Aakash Patel

Talking to myself on here since 2012

#GGMU
#VAMOSATL
#RISEUP
#GODAWGS
#CHOPON

[Aakash Patel @KaAshew96]

Being in grad school as a 20 something is the hardest thing. Every day I see friends doing things in their lives. New jobs, houses, cars, engagement announcements, starting families, etc. Meanwhile we're stuck in books, labs and sim centers studying. I just feel behind.

[Adam Howard @adamOsaussies]

The problem with the US is not that their 6-9 250lb athletes don’t grow up playing soccer. Their problem is they don’t know how to develop and nurture the 5-5 150lb athlete because they don’t fit their perception of what an elite sportsperson looks like.

[BOUTROS ⽊ @boutros555]

At basically every turn of this tournament, both the positive and the negative, this guy has been pure class, embodying the American spirit.

Make him the face of your team going forward, I say.

[U.S. Soccer Men's National Team @USMNT]

Dear America... Thank you for standing with us and for believing in this team. Thank you for believing in the future of soccer in this country.

A toda nuestra gente... Gracias por su apoyo y por creer en este equipo. Gracias por creer en el futuro del fútbol en nuestro país.

[Kata @utdshows]

🚨🎙️ Javier Hernández on the growing refereeing controversies at the World Cup:

🗣️ “Why does it feel like almost every major refereeing controversy at this World Cup has involved Argentina?

First it was Algeria, then Cape Verde, and now Egypt.

Football is slowly losing one of the things that made it the greatest sport in the world: trust in officiating.

The biggest problem isn’t VAR itself. It’s the lack of consistency.

The same challenge is a red card in one match and only a yellow in another.

The same handball is given one day and ignored the next.

Similar incidents are judged completely differently depending on the game.

VAR was brought in to reduce controversy, yet it often creates even more confusion because the standard seems to change from match to match.

Where is the consistency? Where is the fairness?

Every controversial decision chips away at the fans’ confidence in the game.

Football will always have mistakes, but supporters deserve clearer and more consistent officiating if the sport wants to protect its credibility.” 👀

[SuperiorUSMNT @EinSchwarzwelt]

You hire Poch, give him a year and a half to unfuck Berhalter Sr washed culture of a squad, ask him to waste everyone's time calling up My Little Soccer frauds for marketing time in Gold Cup and 2025 friendlies (Walker Zimmerman playing 90 min vs Switzerland in Nashville then promptly discarded and never relevant ever again), then ask him to do the impossible and go into quarterfinals/semifinals with a group of players that have been fucked by weak mentalities for YEARS; and now all of a sudden Poch is the fraud, the 4-1 loss to Belgium was all on him.

Never mind the fact that we got the most wins in our WC campaign, most points in group stage, most goals scored ever at a WC.

[🇺🇸🇫🇷🇳🇴 @starsnstripesfc]

If you’re an American who has been loving this World Cup, find the closest MLS and/or USL team to you and support it.

I’m not saying you have to go to games, but try to watch them on TV if not. Follow their socials, push the product, introduce friends and family.

The game will not continue to grow here if we don’t support our own.

If you hate MLS, support a USL club. They are introducing Pro/Rel soon, if you want change to MLS, this succeeding is the key.

If you are new to the sport in general, I recommend also following a European team in England, Italy, Spain or Germany. Pick a team and watch them every weekend morning if you can! Watching the top leagues will only help your understanding of the game and all the intricacies.

One of the most fun parts for me is tracking USA players overseas at all the different clubs. Once you’re in, you’re hooked. ⚽️🇺🇸

[OutKick @Outkick]

If Malik Tillman has a million fans, then I am one of them.

If Malik Tillman has ten fans, then I am one of them.

If Malik Tillman has only one fan then that is me.

If Malik Tillman has no fans, then that means I am no longer on earth.

If the world is against Malik Tillman, then I am against the world.

[Goals Zone @TheGoalsZoneHQ]

🚨🗣️ Zlatan Ibrahimović: "I don't understand how Argentina always gets favoured by FIFA, they clearly disallowed a legal goal of Egypt and they gave Argentina 8 Penalties in the last 12 World Cup games, I don't understand why the other countries are letting it happen".

[Egypt National Team @EgyptNT_EN]

Thank you for 23 days of the best moments we could have shared together 🤩🇪🇬

#egyptnt
#FIFAWORLDCUP

[FLA Henrique @flahenriquebr]

Fizeram um compilado de 4 minutos mostrando os lances em que a Argentina foi favorecida contra o Egito.

Simplesmente um escândalo mundial. Quanta sujeira envolvida. 🤢

[Mike Conti @MikeConti929]

If it’s England vs Argentina, I predict it will be the most difficult ticket in Mercedes Benz Stadium history (more than any Super Bowl or SEC Championship)

[Luiz Carlos Largo @LARGOESPN]

DECLARAÇÕES FORTES!

Após o apito final, o técnico do Egito, Hossam Hassan, fez duras críticas.

🗣️ "Vou dizer o que penso independentemente das consequências. Esta foi claramente uma partida manipulada e o mundo inteiro viu isso."

🗣️ "E quero dizer mais uma coisa: se eles querem tanto que a Argentina vença, por que chamam todo mundo para vir e participar?"

[David Ornside @David_Ornside]

🚨🗣 Jamie Carragher on Egypt's Canceled goal by VAR:

🗣"I am telling you that, if that was against another team it would have been awarded as a goal"

"If that was in the premier league, Laliga or Serie A, it would have been a goal even after VAR review, there is a lot of inconsistency lately in this tournament"

[®️ @UtdRom]

🚨🗣|| Muhammed Salah on why he was laughing when the referee overllok their penalty:

"I told him to go back and check it because it was a clear penalty, but he just waved it off and said, "Nah, that's not a foul."

Ironically, that's the exact same type of challenge that got our second goal disallowed. The moment that happened, I knew we'd lost the game to the referee. There's nothing you can do in that situation. If the officiating had been fair, we'd have won the match."

[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.

[ESPN FC @ESPNFC]

Egypt came into this tournament never having won a World Cup match.

They got their first-ever win in the group stage, first-ever knockout win in the RO32 and took the defending champion Argentina to the brink in the RO16.

An all-time run for the Pharaohs 🇪🇬

[Aakash Patel @KaAshew96]

@FWC26Atlanta Have the president call and move the final here

[FIFA World Cup 26 Atlanta™ @FWC26Atlanta]

Another full house at Atlanta Stadium.

Official attendance is 68,239!

#FIFAWorldCup #WeAreAtlanta #WeAre26

[Everything Georgia @GAFollowers]

The best stadium in the country.