There are two ways to look at the draw for next summer’s World Cup that played out Friday afternoon at the Kennedy Center: as a stage for President Donald Trump to preen with his brand new, fabricated “peace prize” in hand or as a dramatic — if overwrought — unveiling of who will play whom across the United States, Canada and Mexico in what should be an enthralling event. I’ll take the latter.
Other takeaways: Seems like the American men received a favorable draw. Also: Is Kevin Hart really that short? Or is Heidi Klum actually that tall? Maybe it’s both? And how did Eli Manning get to run the red carpet? Peyton wasn’t available? The entire affair, packed with pomp and propaganda, felt surreal.
Sift through it all. Trump has a way of sucking the air out of any room he enters. That could apply to the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, where a few thousand soccer — and I’m not apologizing for calling it soccer because that’s what we call it here — aficionados and other random celebrities gathered for the unveiling of the four-team groups that will make up the first 48-country field in the tournament’s history. It could apply to Northwest Stadium, where the president appeared last month at a Washington Commanders game. It could be at Yankee Stadium or the U.S. Open tennis tournament or golf’s Ryder Cup or the Super Bowl, all places Trump has appeared as a way to use sports to distract from reality.
The thing is: We shouldn’t let him. Friday was about soccer. Can we concentrate on the soccer?
“You should know,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said as he introduced the program, “FIFA is the official happiness provider for the world.”
No, no, no. The soccer provides the happiness. FIFA, the sport’s international governing body, should always have an eye kept on it.
International sporting events should be seen as an opportunity to celebrate the culture and traditions of the host nations. They also must serve as a chance to scrutinize the records of those hosting governments, particularly concerning human rights. When China hosts the Olympics — as it did in the summer of 2008 and the winter of 2022 — we should make sure we drill down on that country’s treatment of the Muslim Uyghur minority, not to mention on its wider suppression of free speech. When Qatar hosted the World Cup in 2022, we should absolutely examine that country’s mistreatment of migrant workers, of its laws limiting the rights of LGBTQ+ people and women. “Sportswashing” should succumb to examinations of which nations are doing what to whom.
So when the World Cup begins here in June — the United States will host 78 matches in 11 cities, with Canada and Mexico staging 13 apiece — it should be a time to shine an international spotlight on the American government’s recent record. Who knows? Maybe the National Guard will be done with unnecessarily patrolling certain cities — including the nation’s capital — by then. Maybe ICE will have scaled back its targeted deportation of immigrants who so often lack any criminal record. We can hope.
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But the seriousness of using sports as a chance to expose misdeeds small and large shouldn’t have to be an unrelenting, depressing, 24/7/365 pursuit. Trump attended the World Cup draw. So what? So did Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. No, Infantino didn’t suck up to either of the other leaders by presenting an award invented out of whole cloth. And, yes, the ceremony ended with the Village People performing “Y.M.C.A.” clearly for the American president’s enjoyment. (For the record: He did a little “Trump dance” in his suite.)
But at some level, if we let Trump’s presence at a sporting event — or, in this case, at an event that precedes a sporting event — become the dominant storyline of that match or ceremony, we’re just granting him the attention and admiration he wants. Luckily for him, he had Infantino there to provide both.
Acknowledge something else: Friday’s event was in Washington because Trump wanted it in Washington. That’s not a bad thing — at all. The presumption was that FIFA planned to hold the draw in Las Vegas. In a way, this was the host country’s first official opportunity to welcome the world, to show off what we have to offer. We would rather the backdrop have been the Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip rather than the Kennedy Center along the Potomac River?
No, it’s appropriate for any nation’s capital to host a kickoff event that introduces an international competition in that country. Yeah, it would be nice if the Kennedy Center — the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center — could charge FIFA some rent to support the arts community in Washington. But hosting the draw here was actually a win.
The downer, though, is that hosting the draw in Washington was a reminder that there will be no World Cup matches in Washington. That’s kind of circumstantial. But it still stinks. The World Cup final isn’t always held in the host nation’s capital. It should at least be an option.
The embarrassing state of what was then known as FedEx Field — now Northwest Stadium — in suburban Landover, Maryland, eliminated the District and its surroundings not only from staging the final but from welcoming even a single match. It makes sense. It’s still sad.
In any case, the World Cup is nigh. It will occur during a Trump presidency. The president is sure to attend a match or more. That’s fine. The world should scrutinize his administration’s record while its teams play here. But he can’t hijack the entire event. The soccer provides the happiness. And the happiness should carry the day.
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