World Cup 2026: a slog, and a "tournament that has been shaped entirely by MAGA policy."

It’s almost time for the denouement of this super-sized, 48-team, continental-scale World Cup. After 102 matches, how many can you actually remember?

This reporter doesn’t recall too many, but feel free to disagree. Not even the semi-final in which Argentina beat England 2-1 - with all its history, emotions, iconography and the trappings of a true blockbuster - could live up to the expectation. The contest was gripping, but at the same time lacked quality.

It’s been a real slog to cover this tournament. It’s not just had one host nation, but three. It’s not just four weeks as previous tournaments, but almost six.

Legs tire, nerves fray and exhaustion is omnipresent. At least, for the sane. Gianni Infantino has kept jetting around like there is no tomorrow, including a whirlwind trip to Doha (more on that later). He seems scarcely bothered by the Balogun saga, not even when this reporter confronted him at the lush Waldorf Astoria in midtown Manhattan (below, more on that later as well).

In Atlanta, on the way back to NYC, I met with Cas Mudde, the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia and a renowned expert on extremism. He also contributes to The Guardian.

More importantly, perhaps, the Dutch sociologist is a ground hopper and football lover. Yet he hasn’t watched a single match of the World Cup and won’t bother with the final either. Instead, he switched on Gotham in the NWSL.

I asked him if the looming “MAGA shadow” over this World Cup had actually materialised. Referring to the exclusion of Somali referee Artan, the spiteful treatment of Iran, and the visa bans for different sets of fans, Mudde said: “If this had been any other tournament, we would have considered it crazy.

“It’s so typifying that we have normalised Trump. The tournament has still been shaped entirely by MAGA policy. Trump is so bizarre that when it’s not a major scandal, we consider it normal. He doesn’t care about the World Cup and is never there, but his effect is still unprecedented.”

On Sunday, at Metlife Stadium - yes, that dreaded venue - US President Donald Trump will be present and hand over the trophy to the winning team, delivering the MAGA finale this tournament deserves. The US President had been largely absent from the tournament until he decided to call Infantino and get Flo Balogun’s one-match suspension reviewed.

Mudde did not consider the Balogun saga as damning as some media had portrayed it, namely the biggest sporting scandal in the history of the World Cup. He said: “It fits the Infantino and Trump way. In a certain way, the red card is not that important. It’s shown that there is a lot of irritation about Infantino and the way the World Cup has been organized. He is simply continuing the Blatter way, but he has added entertainment and political elements. He leaves the World Cup weaker, but still strong enough to get re-elected.”

Trump’s intervention reeked of political interference and luckily, Infantino and his chair of the appeals committee - Mohammed Al Kamali from the United Arab Emirates - were on hand to oblige Trump’s wishes. The Emirati, The Times reported, had been the sole arbiter in decision. Uefa, the Norwegian and Swiss FAs issued statements, condemning Fifa and its modus operandi, which completely undermined the sporting integrity of the World Cup.

Mudde said: “Infantino has not failed, but he is mégalomane, and just about everyone thinks that’s a problem. What has he added? Everyone can earn money with the World Cup. In that sense, he is not special. It is an insane product, but he has chosen to make it more about entertainment, to Americanise it.

“That’s his choice, his problem and there is criticism. It has generated more money but every tournament with 48 teams would have done that, and the next step he has announced is perhaps an even bigger World Cup.

“Again, you will have to see what the interest in it will be?”

Mudde believed the World Cup as a product, important to sponsors, has declined, and so has interest. He added: “I get the idea that people identify far less with the tournament.”

After some Southern fried chicken, Sporting Intelligence returned to New York, where, last week, we staked out the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria, a luxury hotel on Park Avenue that promotes itself as “the pinnacle of hospitality.”

It does rank as one of the more opulent hotels this reporter has had the pleasure of spending hours in - that is, sitting in the lobby for hours on end and ordering just about the cheapest item on the menu. (It was an iced berry tea at $10).

Arguably, it wasn’t very good and I got a second one for free. Bliss. The Waldorf also does a $55 lobster club sandwich and a “nutty, complex” Golden Oscietra caviar at $210. Before the final, a standard room cost $1,900 per night.

Late in the afternoon, Infantino, wearing a cap, walked through the lobby. Sporting Intelligence seized the moment and asked the FIFA president: “Following the Balogun case, will you resign?”

Infantino batted off the question, so Sporting Intelligence asked a second time before his security - a random American in a polo - intervened, interjecting: “Right now, it’s not a good time.” When is it ever a good time in FIFA-land?

The FIFA president directed a thumbs up at me and walked away down a corridor. Heavy handed, his security guard demanded to see my accreditation and to know what I was doing in the lobby. In fact, he said he’d call the NYPD but returned with a member of Waldorf’s security. When asked to show his credentials, he refused and Sporting Intelligence walked away.

Infantino was indeed a man in a hurry. In an extraordinary development, he departed the 2026 World Cup on 12 July and crossed the Atlantic to pay his respects to the late ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin ⁠Khalifa Al Thani.

His private jet, provided by, erm, Qatar, departed Miami, where Infantino had watched England’s 2-1 defeat of Norway in the tournament’s quarter-finals, for Doha, arriving in the Qatari capital the following day after a stop in Madrid. There, the football boss was photographed among the mourners for the late Emir.

Qatar’s news agency, QNA, reported: “HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani met at Lusail Palace this evening FIFA President Gianni Infantino who offered his condolences to His Highness on the passing of the late HH the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.”

Infantino has long nurtured a close relationship with Qatar and its rulers, the Al Thani family. The Gulf Nation hosted the 2022 World Cup, the first in the Middle East, which became hugely controversial because of the plight of migrant workers who helped build the stadiums and infrastructure.

It’s not the first time that Infantino has left a major tournament organised by the governing body he chairs. In 2023, during the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, he crisscrossed the Pacific for days in a private jet, resulting in huge backlash. Stung by the criticism, Infantino reacted on social media: “Chill, relax, live and let live!”

More Infantino watch:

• It was déjà vu for Infantino during the World Cup in Vancouver. He didn’t get a police escort. Vancouver police famously refused him an escort during the recent FIFA Congress in the city. This time FIFA didn’t even bother to request an escort. During the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Australia and New Zealand also denied the FIFA president the privilege, which Infantino, who believes he is a head of state, fuming.

• Infantino has amassed just over 112,000km in his private jet during the tournament, including the return journey to Doha. That’s almost three times around the planet. Previously, Sporting Intelligence reported that he had flown 50,000 kilometers during the group stages, but there was no relenting by Infantino in the knockout stages.

• New Yorkers do know their football. At watch parties at a French restaurant on Broadway in Manhattan and at Bar Tabac in Brooklyn, locals and French fans alike widely booed Gianni Infantino during the broadcast of France’s semi-final against Spain.

• Perhaps Infantino is right after all - he does unite the world.