By: Isabelle Puente

Things are starting to heat up as the 2026 FIFA World Cup will enter the quarterfinals, Thursday.

But first things first.

The United States will face Belgium at 7 p.m., (local time), today, in Seattle, on Fox Sports Network in the Round of 16, a game Paul Conway is looking forward to.

Conway, a native of Dublin, Ireland, has been involved with soccer from a young age. He came to Jackson in 1996 to play soccer under Coach Richie Grant at Lambuth University and has continued to be involved in the game through coaching.

He currently serves as the Boys and Girls Head Soccer coach at the University School of Jackson.

“I do feel like where the likes of Mexico, Canada, the United States they have hosted an incredible (World Cup),” Conway said. “And the reason they’ve hosted an incredible tournament is the organizations they have – the stadiums – but the people, the people that are here in the United States (and) Mexico – they’ve kind of welcomed the world in and said this is who we are.”

Since June 11, soccer fans across the globe have been tuning in to watch the quadrennial tournament. This year the World Cup is hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Recent social media posts have captured how visitors to North America have come together to celebrate this globally loved event.

However, with soccer being a contact sport the peace and love doesn’t always translate on the field.

The U.S. men’s team has created a divide over a red card that was placed on U.S. player Folarin Balogun. The card was given after further VAR (Video Assistant Referee) reviews deemed the play foul-worthy.

Balogun’s penalty has since been overturned after President Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino to request a review of the situation. This interaction has also caused fans to question FIFA’s integrity by allowing the U.S. President to influence the sport. The question no longer remains if whether or not Balogun will play.

After years of coaching experience, Conway said that once soccer brought in VAR’s, it changed everything. Now fans and officials are not looking at things from somebody’s opinion.

However, he says when we look at the incident it does not look like a red card due to it not falling under serious foul play – but when shown on VAR – the play does look like Balogun is putting the opponent in danger.

If the FIFA World Cup is something you are interested in, you can catch the next games on Peacock or Fox Sports.

(PHOTO: Paul Conway serves as the Boys and Girls soccer head coach at University School of Jackson – courtesy Isabelle Puente – Golden Media Group)