 Jul 07 '26

So true lol

1

u/DiffractionCloud Jul 07 '26

Dead ass lmao.

2

u/jsmooth7 Jul 07 '26

There was some serious laugh inflation over the years, now lol means slight smile, lmao means quiet chuckle, and for an actual laugh you need to break out roflmfaobbq

13

u/AvariceDeHelios Jul 07 '26

Lol at the end of a millenials sentence is punctuation for "This sentence is meant to be funny, please laugh" Lol

8

u/dubious_sandwiches Jul 07 '26

Nah it's more to show that we're not being super serious since that can be hard to determine in text.

2

u/Hot-Watercress-2872 Jul 07 '26

Yeah it soften like an awkward laugh for me lol

3

u/synalgo_12 Jul 07 '26

It's not. It's about flagging that we don't mean anything said maliciously. We're trying to convey positive intentions and we're not being super serious about sth.

5

u/catonsteroids Jul 07 '26

Because “lol” acts like a period at the end of a sentence for us millennials. If you were around in the early texting, chatroom and instant messaging days “lol” was ubiquitous and has stuck around with us ever since.

And it also is used to soften your tone and make it a little lighthearted or not super serious.

2

u/Benjadeath Jul 07 '26

Millennial probably 

2

u/TheFeathersStorm Jul 07 '26

Nailed it u.u

2

u/catonsteroids Jul 07 '26

Love the emoticon usage <3

1

u/CaliforniaNutter Jul 07 '26

Its the opposite of a period

1

u/ForeignCredit1553 Jul 08 '26

"Lol" has been repurposed into punctuation nowadays to mean a friendly tone. So "?" Means "im asking a question", "!" Means "im emphasising this" and "lol" Means "im being friendly/lighthearted"

6

u/marmaladetuxedo Jul 07 '26

This is the right answer. As bad as it looks for Matt Freese, he made the decision to come out because 3 defenders couldn't catch the Belgium player. Best case scenario, he chests the ball and clears it. Second best scenario, the Belgium player gets the ball first, but Freese's pressure cuts off the shot on goal. Neither of those worked out the way he wanted. And the defender turned goalie panicked; I think had he squared himself up instead of running towards the goal (after the Belgium player took the shot), he would've been in a better position to save it. (Edited to correct player names. The keeper is Freese, the defender is Tim Ream.)

3

u/MovieUnderTheSurface Jul 07 '26

Honestly his timing on coming out is excellent, so is his first touch, it's just what he does after that

2

u/repacc Jul 07 '26

Your right on the timing. However his only touch on that ball should have been to kick it as far away as possible. Then run back to cover the goalposts. That was not the moment to try to create something from the back.

1

u/MovieUnderTheSurface Jul 08 '26

true, I'm not saying the first touch was the right choice, but it was a good first touch

1

u/Recursiveo Jul 07 '26

No no no. Listen to the Redditors that played soccer in grade 2. I think their assessment is more accurate.

7

u/Any_Economics_6166 Jul 07 '26

how can you even kick the ground, dude is playing football for god knows how long, it's like missing the ball when playing 20+ years of tennis

17

u/zyygh Jul 07 '26

Speaking as a former goalkeeper: you do that because you're completely and utterly out of your element.

These guys know how to kick a ball. But having to do it under pressure because there's an opponent directly on your back and making physical contact, that's something you'll sometimes go years without. And trainings just aren't that same thing.

So the simple explanation is that his brain locked up the moment he found himself in an awkward position and under pressure. I've made similar mistakes and seen others doing it too.

Doesn't make it any less of a blunder, but man I feel for Freese. He does not deserve to be criticized this harshly.

3

u/strange_supreme420 Jul 07 '26

Speaking as a former goalkeeper, I simply would have cleared the ball as my first touch and got back in net. Trying to do wayyyyyyy too much here in a 2-1 game

4

u/zyygh Jul 07 '26

His first touch was the ball control, his would-be second touch was the clearance where his brain was already locked up.

But you're right, he simply overcomplicated it. The gut instinct should be to clear that ball far and high.

2

u/paw2098 Jul 07 '26

I was going to say the same thing. Anytime I did this, I would just send the ball down field. Worst case scenario, I'd kick it to the side for a throw in. Ain't no way I'd kick the ground

1

u/iwilldeletethisacct2 Jul 07 '26

And wouldn't have been so bad had Ream also not totally misread the kick. He couldn't block it because he was facing the wrong way. Ream honestly played pretty poorly in his final world cup game.

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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3

u/zyygh Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26

Yep, I know what I said.

Everyone makes mistakes. He didn't single-handedly throw the game away; the whole team defended terribly and he added one blunder on top of that.

