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Oh god, did Trump somehow manage to make the perpetually underdog USMNT the bad guy during their home World Cup?
We were always the bad guy, this has just given the hatred a locus.
Americans and their ability to front as the best and strongest country in the world whilst also being the worlds biggest victim is unmatched.
Trump is not a popular figure. Neither is FIFA. Seeing them shake hands over the US team is like getting a letter of recommendation from Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein on your ability to manage a summer camp for girls.
No one likes the Belgians. Seeing them lose to the Americans would be great. But that would be quite enough for most people. And you should be courteous enough to pack your bags and leave when you're done.
You should see "the media" in europe, a wretched hive of scum and villainy even more dishonest than CNN.
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Yes, many Americans have no idea how much people dislike the Belgians (and not just for the actions of Leopold II). Previously I was rooting for USA win here. After this, well, I'm still rooting for a USA win here, but it's now a little bitter.
I've never met anyone, including several Belgians, who have strong opinions about Belgium as a country, much less actively dislike it. I don't really believe there's a large contingent of Belgium-haters anywhere outside their former colonies.
Oh, I genuinely dislike Belgians. My least favourite Europeans by far. Again, no issue with the land or its art (many great artists have come from the land now known as Belgium), but rather once again, it's the people and their ancestors. And actually, this time I have an issue with the country itself (in a way that I absolutely don't with the UK or France or the US) and how it's built from wealth extracted through opression of other peoples in far flung corners of the world to an extreme degree even the other colonial powers were horrified at (say what you want about the Brits, at least their colonialism was probably the most "enlightened" version of it out there).
The Jutes didn't get their own soveriegn country. Neither did the Frisisans. It's a sad accident of history that Belgium even exists as a country today and didn't get absorbed as a part of France.
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The French have a category of jokes, mostly the same as "blonde jokes" in english, specifically for Belgians. They are usually depicted in French media as dumb yokels.
Sounds almost affectionate if anything. I've heard the Dutch do this aswell.
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It's generally seen as ill mannered and out of touch to go digging into the past for grievance with anything relating to politics. So I don't think Leopold has much to do with it. Football is its own history.
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Somewhat related, I’ve read a lot of hatred being hurled at Belgium in regards to soccer. Can you explain the anti-Belgian thing? They seem like a tiny country that nobody really cares about with a soccer team that is like second or third tier in Europe. I know they’re highly ranked but that’s it. Why do non-US soccer fans seem to hate them?
Say, how do you like the Belgians now?
Yeah, yeah…not great Bob.
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A mismatch between FIFA ranking and big tournament performance for a couple of years.
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It's hard to say. I can only speak for myself in that they are a bitch to lose against. They usually have very strong teams on paper, but they also never go the distance to actually win. For smaller countries to have their miracle runs ended by Belgium instead of the 'big teams' is very anti-climactic. For bigger teams to lose against Belgium is similarly disappointing. It feels like you've been robbed of all the romance and drama of seeing two big teams duking it out. Instead you get... Belgium.
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They had a golden generation about 5-10 years ago that made them an absolute top tier team for a bit. They're coming down from that level of play so there's still some resentment about that run.
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Shot in the dark but does it have to do with being the seat of the EU?
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