BANJA BOUPHASAVANH

Believer, ♥ @Charissa122 , Respect & Loyalty #KeepPounding #BuzzCity #CCU

[Freddy🇩🇪 @FreddyLA7]

Hello again.

We’re currently in Clemson, South Carolina. I’ve decided to come back here to document the final part of our road trip.

The main reason I deactivated my account two weeks ago was that things became increasingly toxic. For some people, it’s unfortunately unfathomable that a good story can exist without some kind of hidden agenda behind it. There was even a Reddit group going through my entire account trying to find anything they could use to reveal my identity.

I know this was only a small percentage of people, but after a while it became exhausting. During the last two weeks, I received so many kind messages on Instagram, and they really made me realize how many people genuinely enjoyed following the trip. Some people even told me that their grandparents regularly ask them, “What are the Germans up to today?” I think that’s really cool.

I decided to continue because I realized that the overwhelming majority of people loved following along. A small group of very loud people shouldn’t be able to ruin something that brought so many others joy.

I also want to clear something up, as people who follow me on Instagram already know.

I’ve been to the United States before. This is not my first visit, and I’ve never claimed that it was. The last time I was here was in January 2022, when I visited New York and Philadelphia.

A lot of people shared my Raising Cane’s post from November 2025 to make it look like I was secretly American. That post wasn’t from the United States, it was from my trip to Saudi Arabia.

This is my first time back in the U.S. in more than four years, and apart from Boston, I’d never visited any of the places we’ve been to on this trip before. That’s probably why many people assumed it was our first time in America, because for all of these places, it actually was.

And let me tell you, Ohio and Alabama are very different from New York City or Los Angeles.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks for reading.

[Max Holloway @BlessedMMA]

Not the outcome we wanted but Gods plan is always the right one. Thank you Conor for fight. Took a lot to make that walk after these past few years. Sending prayers for a speedy recovery. Shout out to my family, team , friends and blessed expressers for the support. What a life we live. See at the next one. 🤙🏻

[Championship Rounds @ChampRDS]

Conor McGregor's coach, John Kavanagh, says they drilled that opening jump switch kick DAILY for months leading up to the fight:

"Devastated. That opening jump switch kick was drilled daily for months, multiple times in warm up. Never an issue.

Knee went when he threw the very first kick. Doesn't get any worse than this."

[Conor McGregor @TheNotoriousMMA]

I was so sharp and so ready for this fight I cannot believe what has happened. The talk of me being off while walking in to the fight is nonsense. I was calm, ready, and confident. I am in shock what has taken place. The devil is literally staring at me right in front of my face here. I am not engaging. I will be at church tomorrow.

I will overcome this.
I will not be deterred.
I will return.

[BANJA BOUPHASAVANH @BANJABOU]

PADDY THE BADDY!!! #UFC329

[BANJA BOUPHASAVANH @BANJABOU]

Brandon Royval's chin is crazy

[BANJA BOUPHASAVANH @BANJABOU]

KING GREEN #MADNESS #UFC329

[BANJA BOUPHASAVANH @BANJABOU]

You can tell Gable been training with Jon Jones 💪🏽

[Championship Rounds @ChampRDS]

Merab Dvalishvili just came back from an 8-0 deficit to defeat Henry Cejudo in his hometown at RAF Georgia 🤯

WHAT A MATCH!

[Corby Davidson @corbydavidson]

Ok. I can’t believe this just happened. My kid is sitting in a beach chair with his hand casually in the sand, & suddenly goes “oh my god look.” He pulls up a girls wedding band. It says “April 16, 2016 I love you.” This was gone FOREVER until now. Seagrove, Fla…Find this lady!

[Happy Punch @HappyPunch]

Conor McGregor says he didn’t have sex during this camp for the first time in his career 😭

“The fire is in my belly roaring and is about to be released… It’s been intense. We’re gonna have a good night Saturday, all across the board.”

[Erling Haaland @Erling]

One thing to do today… search my name on Google 😉

[Erling Haaland @Erling]

Made it moment!
Thanks, @kygomusic 🤝🏻🎶 Does this mean I’m officially an artist now?

[Kygo @KygoMusic]

As promised, Kygo Jo (Kygo Remix) @erling 🇳🇴 - out now! https://t.co/DR4mkvXhW9

[Sam Mahmood @TheSammahmood_]

The U.S. soccer federation is a poor return on invested capital.

I played soccer for 20+ years.

Grassroots.
Academy.
D1 college.
Pursued professionally after.

And I’ll say the quiet part out loud:

The US soccer infrastructure is broken.

In America, we treat playing D1 soccer like it is the peak achievement.

For most families, clubs, coaches, and players, the entire youth soccer machine is built around one goal:

Get recruited.
Get a scholarship.
Play college soccer.

But if the objective is to produce world-class players, D1 soccer is a terrible development path.

From 18-22, some of the most important technical development years of your career, you are preparing for a 3-4 month season built largely around athleticism, direct play, set pieces, fitness, and survival.

Now compare that to an 18-year-old in Spain, Argentina, Morocco, Italy, England, or France.

That player has likely been in a professional environment for years.

Training daily.
Playing meaningful matches year-round.
Competing against grown professionals.
Getting thousands more touches.
Learning how to solve the game under pressure.

The gap is massive.

And it shows.

American players are usually athletic.
They are usually fit.
They usually compete hard.

But at the highest levels, that is not enough.

The biggest difference is technical comfort.

We do not move the ball like Spain.
We do not combine like Argentina.
We do not play with the same fluidity, rhythm, and confidence you see from countries where the game is embedded into the culture from childhood.

That comes down to volume.

Volume of touches.
Volume of street soccer.
Volume of futsal.
Volume of unstructured play.
Volume of high-level training environments.
Volume of meaningful games.

In the US, youth soccer is expensive, overly organized, overly coached, tournament-driven, and too often built around winning games at 13 instead of developing players for 23.

Parents spend thousands.
Clubs charge thousands.
Travel teams fly all over the country.
Showcases become the product.
Recruiting becomes the scoreboard.

But the return on invested capital is poor.

We probably spend more money on youth soccer than almost any country in the world, yet the technical output does not match the investment.

That is a broken operating model.

And like any business, if the output is weak, you do not blame the customer.

You inspect the system.

The US has talent.
The US has athletes.
The US has money.
The US has facilities.

But the foundation is wrong.

We built a pay-to-play, college-recruiting machine and confused it for a world-class player development system.

Those are not the same thing.

Until we fix the grassroots layer, increase meaningful touches, make development less dependent on family income, and stop treating college soccer as the top of the mountain, the US will keep underperforming relative to its resources.

I’m not saying this to trash US Soccer.

I’m saying it because I lived it.

And if we actually want to become a powerhouse, we have to be honest about the infrastructure first.

[Chad Johnson @ochocinco]

Absolutely not, it takes more than athletic ability to dominate, you take our best athletes & put them in the favelas or European infrastructure from 4 years old we would be able to compete & look like we belong, dominate is a bit far fetched.

[Brian Baldinger @BaldyNFL]

Did Team Egypt just get robbed?

[Tom Brady @TomBrady]

Yeah so that might top 28-3 🤯

[FOX Sports @FOXSports]

Cristiano Ronaldo is visibly emotional after Portugal's defeat in what could be his final FIFA World Cup match ❤️

[TobyWrites @tobyasky]

Haaland walking and pretending like he does not know what is happening 😂

He learned well from the master at that.