Mike Woitalla

Enjoy World Cup history here: 🔗socceramerica.com/soccer-america…

Pau Cubarsí meets the media after Spain sealed its trip to the final.

@MadridPreeti That’s irrelevant. What matters is he kicked an opponent in the penalty area.

🚨Lucas Digne had no way of knowing Yamal was making a Run behind him. Never should've been a penalty. FIFA appointed Iván Barton with a record out 4 red cards in his last 6 matches. Spain on average gets 45 percent more VAR calls in favour than France. Desperate measures 🤯

Spain heads to the 2026 World Cup final.

Mikel Oyarzabal gave Spain a 1-0 lead over France in the 22nd minute from the penalty spot.

0 Real Madrid players on Spain roster. 2 Real Madrid players starting for France

As far as national anthems go, this is a good one (the melody that is).

Large number of neutrals among the Spain and France fans streaming into Dallas Stadium.

Among the American youth soccer problems: 🚉 A lack of public transit ⚽️ @pkedit explains in his piece about French youth soccer. 🔗socceramerica.com/the-small-worl…

As we come down the home stretch of the @FIFAWorldCup @MikeWoitalla of @SoccerAmerica with some thoughts on the 'hydration' breaks (big revenue producing breaks for TV). The Soccer Media Podcast: youtube.com/watch?v=hP86dh… @USMNT @FrontRowSoccer @SiriusXMFC @ESPNFC

Interesting back-story to Ismail Elfath, the American referee for England v Argentina. Born in Casablanca, Elfath won a US government “diversity lottery ticket” aged 18. Left an extended family of 16 in his grandfather’s house (his mother died when he was 8), arrived with $200 at University of Texas at Austin. Studied mechanical engineering, played decent standard locally (striker for Austin Lightning in USL League Two) and complained about refereeing standards so decided to become one. Continued playing until tackled badly from behind, over-reacted, sent off, and argued with ref, grabbing the red card, on way off. Briefly suspended, so decided to focus on reffing. Got a job in IT (useful for VAR) while climbing refereeing ladder. Not that well-known, mainly MLS, but did Qatar 2022, upset Cristiano Ronaldo by disallowed a goal for an apparent foul, and a lucky omen for Argentina – fourth official in the 2022 final they won. Now 44, and a naturalised US citizen, Elfath has spoken candidly to his local Austin American-Statesman newspaper about being Muslim after 9/11, talking of the abuse but also of the great kindness of Austin people. Role model for US refereeing and his faith. #ENGARG #FIFAWorldCup

🇺🇸American Ismail Elfath set to make U.S. men's World Cup reffing history. He'll referee the Argentina-England semifinal with U.S. ARs Corey Parker and Kyle Atkins. @PROreferees

⚽️📺John Shrader and I discuss the art of soccer play-by-play commentary. @Shrader_Media

📺Watching games on @FOXSports makes me wonder if the analysts are paid by the word and whether the play-by-play guys know they're supposed to tell us who's on the ball.⚽️ (Speaking with John Shrader @Shrader_Media) youtu.be/hP86dhHijtg?si…

@michaelkruse A much needed financial boost after three straight men’s World Cup failures.

Learned reading this that Germany starting next year will wear not Adidas but Nike. nytimes.com/2026/07/09/bus…

Great to be on and share some of opinions, such as how: @FOXSoccer play-by-play announcing falls short.

This just drove by. Always wondered how many new customers Bank of America pulled in thanks to bloody, broken nose image of poor Diego Luna. Hopefully he got something out of it.

They’re playing Stars Spangled Banner an hour before the Spain -Belgium game at Los Angeles Stadium.

I asked Tab Ramos about the #USMNT lack of World Cup progress vis-à-vis America youth soccer. He cited: 👎The proliferation of "useless competition." 👍The Tom Byer @tomsan106 push for "soccer at home." 🔗socceramerica.com/tab-ramos-on-t…

A once in a lifetime way to get to a World Cup stadium. I won’t do this twice.😃⚽️

@TheS_Resource Decades of British coaches.

Every football nation has challenges. Mark Warburton believes he knows the biggest one facing player development in the United States. Speaking on BBC Football Daily, he said: "The biggest problem for USA football, they will pay some up to $6,000-$7,000 a year to play football. It's the pay to play model over here... Sporting JAX has an academy with 10,000 kids. There are others with 15,000. This is big business, so you will have coaching on money over here, way into the six figures. I could go to the UK and get ex players, qualified Pro Licence and A Licence coaches on a fraction of what these guys over here earn, but right now that's the biggest problem they have in the US in terms of player development." Whether you agree or disagree, it's a perspective that raises important questions. Should a child's opportunity to develop in football depend on what their family can afford? Does a pay to play model help raise standards or does it unintentionally reduce the size and diversity of the talent pool? I'd be interested to hear the views of coaches, parents and players, particularly those with experience of the US system.