silverguide.site –

FINAL RECKONING

Donald Trump has largely steered clear of the Geopolitics World Cup: he is yet to attend a game and appear on screen with his good pal “Jonny” Infantino. Oh, though there was that time Trump rang Fifa to lobby for a review into Folarin Balogun’s red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the reversal of the USA USA USA forward’s last-16 suspension crushing the integrity of the competition. An impactful cameo off the bench, you could argue.

But the GWC final between Spain and Argentina – the bigliest, winningest of occasions – demands a starting role for the US president. The White House has confirmed Trump’s attendance at the New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday, potentially setting up a re-run of last year’s Copa Gianni final at the same venue. After Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea triumphed against Paris Saint-Germain (how time flies), Trump and Infantino handed over the trophy to Reece James. While Fifa’s president showed an understanding of social norms and tried to vacate the stage before the lift, Trump stayed superglued to his position as he celebrated between Robert Sánchez and a clearly bemused Cole Palmer. “I knew he was going to be here but I didn’t know he was going to be on the stand when we lifted the trophy,” Palmer sniffed. “I was a bit confused.”

The boos rang out for Trump back then, as they did at Madison Square Garden when he watched the New York Knicks’ sole loss during the NBA finals in June. “It was, I think, mostly cheers,” Trump proclaimed. “It was loud, and it was very enthusiastic.” Any further hostility on Sunday will likely be twisted too. What, you wonder, would be a useful antidote to the presidential sideshow? We can only hope that, regardless of the result, Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal come together for a few pics on the podium, 19 years on from their first photoshoot with one another.

It is just ridiculous, isn’t it? Those pictures from 2007 are doing the rounds once again, of a 20-year-old Messi cradling a baby for a charity calendar raising funds for Unicef. That child has become the master’s spiritual successor at Barcelona, inheriting the No 10 shirt, and they will meet again in a World Cup final. The snappers will be all over them when they embrace at the close, and let us pray no one tries to photobomb. “Um, excuse me, President Trump … you’re in the shot.”

LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE

The daily GWC news liveblog has a few more days left in it: here’s the latest edition. While you can also follow day two of the Open.

RECOMMENDED SUBSCRIBING

Want a pick of Big Website’s essential sportswriting and highlights in the past seven days? Well, subscribe to the Recap then.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I’m going to keep watching all the games from Olivos. Since it’s cold and I don’t turn on the heat, I wear an oil company-branded jacket. The day of the Switzerland game, it made me really hot. I took it off, and they scored a goal against us. I put it back on and never took it off again” – at least one populist president won’t be at the GWC final, after Argentina’s Javier Milei’s admission that superstition convinced him to watch Sunday’s match with Spain from home in attire that probably won’t go down well with anyone who cares about the sizzling-hot climate.

FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

Re: naming the 2030 World Cup (Football Daily letters passim). May I suggest ‘The Carbon Footprint WC’ or simply ‘El Carbonaro’” – Krishna Moorthy.

Brian Saffer’s suggestions for letting everyone join in the next World Cup and splitting into three divisions surely must lead to it being called the Swiss Model World Cup – SMWC” – George Paterson.

You could always stop trying to be too clever by half and just refer to it as ‘the World Cup’” – Alan Burgess.

Oh, you thought the STOP FOOTBALL campaign might last two days but, no, Major League Soccerball is back, baby! Four matches were played last night as the league announced, via its back-to-action campaign: ‘Thanks, World; We’ll Take It From Here’” – JJ Zucal.

If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day goes to … JJ Zucal. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here. 

NEWS, BITS AND BOBS

Gianni Infantino has the formal endorsement of more than 200 countries for re-election as Fifa’s president despite the climate of unrest that has swirled since the scandal surrounding Folarin Balogun’s reprieve. Yep.

Fifa will present 30 World Cup rings to the winners of Sunday’s final with 1,996 others going on sale to fans. Kerching!

Thomas Tuchel says he is “100%” committed to leading England at Euro 2028 and finding the “extra level” for glory that eluded his team at the GWC.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez will go to the ball and see his country take on Argentina. He may even bump into Trump, who said recently that the USA USA USA did not “want to do any trade business with Spain anymore”.

And Sunday’s final will be refereed by a European, Slavko Vincic of Slovenia, which will presumably lead to hot takes on social media disgraces from some who believe him being from the same continent as Spain is a problem.

STILL WANT MORE?

Technical class in the fiercest battles was again lacking for England but there is hope amid the soul-searching, reckons Ed Aarons.

BBC v ITV: who won the UK’s battle of the GWC broadcasters? Let Martin Belam be the judge.

Thomas Tuchel will be pilloried for his semi-final decisions but that is to ignore the fact English football culture is not set up to win major tournaments, reasons Barney Ronay.

Four passes in 19 minutes: the damning numbers behind England’s semi-final collapse.

And England players were puzzled by Tuchel’s tactics against Argentina but the manager left himself no other option with his squad picks, writes Jacob Steinberg.

MEMORY LANE

11 July 2010: The last time Spain were in a World Cup final, Andrés Iniesta celebrated his winning goal in extra time against the Netherlands by taking off his shirt to reveal a message that read “Dani Jarque always with us”. It was a tribute to his friend, the Espanyol captain, who died 11 months earlier aged 26 following a fatal cardiac episode after a training session. “I don’t know how you explain that, what you call it: destiny or something,” he told Sid Lowe in 2018. “I’m not psychic, I can’t see the future. There has to be some word for it, why I chose that night to write the message, score, then remember and take off my shirt, because it’s easy to get swept up in everything and it doesn’t occur to you. There’s something there that made sure it all went that way.”

BEYOND THE GWC

Jarrod Bowen intends to remain with West Ham after the club’s relegation to the Championship. “There’s a lot of thinking time over the summer and a lot of things that go in your head,” Bowen said, before adding it was “a no-brainer for me to be here”. It sounds more like a “brainer”, no?

Arsenal have agreed a deal worth up to £34m with Club Brugge to sign nifty winger Christos Tzolis as a replacement for Leandro Trossard.

Trent Alexander-Arnold reckons it will be “a pleasure” to work with reappointed Madrid boss José Mourinho. “I ⁠have always admired the coach,” trilled the full-back who is exactly the kind of mercurial talent his new boss struggles to fit into his rigid teams. “It’s ‌intense. The principles and the level of demand are very high … I’m sure he’ll teach us many things and help us win trophies this ​year.”

Oliver Glasner says the challenge of bringing the “sweet honey” of European football back to Nottingham Forest was what attracted him to the job.

And fans of FK Kauno Zalgiris in Lithuania have every right to be barking mad after it emerged that the club will probably have to play their historic Bigger Cup qualifier against Klaksvikar Itrottarfelag away from home after renting their stadium out for a gig by Mr Worldwide himself, Pitbull. Grrrrr!

ALMOST THERE