FINAL RECKONING
Donald Trump has largely steered clear of the Geopolitics World Cup: he is yet to attend a game and appear on screen with his good pal “Jonny” Infantino. Oh, though there was that time Trump rang Fifa to lobby for a review into Folarin Balogun’s red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the reversal of the USA USA USA forward’s last-16 suspension crushing the integrity of the competition. An impactful cameo off the bench, you could argue.
- The White House confirmed Donald Trump will attend the GWC final at the New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday.
- Fans still recall his trophy stand cameo, where Trump clung to the stage amid boos and bewildered players like Cole Palmer.
- We hope a reunion photo of Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal on the podium steals the spotlight from any presidential photobomb.
But the GWC final between Spain and Argentina – the bigliest, winningest of occasions – demands a starting role for the US president. The White House has confirmed Trump’s attendance at the New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday, potentially setting up a re-run of last year’s Copa Gianni final at the same venue. After Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea triumphed against Paris Saint-Germain (how time flies), Trump and Infantino handed over the trophy to Reece James. While Fifa’s president showed an understanding of social norms and tried to vacate the stage before the lift, Trump stayed superglued to his position as he celebrated between Robert Sánchez and a clearly bemused Cole Palmer. “I knew he was going to be here but I didn’t know he was going to be on the stand when we lifted the trophy,” Palmer sniffed. “I was a bit confused.”
The boos rang out for Trump back then, as they did at Madison Square Garden when he watched the New York Knicks’ sole loss during the NBA finals in June. “It was, I think, mostly cheers,” Trump proclaimed. “It was loud, and it was very enthusiastic.” Any further hostility on Sunday will likely be twisted too. What, you wonder, would be a useful antidote to the presidential sideshow? We can only hope that, regardless of the result, Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal come together for a few pics on the podium, 19 years on from their first photoshoot with one another.
It is just ridiculous, isn’t it? Those pictures from 2007 are doing the rounds once again, of a 20-year-old Messi cradling a baby for a charity calendar raising funds for Unicef. That child has become the master’s spiritual successor at Barcelona, inheriting the No 10 shirt, and they will meet again in a World Cup final. The snappers will be all over them when they embrace at the close, and let us pray no one tries to photobomb. “Um, excuse me, President Trump … you’re in the shot.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’m going to keep watching all the games from Olivos. Since it’s cold and I don’t turn on the heat, I wear an oil company-branded jacket. The day of the Switzerland game, it made me really hot. I took it off, and they scored a goal against us. I put it back on and never took it off again” – at least one populist president won’t be at the GWC final, after Argentina’s Javier Milei’s admission that superstition convinced him to watch Sunday’s match with Spain from home in attire that probably won’t go down well with anyone who cares about the sizzling-hot climate.
