So, Your Country Hosted the World Cup
Maybe we should embrace the joy and forget American reality for a few more days.
By Megan Armstrong
“Austria, of course, gave us the ‘Sound of Music,’ but losing at the World Cup is not like the song. You can’t simply remember your favorite things and not feel so bad. It’s horrible.”
That’s what the venerable Ian Darke said while calling Austria’s 3-0 loss to Spain in the Round of 32 at the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup. He may as well have been talking about watching the World Cup with a conscience, however.
The World Cup is theater — always more opera than show tune — and the script wrote itself: A dynamic U.S. men’s national team galvanized belief in downtrodden Americans during the first men’s World Cup played on U.S. soil since 1994.
Led by Mauricio Pochettino, a charismatic Argentine, the team is spitting in the face of bigoted immigration policies — a team full of birthright citizens, dual citizens, first-generation citizens, Americans all the same — and altering the course of the sport in the United States for generations to come.
Folarin “Flo” Balogun emerged as the main character, scoring twice in his World Cup debut. He chose the U.S. team over England and Nigeria, and he was given that choice because of birthright citizenship. His mother, Florence, believes it was fate: She gave birth to him in Brooklyn only because she was “deemed too pregnant to fly” home to London in July 2001.
On the first day of this July, Balogun was shown a controversial red card in the USMNT’s 2-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Round of 32, automatically triggering a one-game suspension. And that’s when the fourth wall was broken, only to reveal what we all tried to forget for the sake of enjoying the World Cup: This is a FIFA production.
FIFA’s corruption spans decades, perpetually threatening the purity of the game and demanding an all-world level of cognitive dissonance to maintain a love for the World Cup. FIFA President Gianni Infantino met his match in U.S. President Donald Trump. This administration put on a masterclass of what not to do as a host nation, leaving the American people to pick up the pieces.
Infantino took it to a cartoonish level when he presented Trump with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize last December. Around the creation of the farcical trophy, CNN inquired about “Infantino’s relationship with Trump amid concerns from human rights groups that it’s become too close for comfort.” FIFA responded, “Since the awarding of the United Bid for Canada, Mexico and United States to host the FIFA World Cup 2026, the FIFA President has enjoyed a strong relationship with President Trump, along with leaders from fellow co-hosts Canada and Mexico.”
Infantino said as much while presenting the FIFA Peace Prize to Trump: “You can always count, Mr. President, on my support, on the support of the entire football community — or ‘soccer’ community — to help you make peace and make the world prosper,” Infantino said at the time.
Fifty members of the European Parliament objected to this decision, per The Athletic’s Adam Crafton.
So though Trump never needs an excuse to insert himself where he’s neither needed nor wanted, he was particularly emboldened to meddle with FIFA.
Balogun was circumspect about the red card. “I never want to react out of anger and out of emotion,” he said. “There’s still lots of people we’re inspiring, little kids, boys and girls who are watching, and we have to show them the correct way to handle things even when you think it’s unjust.”
Not Trump.
There’s differing reporting on just how involved Trump was in FIFA’s decision to suspend Balogun’s red card, which allowed him to play against Belgium in the Round of 16, but Trump admitted he called Infantino and “asked for a review.” He also took a victory lap on Truth Social.
This happened on July 5, the same day Norway upset Brazil and England overcame Mexico to escape the vaunted Azteca with a rare win. As Erling Haaland led Norwegian fans in their famed “Viking Row,” FOX Sports’ Rebecca Lowe said, “That’s what the World Cup is all about, days like these, moments like that.” That’s what the World Cup is supposed to be about. Yet, all anyone could talk about was Trump’s orange-tinted stain on this World Cup.
And roughly 24 hours later, the USMNT looked utterly lifeless against Belgium in a humiliating 4-1 defeat. It’s tempting to chalk this loss up to the undefeated Trump kiss of death, but that would give him far too much credit. Belgium has been better than the USMNT every time they’ve played. Literally. The U.S. men have not beaten Belgium since 1930. Still, it is fair to wonder about the degree to which the self-indulgent charade aided in the unraveling. Belgian players mocked the “Trump Dance” as one of their four goal celebrations, after all.
The USMNT lost in the Round of 16 at a World Cup yet again. It was horrible.
And now this World Cup feels tarnished because of a Trump scandal that benefitted the USMNT, and the USMNT going out sad on home soil. It’s stereotypically American to believe we’re the exception to the rule, when other countries have had to find beauty and hope in their football (soccer) teams — to make the decision to preserve their human spirit and sense of wonder — under oppression for decades or centuries. It might be new here to feel a disconnect between the team and reality, or between the World Cup’s explosion of euphoria that now dredges up a wistfulness, too. But it’s not new elsewhere.
Every World Cup has an underbelly. The corruption must be called out, but we can’t let it succeed in erasing the magic of the best tournament on Earth. Trump will reappear for one more act, handing the trophy to the champion. Until then, listing our favorite things may not work like it does in the song, but we have to at least try, right?
U.S. fans filled the stadium with “Country Roads, Take Me Home.” Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi, the ageless wonder, are rewriting history every other day. Erling Haaland charms the world with goals and Snapchat. Ståle Solbakken gave an impassioned speech about how his players’ courage has changed Norway forever. The team from tiny Cape Verde inspired the global population. Mohamed Salah was moved to tears during Egypt’s historic run. Lawrence, Kansas, rallied around the Algerian team. Those are the images that deserve to endure.
And there’s still so much script left to unfurl. The idealistic American thing to do — the more worthy endeavor — would be to embrace other cultures, other nations, and indulge in the sense of hope and joy they’ve brought to U.S. soil throughout this World Cup. We’ll miss it when it’s gone and we’re left with American reality.
Megan Armstrong is a freelance journalist, podcast producer, and perpetual content consumer. Her work has appeared in Billboard, Boardroom, Esquire, GQ, GRAMMY.com, NYLON, Teen Vogue, The Kansas City Star, The Hollywood Reporter, UPROXX, and elsewhere.
Good article, thank you.