Matthew Smith

@AuburnU & @UF Alum. Doctor of Physical Therapy. I enjoy outdoors, music, sports, and just about everything in between. Could I have been anyone other than me?

[SEC Supremacy @SECSupremacyCFB]

Top Ten lowest scoring SEC games of the 21st Century: #1

#9 Auburn 3
Mississippi State 2
(2008)

Total points scored: 5

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

This Argentina team straight up reminds me of 2013 Auburn Football. Insane comebacks with destiny on their side. Now can they finish the job?

[Balogun @balogun]

My debut World Cup… it hurts to wait 4 years to compete at the highest level our sport has to offer. I want to say sorry to our fans it was not good enough when it mattered most and we let you down

Soccer in America will only become bigger the belief, the talent, and the passion is continually growing and I know the best days are in front of us, the future belongs to those who never stop believing, this moment will fuel us. We will be back

Why not us?

For the nation. For the flag.
🇺🇸🦅
B

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

@PabloEscoburner Pablo this is just a warmup for our wonderful upcoming Auburn Tigers season. It’s a good mindset to prepare for 😂😭😭 (This feeling is all too familiar)

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

Waited until the end to comment. Felt like a DAMN AUBURN GAME. We legit beat ourselves for half the night. Truly convinced it could have been 2-2 after all that. We did stupid ass shit for a lot of the game. Wayyy too many dumb turnovers. Just want soccer to be good man…

[Ellen Carmichael @ellencarmichael]

The most interesting part of the red card saga isn't the ruling. It's how differently Americans and Europeans process the idea that they might have been wronged.

Europeans are fundamentally different from Americans in one particular way: they expect life to be aggravating and at times unfair. It's just a fact of moving through the world. I joke that in Europe, the customer is always wrong. You didn't read the fine print. The only pharmacy in town is closed every other Tuesday for three hours, and even if the times weren't posted, that's still your problem. Too bad if you want the bill, because the waiter's on his union-mandated half-hour smoke break, and you're just going to have to wait.

To quote the great Mark Knopfler: sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. There's something freeing in that. Things are less in your control, so there's less angst in managing your expectations.

In America, things couldn't be more different. We simply can't accept a wrong left unrighted.

The flight attendant sneezed handing you a drink on your one-hour flight? 15,000 frequent flyer miles. Didn't like your appetizer? A replacement is on the way, and the whole course comes off the bill. There's a reason our interstates are lined with trial lawyer billboards.

Europeans have turned complaining into a continental pastime with no expectation that the universe owes them a remedy for their grief. You gripe about the train being late, your friends nod solemnly and everyone goes back to their apéro. In America, we launch a full-blown investigation of the train system, sue the government (and its contractors) that allowed for the tardiness and hold a Congressional hearing on the state of national infrastructure.

So to an objective observer, the red card shouldn't have happened, and VAR was a travesty. To Americans, our star player shouldn't be unfairly banned from a match we couldn't afford to lose for a card he so obviously didn't deserve.

Who cares that FIFA used a little-used reversal to fix it. Who cares that other people are mad about it. We. Were. Wronged. It was unjust. It must be corrected. We would accept nothing less.

Europeans waxing poetic about the sanctity of the game are, of course, talking about a governing body whose last tournament host was decided via confirmed cash bribes — one that imposed dress codes on women, shrugged off widespread allegations of modern slavery and reconfigured the entire tournament calendar to suit the host country. Which is exactly the point. If you've made peace with all of that, at least enough to watch the tournament four years later, a probationary suspension isn't actually a scandal.

Maybe that's the real divide. Over millennia, Europeans have made peace with being the bug. Americans have never once considered it, and apparently, we're not about to start now.

[Big Cat @BarstoolBigCat]

What a game. What a fucking game

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

AMAZING. Cannot believe they pulled that off.

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

WOWWWWW

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

This game has sooo much tension I’m loving every second 😂

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

Hahahaha this game is INCREDIBLE

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

@PabloEscoburner Incredible content Pablo

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

THIS GAME

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

That’ll probably be a GG

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

Sheeeesh WHAT a half

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

Hahahaha this is wildddd

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

HAAALAANDDD OMG

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

HALLANDDDDD

[ESPN @espn]

Breaking: Folarin Balogun will be available to play in USA's Round of 16 match against Belgium on Monday, FIFA announced.

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has suspended the red card issued to the USA striker during their Round of 32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[Matthew Smith @maffewsmitty]

@JakeCrain_ Grew up in Bama/SEC country and went to Auburn and Florida and will always love college football. Played soccer my entire life up until college though. Welcome to the beautiful game… It’s a great sport.