A year left for the World Cup. The date was remembered around the planet on Thursday (11). But here in the United States, who is not a fan of football may not even know. In the host nation of the next World Cup – a mexician and Canada – the news was dominated by protests against measures to repression to Donald Trump’s immigration.
With this, the sports press has also talked about politics lately. There are questions about the fight that the US president bought with Mexican and Canadian neighbors for his economic and migratory view and the possible effects on the organization of the World Cup. After all, the success of a mega event based in several countries also depends on logistics agility at the borders and circulation of agile and efficient tourists. They did not help Trump’s clueless statements that he would love Canada to become the 51st American state.
Unsurprisingly, the United States is one of the countries that value and invest in sports, from the base. As a journalist, I find it impressive for the coverage of university sports, with various TV channels conveying basketball, football, swimming, athletics.
However, they are learning to like football (male, because in female they are stars and victorious). If you come here, don’t even try to call “Football” – this is their football, theirs. Messi and Cia. play “soccer”.
The Club World Cup, which starts this Saturday (14) – a member for which I am on American soil – is seen as an opportunity to promote a sport that is still secondary here. It runs until July 13 and has 32 teams, including Manchester City, PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Juventus. For fans of the four Brazilian clubs in the competition – Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo – is a rare chance to see your team face European powers.
The opening match is between Inter Miami, Messi, and Al Ahly, from Egypt. In a screen in Times Square, New York, I see the faces of the Argentine, Vinicius Junior and Erling Haaland in a tournament advertisement. And it has been common to cross the city streets with Fluminense fans, Porto, Borussia Dortmund, who play here in the coming days.
The Club World Cup also serves as a test for the 2026 World Cup. This week, Trump, once again, overshadowed the sport by signing a decree forbidding citizens from 12 countries in the United States, including Iran, whose selection is already classified. The measure caused enormous controversy, although he said athletes will not be affected by the restrictions.
In three years, Trump will also be the president who will declare the Los Angeles Olympic Games 2028 open. The city of California, with a large Hispanic population, is one of the outbreaks of the demonstrations of the last days, and a touch of collecting is in force.
As sport and politics they mix, it is normal that even the eve of a large event the focus is on the problems of the host country-which is important and necessary-and when competition begins, attention changes to fields and arenas.
In the case of Trump’s United States, this will happen much more than usual.
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