United States President Donald Trump has said it is hard to bet against Lionel Messi ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final, while also telling FIFA president Gianni Infantino directly that he wants the tournament back on American soil as soon as possible.
Speaking to Fox’s Jenny Taft, Trump was asked who he expected to win the final between Argentina and Spain at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, with kickoff at 1:00am Bangladesh time on 20 July.
“I would say that it’s hard to bet against Messi,” Trump said. “I watched that pass, I guess you’d call it a pass, that was exactly perfect. Although it takes some talent to hit the ball off the head coming at that speed. But that was perfect. If you had a strike zone, it was exactly where it ought to be.”
Trump also pointed to Messi’s movement before the moment in question. “I watched also just before that the way that he got away from the defender. He was very well defended. All of a sudden he’s standing by himself, and he kicked it perfectly,” he said. “And it’s hard to bet against him. So I won’t pick sides, I just think it’s very hard to bet against Messi. He’s great.”
Messi, 39, is playing what is widely expected to be his final World Cup match, having provided two assists in Argentina’s 2-1 semi-final comeback win over England. He is chasing back-to-back titles for Argentina, who have won 14 matches in a row and remain unbeaten across all seven games this tournament. Spain arrive on the back of a 2-0 semi-final win over France and have conceded just once all tournament, having kept a record six clean sheets in a single World Cup edition.
Trump used the same appearance to press Infantino on staging another World Cup in the United States without delay. “We have to do this again, and we have to do it while I’m around. You hear that, Gianni?” Trump said. Calling this year’s tournament “beautiful”, he argued the United States is a “soccer country” and wants the competition back as soon as possible.
The request follows Trump’s earlier, controversial phone call to Infantino during the tournament, which resulted in USMNT forward Folarin Balogun’s one-match ban being overturned after a red card in the round of 32. Trump is due to attend Sunday’s final in person and has separately floated the idea of the United States hosting a future edition without Mexico and Canada, as well as revealing that Infantino had raised the prospect of a joint World Cup between the USA and China.
Any request for the USA to host again immediately faces a lengthy queue. The 2030 World Cup is set for Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with three opening matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay to mark the tournament’s centenary, while Saudi Arabia will host in 2034. That leaves 2038 as the next unassigned edition, by which point Trump would be 92.
