Baltimore Wolves retweetledi
FIFA spent 18 months giving Donald Trump everything. A brand-new FIFA Peace Prize, invented in December and handed to him as its first recipient. An office in Trump Tower. A World Cup draw relocated to the Kennedy Center, a theater he had installed himself as chairman of.
Last night the bill arrived.
Spain beat Argentina 1-0 for their second World Cup, and when Rodri stepped up to lift the trophy, Trump stayed planted at the front of the stage. Infantino had to jog across the platform to move him. It didn't work. The champions raised the trophy with the US president standing in their frame.
None of this was a surprise. He did the same thing at the Club World Cup final a year ago, in the same stadium, when Chelsea won. FIFA had 12 months and one precedent to plan around. They planned the confetti cannons instead.
Buying access with flattery has a known exchange rate. Infantino got his tournament protected, his host cities kept, his security guaranteed. What he sold was the ability to say no. By the time Spain's players stood there wondering whose celebration this was, that ability was gone.
The trophy lift is the one asset FIFA owns that money can't touch, 80,000 people in the stadium watching one team's moment. And the image that traveled shows Infantino, mid-explanation, trying to reclaim a stage he had already given away.
William Merrin@william_merrin
The Guardian wins the caption of the year competition :) #worldcup
English
