So the confetti has settled on the 2026 World Cup, and what a gloriously chaotic, deeply American circus it turned out to be. While the football on th...
So the confetti has settled on the 2026 World Cup, and what a gloriously chaotic, deeply American circus it turned out to be. While the football on the pitch was the main course, the closing ceremony in New Jersey served up a bewildering side dish of celebrity cameos and political grandstanding. Tom Cruise, bless his Hollywood lungs, was drowned out by a crowd who had not come to see a movie star. They had come to see Spain lift the trophy. But the real story of the evening, the one that will have the talking heads and message boards buzzing for weeks, was the late and brazen intervention of President Donald Trump. Having kept his distance from the action all tournament, the man in the suit chose the final act to try and make the moment his own. It was a masterclass in narcissism, but a total misread of the room. Football was the winner, not a politician's ego.The half time show, a bloated affair no one asked for, was a distraction from the real drama. And then, just when you thought the theatrics were over, the tributes began. A wonderful, heartfelt nod to Kevin Keegan, the man whose spirit of '66 still echoes through English football. It was a reminder that the game is built on legends, not just the current crop of superstars. That moment, sandwiched between the noise and the nonsense, was pure class.But the delicious irony of the night came from a reader, Peter Oh, who posed a question that has stuck with me. 'I think I heard a commentator say that the last team that beat Spain was Scotland. Does that mean Scotland have won the World Cup' It is a rhetorical gem, a perfect slice of football logic. By that measure, Scotland are the unofficial champions. It is a beautiful quirk of the tournament, a reminder that the game's narrative is never owned by the final scoreline. Spain landed in Madrid to a heroes welcome, rightly so. They are the world champions. But according to the infallible logic of a pub debate, they are also the team that lost to the team that beat them. The beautiful game, ladies and gentlemen. It never, ever fails to deliver.
