U.S. opens World Cup with hope soccer brings joy, eclipses angst

The most ambitious World Cup in history, which started in Mexico City on Thursday, has in many ways inspired more anxiety than expectation, more fear than excitement.

Returning to North America for the first time in more than three decades, the competition has been expanded to 48 teams and 104 matches to be played over 39 days in 16 cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The complex planning was eight years in the making.

But even before the competition opened with Mexico taking on South Africa at the iconic Estadio Azteca, it was marred by a number of controversies that would overshadow football and overshadow the tournament’s legacy.

“I see this World Cup as the most politically heated World Cup in recent history. And that’s saying something,” said Jules Boykoff, a professor of political science at the University of Portland and author of eight books on international sports politics.

“We are in uncharted territory in many ways.”

Relations between the once-strong host countries have been strained by the Trump administration’s tariff policies and disagreements over border security. Travel bans have prevented potential World Cup visitors and even support staff and match officials from entering the United States, and others fear travel, worried about ICE raids and immigration roundups.

The USA is at war with Iran, which has qualified for the tournament. Iran fired missiles and drones at World Cup participants Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

International Sports Press Assn. Iranian and African journalists were denied visas to cover matches in the United States, he said, and Iran protested after more than a dozen members of its support staff were denied requests to enter the United States. The Iranians, who had to move their training base from Tucson to Tijuana, will spend limited time in the USA during the group matches to be played in Inglewood and Seattle.

Players and journalists from Senegal, Uzbekistan and Iraq have been detained for up to seven hours at U.S. airports by immigration officials. Then on Monday, Omar Artan, a decorated referee and the first Somali official selected to work at the World Cup, was turned away from Miami International Airport.

Additionally, ticket prices are so high and the lottery process to obtain them so opaque that the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey have begun formal investigations into FIFA practices. Other states, including California, which hosted tournament games, also began asking questions.

All of this conspired to create a World Cup that struggled to appeal to the public. A majority of Americans (54%) say they have no interest in the tournament, and nearly six in 10 will not watch any games, according to a recent poll by Yougov.com.

“People are in a bad mood,” Boykoff said. “It’s a difficult time.”

FIFA president Gianni Infantino remains optimistic and promises it will be “the biggest, most inclusive, biggest FIFA World Cup ever”. He made the same claim about the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the 2018 tournament in Russia.

“The World Cup should be understood as both a global sporting celebration and a major commercial enterprise, with these two dimensions reinforcing rather than contradicting each other,” said Steve Georgakis, a lecturer in sports studies at the University of Sydney and a frequent writer on football.

This year’s tournament is expected to increase FIFA’s coffers by approximately $9 billion, and TV ratings are also expected to be huge.

“Its universal appeal, combined with the participation of 48 countries, ensures that this remains a truly global sporting event,” Georgakis said.

Boykoff has his doubts.

“In this particular political moment where the Trump administration is being indecisive and impulsive, where they need a win from this tournament and there are a lot of moving parts geopolitically, I don’t have confidence that this is going to be just football-focused for the next five weeks,” he said.

This isn’t the first World Cup to start under some kind of dark cloud.

The 1974 tournament in West Germany was tainted by the geopolitical consequences of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Four years later, Argentina’s military dictatorship used the World Cup to whitewash a “Dirty War” in which some 30,000 people were tortured, killed and disappeared.

The 2010 and 2014 World Cups were plagued by cost overruns, delays in the construction of stadiums and other infrastructure, and the threat of labor unrest; And global outrage over human rights violations and discrimination against women and LGBTQ people has hung over the last two tournaments.

These problems never completely disappeared, but they were overshadowed by the shine of football. Jonathan Wilson, a Guardian columnist and author of “The Power and the Glory: A History of the World Cup,” expects the same this summer.

“Other things will still be in the background,” he said, “but basically football will take over for the vast majority of people. It’s kind of the natural cycle.”

Argentina star Lionel Messi controls the ball during a friendly against Iceland on Tuesday.

(Butch Dill / Associated Press)

And as in every World Cup, there will undoubtedly be unforgettable moments in this tournament.

The top scorers in football history, Argentinian Lionel Messi and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, will play in their sixth and final World Cup; Messi is after his second consecutive title, while Ronaldo is after the only prize that has eluded him.

While Kylian Mbabbe will try to take France to the final for the third consecutive time, young superstars such as Norwegian Erling Haaland and Spanish Lamine Yamal will also try to make their mark in their first World Cup.

Four teams (Jordan, Curacao, Cape Verde and Uzbekistan) qualified for the tournament for the first time.

And there will be other stories that no one saw coming, all of which will contribute to the narrative of this World Cup.

“Major sporting events have a way of capturing public attention and shifting the conversation to what is happening on the field rather than off it,” Georgakis said.

It is not yet known how much the Trump administration’s actions will affect this calculation.

There are travel restrictions in place that completely or partially ban citizens from 39 countries, including some World Cup participants, from entering the United States. The administration said ICE and Homeland Security personnel will have a visible presence at World Cup venues, including SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, where the American team will begin play on Friday.

“There will be federal agents,” L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna confirmed, adding that he could not guarantee there would be no immigration screenings. “They specifically told us it wasn’t going to happen,” he said. “Any of this could change.”

Mexican fans celebrate during a viewing party at Plaza Mexico in Lynwood on Thursday.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

The difficulty of obtaining a visa and the fear of being caught by immigration officials are partly blamed for the lower-than-expected tourist traffic. Hotel operators in all 11 World Cup host cities say tournament bookings are well below forecasts. Many countries warn against travel to the USA

There are also FIFA own goals due to ticket and parking prices rising up to $900 in some stadiums, weather issues and a brief ban on water bottles.

FIFA has defended its policies on ticket prices, arguing that the premiums are necessary to maximize the revenue it will invest in the development of global football. Variable, market-based pricing reflects standard entertainment practices in North America. However, the organization lifted its ban on fans bringing bottles to games. Spectators are now allowed into stadiums with a 20-ounce soft plastic water bottle.

And despite climate scientists warning that one in four World Cup matches could be played in dangerously hot conditions, FIFA will kick off 40 of the 40 matches at 3pm local time, or the hottest time of the day, to accommodate European TV viewers.

Georgakis said that the game on the field must overcome all these problems for the World Cup to earn a positive place in history.

“Ultimately, the success of the World Cup will be judged by what happens on the field,” he said. “If the football is engaging, dramatic and memorable, the tournament will likely be remembered as a great World Cup. If the game falls short, then off-field issues such as ticket prices, extreme heat, ICE enforcement activities, the Trump administration, etc. will attract significant attention and could shape perceptions of the event.”