"Donald Trump's heroic victory over a field of one to claim the inaugural Fifa peace prize, on-stage banter so dead it was already fossilized, Gianni Infantino doing crowd work, and Wayne Gretzky struggling through the pronunciation of Macedonia and Curacao in the draw's linguistic group of death: even with the benefit of a few days' distance it's impossible to overstate how impressively bad the draw for the 2026 World Cup, held last Friday at the Trump-purged Kennedy Center in Washington DC, was."
"This is America, so we have to put on a show! roared Fifa president Infantino, resembling a Sphinx cat in a borrowed suit, at the beginning of the ceremony. And put on a show Fifa did just not one that anyone wanted to watch, least of all a desperately bored-looking Trump, who sat through Andrea Bocelli's Nessun Dorma with the granitic joylessness that has become his default expression at each of the sporting events he's ruined with his presence this year."
The 2026 World Cup draw took place at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and featured an ill-received ceremony. Donald Trump attended and appeared visibly bored during Andrea Bocelli's performance. Gianni Infantino led prolonged chants, performed crowd-work, and displayed awkward showmanship that consumed time and attention. Wayne Gretzky mispronounced Macedonia and Curacao. Commentators Danny Ramirez and Rio Ferdinand produced uncomfortable chemistry. Infantino invited leaders on stage and staged theatrical bits like teasing Mark Carney about which team he would draw. The overall presentation was cringeworthy and suggested the tournament could face reputational issues before the event.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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