{"id":747322,"date":"2026-06-19T19:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T19:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/747322\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T19:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T19:39:15","slug":"no-trump-but-big-names-set-to-descend-on-seattle-for-socceroos-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/747322\/","title":{"rendered":"No Trump, but big names set to descend on Seattle for Socceroos clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Seattle: Donald Trump may have decided against attending the USA v Australia match in Seattle \u2013 despite strong rumours that he would \u2013 but his administration will still be represented.<\/p>\n

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr is among those who will grace the VIP box at Lumen Field (Seattle Stadium) for the big game, as will Energy Secretary Chris Wright<\/a>, who is steering the US-Australia critical minerals agreement.<\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert F. Kennedy Jr will be in Seattle for the USA versus Australia World Cup clash, but President Donald Trump won\u2019t be.AP<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s new ambassador to the US, Greg Moriarty, will be in attendance, as will the likes of Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar and Precision Group chief executive Shaun Bonett.<\/p>\n

Former Football Australia and ex-NRL chief executive David Gallop was spotted in Seattle ahead of the match, apparently flying in on philanthropist Steven Lowy\u2019s private jet.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s the lack of representation from the Australian government, as the Socceroos make a play for top position in their group, that has been a talking point in Seattle ahead of Saturday\u2019s clash.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was toying with travelling to Seattle but opted against it, amid domestic political battles and revisions to the federal budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In fact, the most senior government MP at the stadium will be Bennelong backbencher, and soccer fan, Jerome Laxale.<\/p>\n

The absence of Sports Minister Anika Wells and other senior government figures has irked Football Australia, even though they understand the political quagmire she finds herself in following her expenses scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the ledger, the Coalition is represented by a contingent that includes shadow health minister Anne Ruston and her predecessor Richard Colbeck, as well as backbenchers Simon Kennedy and Tom Venning.<\/p>\n

They will enjoy the trappings of the VIP suite.<\/p>\n

However, average punters at the stadium will have to fork out a pretty penny for sustenance, based on this masthead\u2019s explorations ahead of the game. A local beer will cost $US17.99, a bottle of water $US5.99, and a packet of nuts $US8.99.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Socceroos<\/a><\/p>\n

Australian golf legend Greg Norman, who will be there wearing a Socceroos jersey, slammed the prices of tickets and public transport in an interview with The Australian Financial Review<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tickets to the game doubled in the past month to about $US1900 ($2700) for the cheapest seats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is insulting to the general public and the fan base,\u201d said Norman, who is on the board of directors for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are the ones who really go deep into their pocket for the love of the sport and the love of their nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, who has made a habit of attending major sporting events in his second term, including NFL football, soccer and tennis, was rumoured to be considering attending the Seattle game.<\/p>\n

But he has an engagement with US Air Force members and will then travel to Camp David, the presidential retreat, for the weekend.<\/p>\n

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\"MichaelMichael Koziol<\/a> is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-747322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}