My reason for visiting Europe this week was to watch Nico and Team USA compete at the Amp Futbol Cup 2026, a tune-up tournament between Poland, Ukraine, and the United States in preparation for the Amputee World Cup to be held in Mexico in November. In a highly questionable call, Nico was issued a red card early in the second half of the first match with Poland. There was no on-field call by the referee at the time of the incident, but for the first time in amputee soccer, VAR (Video Assistant Referee) was in use, and after the play was reviewed, the red card was issued. Nico was ruled to have made contact with a player in the act of shooting on goal. A review of the video after the match shows only minor contact, nothing that would warrant a red card. I think this was a case of an overly enthusiastic first-time VAR official wanting to be relevant. The consequence, however, was a death knell for Team USA. Playing a man down in amputee soccer is not like regular soccer, where losing 1 of 10 field players can be managed. Losing 1 of 6 is just too much of a deficit to overcome, and Poland ran away with the match. Adding insult to injury, Nico was forced to miss the next game with Ukraine, where the US lost 0-1. Nico will be back in action tomorrow.

I photographed both matches, and the images can be found here. Brutally harsh sunlight in the first match made for poor photographs. Conditions improved later in the day for the second match.