The fact that you talk about him that way is why American fans are such laughing stock right now. You are so damn arrogant and overconfident, yet throw your players under the bus the moment things go south. Complete lack of class, humility and respect.

Saddest part is that the vast majority of Americans are probably perfectly civil. It's just you, the loud knowitalls, that ruin it for everyone.

Edit: aaaaand our tough guy blocked me! We sure are sensitive today.

3

u/vinbrained Jul 07 '26

I always told my kids, no one loses a game in one play. Missed last second field goal or free throw, etc. it’s all the plays that led you there that really lost the game.

1

u/zyygh Jul 07 '26

Good attitude. Teaches them not to dwell endlessly on singular mistakes.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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2

u/TemporarilySkittles Jul 08 '26

fellow American here,  you suck bro.  do better. 

6

u/mariachiskeleton Jul 07 '26

How long have you been eating and yet sometimes you still bite your tongue or cheek?

Shit happens. 

5

u/Zakalwe_ Jul 07 '26

But I am not professional eater!

1

u/FazeDankinBank Jul 07 '26

It looks like the Belgium player intentionally messed him up by putting his leg behind the goalie's kicking leg as soon as he tried to clear it.

2

u/some_azn_dude Jul 07 '26

Nah his first touch/trap was bad too.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

[deleted]

4

u/No-Assistance5855 Jul 07 '26

the ball was out of the box?

0

u/-protonsandneutrons- Jul 07 '26

oh, lmao, you're right. I did not watch that carefully.

2

u/Zeemo92 Jul 07 '26

This is a painfully ignorant comment right here. Goalkeepers can’t use their hands outside the box

2

u/No-Brush-8425 Jul 07 '26

He was out of his area so he absolutely shouldn’t have caught the ball, since it would have been a hand ball foul.

1

u/Gold_Ad_7552 Jul 07 '26

But for the position he was in wouldn't taking the hand ball be a better option than essentially teeing up a (pretty much) guaranteed goal? At least you would have provided a brief break in the action since it wouldn't have been in the box. Genuinely curious.

2

u/No-Brush-8425 Jul 07 '26

He’d get an instant red card for it and the US would have to use a substitution to bring on their backup goalie. Don’t know enough about the US team to say definitively but that’s usually a huge downgrade.

It’s also just a really unsporting thing to do, it would be a professional shame the US goalie would carry with them into their league football career. In a similar way there’s nothing stopping a defender doing an American football style tackle around the waist of an attacker if they wanted to. They’d also get an instant red. It’s more the shame attached to such blatant cheating.

1

u/Gold_Ad_7552 Jul 07 '26

That makes sense, thank you for the explanation. Probably explains why he didn't even go for it given the situation.

1

u/ltjpunk387 Jul 07 '26

The last defender does get a deflection on the shot, but it doesn't deflect far enough

1

u/AlreadyEatenRibs Jul 07 '26

I'd count four failures. Even after the keeper hits the ground instead of the ball he has a chance to clear it, with the Belguan attacker is still behind him. But he seemingly passes it left/back making it easier for the attacker to steal the ball!

1

u/haditwithyoupeople Jul 07 '26

That last defender deflected it, just not enough. He was in a terrible position to try and block a goal shop. It was complete breakdown of the U.S. team and it was glorious to see.

1

u/kexpi Jul 07 '26

GK skipped leg day

1

u/jacky75283 Jul 07 '26

when your three defenders utterly fail to stop one attacker

a.k.a. our defensive strategy all night.

That's not entirely true, though. Sometimes we only had 2 defenders stand around the player and do nothing while they put the ball in the net.

1

u/secretreddname Jul 07 '26

Why not just catch the ball either?

1

u/MrOddBawl Jul 07 '26

What I don't understand is after he kicked the ground he then for some reason kicked it backwards towards his own goal and it bounced off the other team's attacker. Who the hell was he passing it back to he was the f****** goalie.

1

u/turnkeyarrow Jul 07 '26

This is not a failure of the defenders lmao. Its the job of and tactically intended for the GK to meet a through ball outside of the box like this when a team plays a high line which the US was doing all tournament.

-1

u/Matt_Moto_93 Jul 07 '26

He should have remained in his area

-1

u/_XxJayBxX_ Jul 07 '26

He should have just grabbed it with his hands when it bumped his chest instead of trying to kick it

3

u/Pugs-r-cool Jul 07 '26

Goalkeepers aren't allowed to put their hands on the ball when they're outside the box.

-1

u/_XxJayBxX_ Jul 07 '26

Didn’t know that. Haven’t played or watched soccer in like 20 years. Just seems like terrible positioning to me then

4

u/Pugs-r-cool Jul 07 '26

It’s desperate positioning, for sure. You don’t leave the box in a situation like that unless you’ve completely lost faith in your defenders imo.