The FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, breathes easy. After a World Cup with a host of fires, it seems he has gotten his way. They booed him and criticized him, true. And he has seen how, especially in Europe, politicians and journalists said he should not be the president of the institution that decides the future of world football. But the criticisms go in one ear and out the other, as he has achieved his goal: incredible audiences, selling the most expensive tickets in World Cup history, keeping Donald Trump happy, and, especially, ensuring he will continue to rule. In the elections of March 2027, he will be re-elected.

A few minutes after the United States was eliminated in Seattle, the Belgian players played the Village People's Y.M.C.A. in the locker room and began to imitate Donald Trump's dance. The footballers mocked the American president after he had boasted about personally calling his good friend Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, to lift the suspension on striker Folarin Balogun. The striker played, it was no use, and the United States was eliminated amid criticism and ridicule from most football fans worldwide.

FIFA was eager for the ball to start rolling at the Azteca Stadium. It was the way for football to move past the multiple controversies that have surrounded the 2026 World Cup and that even threatened to derail it. The match between Mexico, one of the hosts, and South Africa, which ended with a local victory (2-0) with goals from Quiñones and Jiménez, kicked off a competition that for the first time will have 48 national teams, will last 39 days, with 104 matches scheduled, and will know its winner on Sunday, July 19.

1. The 2026 World Cup kicked off on Saturday with an embarrassing act just before the draw in Washington. FIFA presented the Peace Prize to Donald Trump. It's an award created specifically to spite the US president. Trump doesn't have the Nobel Peace Prize—yet—but UEFA is giving him this consolation prize to nibble on. It's just another chapter in Gianni Infantino's subservient role, as he grovels before power in order to, paradoxically, gain even more. Where does this connection between the White House and the FIFA president come from? It sounds like the beginning of a novel that started fifteen years ago, but it's not fiction.