Football Daily | A desperate grab for attention. This is the way the World Cup ends
Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! Maybe Donald Trump was simply confused. He must have seen the ticker tape, a group of men cavorting around an American field clad in red and thought he’d stumbled into one of his Maga rallies. That is the...
A Guardian Football newsletter published after the World Cup final cast the tournament’s closing moments as a chaotic mix of sporting failure and political theater, with Donald Trump’s appearance on the presentation stage drawing nearly as much attention as Spain’s title celebration.
According to the monitored public feed, the newsletter said Trump behaved oddly on the champions’ platform at a stadium near New York, where Spain lifted the trophy. The piece described him as needing to be moved along by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, while Spain’s Rodri waited calmly to enjoy the moment. In the newsletter’s telling, the scene summed up the end of what it called the “Geopolitics World Cup”: not a triumphant finish, but a scramble for attention.
The feed summary also highlighted sharp criticism of Argentina’s final performance. The newsletter said the team produced a deeply disappointing display, failing to register a shot in regulation time and not managing a shot on target across 120 minutes. It noted that Enzo Fernández was sent off and that Lionel Messi drew criticism for appealing to referee Slavko Vincic over Marc Cucurella, an episode the newsletter framed as embarrassing behavior from a side with a proud football history.
Beyond the final itself, the newsletter suggested the expanded tournament delivered mixed results. Trump was quoted in the feed as calling the competition “one of the greatest events of any kind ever held,” but the newsletter questioned whether the football lived up to that billing. It noted that the event featured more teams, more matches and more host nations than previous editions, though many of the 104 games were described as laborious.
The summary pointed to several standout moments that did provide drama or surprise. Cape Verde were singled out as a welcome presence and one of the tournament’s more memorable stories. Belgium’s late comeback against Senegal was described as cinematic, while England’s 6-4 win over France was said to have earned lasting attention for its strange, high-scoring finish.
The newsletter’s tone was pointed throughout, mixing sarcasm with brief praise and reader comments. It also included several short reactions from readers, including jokes about anti-football, Argentina, and Trump’s connection to FIFA president Infantino.
This report is based on a monitored public feed from The Guardian Football newsletter and has been written from the feed summary only. Source: The Guardian Football - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/20/this-is-the-way-the-world-cup-ends-football-daily-newsletter
