The box of few words. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, acted this Sunday as the host of the grand final of the 2026 World Cup, the match between Spain and Argentina at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. A box surrounded by bulletproof glass in a stadium with enormous security measures. In that kind of shark tank, Trump was accompanied by some of the world leaders with whom he feels most uncomfortable. A representation of two antagonistic visions of the world.
The American greeted the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, courteously, with whom he has had repeated differences over Spain’s refusal to raise military spending to 5% of GDP as agreed at the NATO summit a year ago. Sánchez already warned then that he would not meet that goal because he believed he could meet the capability objectives imposed by the Atlantic Alliance with fewer resources. Tension increased after La Moncloa’s refusal to authorize the use of US military bases in Spain for the American planes participating in the Iran war. “He is a terrible ally,” he has commented on several occasions among other high-voltage remarks. But in recent weeks, Trump seems to have put aside his animosity against the Spaniard after committing to fund a defense spending item and participate in a joint mission in Finland. So the tension has been temporarily set aside during the 90 minutes of the match.
The public photo of the greeting between the two leaders was the second episode of a fragile reconciliation after the summit earlier this month in Ankara (Turkey), when the two presidents chatted about football and golf during the brief bilateral meeting they held.
Alongside Trump and Sánchez were the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, and the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, with whom he has a strained relationship following the American’s protectionist turn.
So in the box, only his friend Gianni Infantino remains, the head of FIFA, who has made an effort to attend to all of Trump’s whims. In fact, before the match, they brought him the golden World Cup trophy, a trophy that tradition says no one other than the winner can touch, but Trump, breaking all protocol, gave it a few pats and was quite pleased. During the match, the American president seemed bored and was seen dozing off at some moments.
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Trump, who was accompanied by his wife Melania, often comments that he likes football but does not understand it. The one who enjoys it, he says, is his son Barron, who has taken advantage of visits by Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to the White House to take photos with them. So perhaps the Republican leader would prefer to be doing something else, like posting stories on Truth, his social network, where he has posted more than 9,000 messages since returning to the White House. Trump, who arrived by helicopter and flew over the stadium before the opening whistle, likes to surround himself with people who agree with him, who do not argue, who always agree with him and indulge him, but on this occasion, a few kilometers from his beloved New York, where he built his legend as a real estate magnate, other leaders with an opposite vision of the world accompany him in the final’s box. Like the Mayor of New York, the Democratic revelation, Zohran Mamdani, who also came to watch the match in the shark tank. Ronaldo, the phenomenon, who beamed smiles, was also there.
To smooth things over and relieve tension, there is always the King. Felipe VI attended the box with Queen Letizia. Both, who have supported the Spanish national team without reservations, have displayed their diplomatic skills. Momentarily easing the tension in the tank.
There were doubts about Sánchez’s presence at the final. But the Spanish president decided to travel to New York after receiving an invitation from FIFA. The eight ministers who had signed up for the final as representatives of Spain had to cancel upon learning that the chief was going, according to sources from the organization.
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