{"id":812077,"date":"2026-07-20T11:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/812077\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T11:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:04:13","slug":"fifa-world-cup-2026-review-stains-will-linger-but-even-us-president-donald-trump-couldnt-bring-down-the-world-cup-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/812077\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA World Cup 2026 review: Stains will linger but even US President Donald Trump couldn\u2019t bring down the World Cup | The good, the bad, and the ugly"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Spain captain Rodri hoisted<\/a> the World Cup<\/a> trophy into the New York sky, the curtain came down on the biggest edition of the tournament to date.<\/p>\n

Hosted in Canada, Mexico and the USA<\/a>, much attention was focused on the latter, and like many things in the United States, the 2026 tournament was brash, bold and in your face.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Donald Trump was never far away from the headlines at the World Cup.\u00a0AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin<\/p>\n

This would be the case on the pitch, with 48 teams competing for the first time ever, and off the pitch, and the influence of US president Donald Trump<\/a> never far away.<\/p>\n

As the dust settles on the most unique World Cup in history, there are plenty of highlights to look back on, as well as low points that marred the tournament.<\/p>\n

GoodExtended format gives lesser lights the chance to shine<\/p>\n

The addition of 16 extra teams at this World Cup meant several countries were able to appear at the tournament for the first time ever or break long droughts.<\/p>\n

However, there were concerns the bloated format could lead to blowout scorelines and several newcomers heading home with their tails between their legs.<\/p>\n

These fears were largely unfounded, as several lesser lights held their own on the biggest stage of all.<\/p>\n

Debutants Cabo Verde stunned the world by holding eventual champions Spain to a goalless draw<\/a> in their opening match and managed to take defending champions Argentina to extra-time in their Round of 32 clash.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cape Verde were one of the bright lights of the tournament on their debut.\u00a0AP Photo\/Marta Lavandier<\/p>\n

DR Congo, in their first tournament in 52 years, also reached the Round of 32 and went close to pulling off a huge upset over England<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fans of all nations come together<\/p>\n

The World Cup is famous for being a melting pot of people from different backgrounds coming together in the name of football.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Norwegian fans perform viking boat row during the World Cup.\u00a0AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura<\/p>\n

The tumultuous climate in the United States threatened this atmosphere, but fortunately the tournament by and large overcame this.<\/p>\n

Norwegian fans went viral for their \u2018viking row\u2019 in the stands and in celebration with their players on the way to their run to the quarter-finals, while Dutch fans turned the streets into a sea of orange singing and dancing to the \u201cLinks Rechts\u201d song.<\/p>\n

Fan sites were full to the brim with fans of different nations throughout the tournament, while most games were sold out, despite fears high ticket prices would keep fans away.<\/p>\n

BadThird placed teething issues<\/p>\n

As much as the extended format did allow for new nations to shine, it wasn\u2019t completely flawless.<\/p>\n

The biggest issue came with allowing several third placed teams the chance to qualify for the knockout stages.<\/p>\n

Not only was there complexity of having 495 potential combinations for the Round of 32 as a result, but it led to some matches in the final match day of the group stage to fizzle out; the Socceroos\u2019 0-0 draw with Paraguay<\/a> comes to mind, as both teams knew a draw would result in progression.<\/p>\n

The new format left third placed teams in a weird limbo as they waited for the group stages to play out so they could see if they got one of the eight places into the knockouts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Socceroos\u2019 final group stage match failed to set the world alight.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Teams like Scotland and South Korea were forced to remain at the tournament far beyond their last game, only to be unceremoniously eliminated.<\/p>\n

Hydration breaks<\/p>\n

Every match at the World Cup featured stoppages halfway through each half that were called hydration breaks<\/a>, in an almost insult to the intelligence of football fans.<\/p>\n

Some games played in the heat of the day probably warranted these. Many, including those at night or in air-conditioned and domed stadiums, did not.<\/p>\n

The breaks, which were the thinnest of veiled excuses to include advertising breaks for FIFA<\/a> and broadcasters, disrupted the momentum of matches and were unpopular with players and fans alike.<\/p>\n

The only hope is that domestic leagues around the world weigh up the pros and cons of implementing such stoppages and opt against including them.<\/p>\n

UglyFIFA overturns a red card on President\u2019s order<\/p>\n

It was always going to be a matter of time before President Trump stamped his authority on the World Cup.<\/p>\n

It came in the Round of 16 when he admitted he called on FIFA to overturn the red card for star USA striker Folarin Balogun<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Folarin Balogun was thrust into the spotlight thanks to his country\u2019s president.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

The player himself admitted it created a difficult situation for the team, and it ultimately backfired<\/a> as they were trounced 4-1 by Belgium.<\/p>\n

It reflected how much influence Trump has over FIFA President Gianni Infantino in the worst way possible and cast doubts over FIFA\u2019s authority and neutrality.<\/p>\n

What made it worse is that Trump appeared to suggest he didn\u2019t even know what a red card was in the aftermath of the debacle.<\/p>\n

It felt like a case of President Trump trying to make himself the main character, like when he awkwardly stood on the podium as Spain lifted the trophy.<\/p>\n

Iran treatment<\/p>\n

Iran played all of their matches at the World Cup in the United States, despite the two nations being at war.<\/p>\n

They performed admirably given the circumstances<\/a>, which saw them have to commute from their base camp in Mexico to the US for all of their matches.<\/p>\n

It followed the controversy before the tournament, which saw several Iranian staff denied visas<\/a>, and fans expressing their difficulty in being able to attend matches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was a sad reminder of how geopolitics and football, especially at the World Cup, can never truly be separated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Spain captain Rodri hoisted the World Cup trophy into the New York sky, the curtain came down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-812077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812077","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=812077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}