Donald Trump is finally set to make an appearance at the World Cup by attending Sunday’s final featuring Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal.
Apart from his intervention in the red-card controversy involving United States forward Folarin Balogun, the US president has stayed completely out of the expanded tournament in the United States, Canada, and Mexico so far and has not attended a single match.
Fears that the World Cup would be overshadowed by Trump have not materialized.
But on Sunday, at the final between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, New Jersey, there will be no avoiding the world’s most powerful man.
Trump will not merely stand in line alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino and, together with other representatives of world football, shake hands and offer congratulations, as has been customary in the past.
Just over a month after his 80th birthday, he is set to present the golden trophy to the captain of the winning team, either Argentina’s Messi or Spain’s Rodri, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said.
Infantino enjoys giving Trump golden trophies
The relationship between the two is being watched with great suspicion.
Infantino created a FIFA Peace Prize for Trump and, with much fanfare during the World Cup draw, presented the politician with a golden trophy and a medal, which Trump placed around his neck himself. “This is one of the greatest honours of my life,” Trump said at the time.
Infantino seems happy to let Trump keep golden trophies.
A replica of the World Cup trophy stands in the White House and, strictly speaking, so does the original Club World Cup trophy.
When Trump asked FIFA when they would collect the trophy displayed in the Oval Office from the tournament held last summer, he said he was told: “You can keep it forever. We’ll make a new one.”
Trump’s call to Infantino was the biggest scandal of this World Cup
Trump’s phone call to Infantino, in which he suggested reviewing the red card shown to striker Balogun, was the biggest scandal of this World Cup even though Trump and Infantino insisted that the FIFA president had nothing to do with the decision to suspend the ban.
This is not the first FIFA trophy presentation overseen by Trump.
A year ago, he also came to the NFL stadium shared by the New York Giants and the New York Jets to watch the Club World Cup final between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea and then handed the trophy to Chelsea captain Reece James.
The president then remained on the stage against protocol. Holding the trophy, Reece first looked at Trump questioningly before finally lifting it into the air in celebration while Trump stood among the Chelsea players.
It is therefore not unlikely that the new world champions will also have to share their first victory photos with the US president.
The US national anthem at the final may cause tension
Fans are just as annoyed by FIFA’s announcement that Jennifer Hudson will sing the US national anthem before the final. At the Super Bowl, this is an emotional moment and a standard part of American sports, as it is before regular NBA games.
At FIFA World Cups, however, the host nation’s anthem is not normally part of the ceremony.
This has been different in the United States. So far, the anthem has been played over the public address system about an hour before kick-off and attracted little attention — except during US team games and matches on Independence Day July 4.
Now Hudson is to perform the anthem live before kick-off at the New York–New Jersey Stadium. Trump will likely stand in the stands and salute.
This is a familiar sight for American sports fans from the Super Bowl, which Trump attended live in New Orleans a year and a half ago as the first sitting US president.
It also recalls the NBA Finals, when he attended Game 3 of the series between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden — incidentally the only game the Knicks lost on their way to the championship.
What is usually a moment of unity in each case became a situation that illustrated the political divisions within the United States.
Whenever Trump appeared on the stadium’s giant screen, there were at least as many boos as cheers for him. And Trump should not expect much affection from fans of Spain and Argentina either.
