Donald Trump has been dealt another major blow by a national US sports team, after the US Mens National Soccer team defied him by refusing to play anything resembling soccer in their final World Cup qualifier this week.

Amidst the ongoing controversy regarding NFL players and fans boycotting the national anthem, the USMNT are being hailed as ‘heroes of free speech’ through their concerted effort to avoid being invited to Russia for next year’s FIFA World Cup.

“Obviously, free speech is very, very important to us as a soccer team”, said USMNT manager, Bruce Arena. “I’m often yelling at players to play a certain way, and even though literally everyone knows that I’m wrong and a little insane, they respect me enough to do it”.

“So when it came down to boycotting the Russia World Cup, the decision was a no-brainer for us. As most of my decisions are.”

President Trump himself, meanwhile, is said to be furious at the snub, as having a high- profile US national team visit Russia would have been a major win for his administration, as it would have meant that someone else was being paid by Russia for a change.