‘The build-up of nightmares’
In the first entry into Henry Winter’s 2026 World Cup Diary, the World Soccer columnist looks ahead to the upcoming action in the United States, Canada and Mexico…
Click here to read World Soccer’s guide to the 2026 World Cup
The World Cup kicks off tomorrow and the world will breathe a sigh of relief that there’s some actual match action to discuss and distract and restore the sport’s reputation. Footballers and supporters can take the limelight rather than all the presidents’ men.
This has been the build-up of nightmares, encapsulating many of the ills of the modern game: greed everywhere from ticket hikes to inflated parking, travel and accommodation costs; kick-off times that risk players overheating and European fans oversleeping; and a geo-political dance of the egos. It’s a stain on the sport that a referee, some staff and supporters have been barred entry. Usually FIFA runs the World Cup. Not this one.
Buck-passing and buck-seizing everywhere. Yet within seconds of the Azteca pulsating with passion as Mexico host South Africa – a reversal of the 2010 opening match – all the external noise will be filtered out, even forgotten for a while. South Korea v Czechia in Guadalajara, the very essence of a cosmopolitan fixture, soon follows and the carnival is fully underway. LA joins in with USMNT against Paraguay.
There is so much to enjoy, even cherish. The last dances of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are poignant. Will their teams be better off without their ageing legs? Will they leave the greatest stage with even more special memories? Who will be the new stars: Jude Bellingham, Michael Olise, Yan Diomande, Gilberto Mora and Lamine Yamal? The men in suits can easily make you fall out of love with football. The men in shorts draw you back in. They leave with you memories for a life-time, remembering where you were, who you were with and how you marked the moment.
Traditional US sports fight a rearguard action for the summer limelight. The NBA finals grab the headlines. We’ve been down this road – well, interstate – before. The day before covering USA v Switzerland at USA 94 in Detroit, I walked into a hotel opposite the Pontiac Silverdome. I’d not booked anything, didn’t think the tournament would pack places out, so rather lazily left it to chance. There was room at the inn, I checked in, and flicked on the TV to find a fairly slow police chase involving a white Ford Bronco on the freeways of Los Angeles. There wasn’t much of a plot to what appeared a low-budget cop movie so I switched over. Same film. I listened in, and realised it was the NFL star, OJ Simpson, briefly on the run from police. I was amongst 95m viewers tuning in, and the first few days of the World Cup were overshadowed by OJ.
But as with all World Cups, the football broke out. Stars dazzled. Hristo Stoichkov, Gheorghe Hagi, Roberto Baggio, Dennis Bergkamp, Tomas Brolin, Jurgen Klinsmann and Alexi Lalas all had their magical moments at USA 94. Romario and Bebeto were fun. It’s crazy to think that the subject of Bebeto’s baby-rocking celebration, Mattheus Oliveira, is now 32, and playing for Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Nobody knew how USA 94 would turn out. There were so many doubts going into the tournament, even more this time. But the football will take plenty of the headlines.
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“You should have f***ing won that,” a Croatian TV man goaded Jordan Pickford as the England keeper left the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow on July 11, 2018. “Next time,” replied Pickford, being fairly restrained in the circumstances. Pickford was crestfallen, his hopes crushed within touching distance of the final. “It’s not coming home,” Vedran Corluka laughed as the defender marched past the English media. “Be more humble,” Croatia’s talismanic Luka Modric lectured “the people with England”. He subsequently clarified his comments to mean media and supporters, not Pickford and the players.
His sniping was off-target. Modric received the English judge’s support in the Ballon d’Or that year. He deserved it. Modric is still going strong at 40, Corluka is assistant to Zlatko Dalic, so the latest instalment of England-Croatia, a slightly bizarre rivalry, resumes with real edge in Dallas on June 17. The teams have met three times in other competitions in the intervening eight years – but the English have not forgotten.
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Before Game 3 of the NBA finals at Madison Square Garden, basketball legends including Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley discussed “flopping” – the modern art of diving. These NBA greats disapproved, saying it was far cheaper and worthier of censure than the legitimate practice of “earning the foul”. If these Hall of Famers can decry the Fall of Shamers – “flopping” – then why shouldn’t football? IFAB, the law-makers, have introduced plenty of rules for this World Cup, and some are important, like the crackdown on tactical timeouts by goalkeepers and grappling at corners (hello England). But it is cheating that understandably most riles fans and viewers. Stop diving. Stop embarrassing yourselves and the sport you purport to love and that pays you well. Be upstanding.
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