{"id":217896,"date":"2025-12-06T03:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/217896\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T03:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:33:09","slug":"world-cup-draw-at-once-unwatchable-and-mesmerising-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/217896\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup draw at once unwatchable and mesmerising \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took a kind of perverse, comic ingenuity to have replaced the scandal-ridden Fifa era of Sepp Blatter<\/a> by unleashing a figure like Gianni Infantino<\/a> upon the world. Blatter in his hey-day at least possessed a sort of Bond-villain charisma. Infantino was supposed to be the opposite of that: a legal and administrative wonk in football governance \u2013 a reliable hand. <\/p>\n

But on a wintry Friday in Washington, Infantino gave one of the most infamous theatrical performances ever witnessed at the Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts. It was jaw-dropping: at once unwatchable and mesmerising as the nine-year president of Fifa<\/a> seemed intoxicated by his own role in the show. <\/p>\n

Dressed in his tux, he was by the end, a nightmare: the ma\u00eetre d\u2019 who won\u2019t leave the table and won\u2019t shut up about the menu.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s draw was for a tournament to be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, the neighbouring countries engaged in terse negotiations over illegal border crossings and Trump\u2019s tariffs policies. But for Fifa, this was an occasion designed to flatter its star guest, one Donald J Trump<\/a>, with Infantino, who has cast himself as a key ally of the US president, gifting him, on behalf of world football, the inaugural Fifa World Peace Prize. <\/p>\n

\u201cLike everyone here in the room we see images of war all over the world,\u201d he told Trump after presenting him with a complicated and somewhat creepy-looking gold trophy and a big gold medal, which the president slipped around his neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd like everyone, we suffer for every child that dies. We cry with every mother that loses someone she loves and we want to see hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult to overstate just how hollow and empty that moment looked, sounded and felt. The ceremony could never hope to recover, and it didn\u2019t. <\/p>\n

There may be substance to the argument made by some that Trump\u2019s ambitious and ceaseless foreign diplomatic initiatives have, for now, introduced a perilous stability in the Middle East. And it remains to be seen if he can deliver on his election boast to bring an end to Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine. But the 2026 World Cup arrives at a time when the idea of visiting the United States, always a global dream destination, conflicts with its policy of pronounced isolationism and its aggressive anti-immigration policy. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0World Cup draw as it happened: Republic of Ireland could play Mexico, South Africa and South Korea if they win playoffsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Many football fans may have tuned in to Friday\u2019s charade in Washington looking for signs that next summer\u2019s festival could become the trip of a lifetime. The two-hour draw will have done little to persuade them.<\/p>\n

The show was officially hosted by Heidi Klum, the German model, and the inescapable comedian Kevin Hart, but both were quickly shoo-ed off stage by Infantino. <\/p>\n

It was snowing steadily across Washington at Friday noontime but whatever the temperature outside, it plummeted inside the vast auditorium shortly after Infantino began his warm-up act. <\/p>\n

The Kennedy Centre \u2013 which may be renamed after its current president, who is also the occupant of the White House \u2013 is a gargantuan building on the edge of the Potomac river.<\/p>\n

Infantino had, scattered around the darkened auditorium, some of the most glittering names in World Cup lore as his audience. And scattered around the darkened auditorium they remained. He also had millions of football fans watching around the world, baffled, disheartened, scornful and amused. <\/p>\n

Scour the world wild web and it\u2019s hard to find anyone who thought this was a good show.<\/p>\n

\"USUS president Donald Trump, Mexico president Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney pose for a selfie with Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA. Photograph: Kevin Dietsch\/ Getty Images <\/p>\n

Before the event, anti-Trump activists dressed as soccer referees fired out \u201cred cards for war crimes\u201d in protest at the Fifa prize.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis legacy is one of division, ongoing conflicts across the Global South, and the terrorising of immigrant communities in the US. Fifa is celebrating a man whose policies are the opposite of peace,\u201d said Codepink organiser Olivia DiNucci in a statement. <\/p>\n

President Trump sounded sincere when he spoke about the award. It was a reminder of his true aggrievement at having been overlooked by the Nobel committee earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is truly one of the great honours of my life. And beyond awards, Gianni and I were discussing this \u2013 we saved millions and millions of lives. The Congo for example. India\/Pakistan … all the wars we were able to end, in some cases just before they started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things then went downhill as Infantino spoke to Trump, Canada\u2019s prime minister Mark Carney, and Mexico president Claudia Sheinbaum as though they were children in showing them how to draw the pool-balls from the World Cup draw pot. Even Trump was becoming tired of his host after watching Carney draw Canada and Sheinbaum draw Mexico with the first two countries pulled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I know what this is going to be now,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes he know something that I don\u2019t know?\u201d<\/p>\n

After opening the ball to hold up the ticket duly reading USA, Trump added: \u201cThis is shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"USUS president Donald Trump shows the card reading USA during the draw for the 2026 FIFA Football World Cup. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski\/ AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

And it was, in its awfulness. Of course, if society demanded incorruptibility and unimpeachable ethics from Fifa, then the concept of the World Cup would have fallen apart decades ago. <\/p>\n

USA 1994 was a grim, unloved tournament for everyone apart from the triumphant Brazilians \u2013 and, for a week or so, the Irish. <\/p>\n

Thirty years on, football fandom is on the rise in the United States. This summer will be Fifa\u2019s second chance to convince Americans about the merits of the 90-minute scoreless draw.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember watching Pel\u00e9 playing on a team called the Cosmos,\u201d Trump said, reaching into his bag of memories and producing an image of the Brazilian great in his brilliant New York Cosmos strip. It was actually the most interesting remark of the entire two hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I said, \u2018that man can play\u2019. I was pretty young at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was in 1975, a year after the World Cup hosted by West Germany. No, Fifa has always had a compromised soul. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0How do Irish fans get tickets for next summer\u2019s World Cup?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

It\u2019s there in the bleak footage of the generals at the 1978 tournament in Argentina, through the decision to award the tournament to Russia in 2018, and the human rights abuses of workers ahead of the Qatar tournament. Of course, that last World Cup produced a series of wonderfully seductive football matches and was regarded as a triumph. <\/p>\n

The people have good intentions, but we are fallible. The gripes and condemnations about Fifa and this show will soon be forgotten. And the summer may be a blazing football success. Infantino will, someday, argue that he simply wrote the how-to manual for political leaders in dealing with Trump. <\/p>\n

It fell to US sports legends Tom Brady, Shaq O\u2019Neill and Wayne Gretzky, and current baseball all star Aaron Judge to pull the happy football countries out of the pot. <\/p>\n

The Village People arrived on stage to perform YMCA, an enduring favourite in the presidential playlist. Trump, Carney, and Sheinbaum stood together and clapped along. Who says football does not unite?<\/p>\n

Outside the snow continued to fall. Hotter days lie ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took a kind of perverse, comic ingenuity to have replaced the scandal-ridden Fifa era of Sepp Blatter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[356,18,34476,74963,19,17,6634,132,35350],"class_list":{"0":"post-217896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-fifa","11":"tag-gianni-infantino","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-world-cup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115670522774770767","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}