New Telegraph 
In 131 days’ time, one of the world’s premier sports events – the World Cup – kicks off and for more than one month and football aficionados will be treated to the very best of their elixir.
And for the first time, the 104-game tournament will be taking place in three countries after the International Football Federation (FIFA) decided to award it to Canada, Mexico and the US.
The only other time the event had been hosted by more than one nation was 24 years ago – Korea/ Japan 2002. Sixteen cities will be hosting the competition with most games taking place in the US (11), while Mexico will stage three and Canada two.
The first game will kick off on June 11 at the 83,264-seater Estadio Azteca and will be between Mexico and South Africa, which incidentally, will be a repeat of the 2010 tournament’s opening fixture.
The final game of the competition will hold on July 19 at the MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, near New York City.
By the way, in another first this time around, there will be 48 teams taking part in the quest to claim the ultimate prize up from the 32 that took part in the last edition in Qatar.
Sadly, rather than the build up to the tournament progressing smoothly, dark clouds appear to be gathering over the 23rd edition due mainly to the antics of the leader of the main host country, President Donald Trump of the US, which if not handled properly, may lead to some nations even boycotting the event!
While many neutrals will argue that sports should be apolitical, history is replete with instances of how off the field actions by politicians have played major roles in torpedoing major global sporting events.
Incidentally, our own dear Nigeria has also been part of this when in 1976 it spearheaded the mass boycott of the Olympics Games in Montreal, Canada to protest the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow South Africa take part despite its apartheid policy.
At the prompting of the ‘Giant of Af- rica,’ 25 other nations from the continent decided to follow Nigeria’s lead and shun the Olympic Games leaving the Canadian city with significant financial deficits.
Four years later, it was the turn of the US to lead a boycott of the Moscow 80 Games with the Americans protesting the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan a year earlier.
In total, 65 nations joined America despite pleas from the IOC and United Nations (UN) not to do so. As is to be expected, the USSR (which incidentally imploded on December 26, 1991) got their pound of flesh when Los Angeles hosted the Games in 1984 with 19 countries deciding not to attend – 15 from the Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union and four non-aligned countries.
However, unlike what happened back then which can be tied to the ‘Cold War’ that existed then, the dark clouds potentially gathering over the 2026 World Cup is principally due to the actions of the present occupant of the White House.
Since his return as the 47th US President last year, the 79-year-old Trump has gotten under the skins of both friends and foes with his statements and policies.
But what has become a major headache for football fans is none other than his very tough immigration policy – which has spared no one, including nations whose teams have qualified for the World Cup!
Late last year, when he first announced a ban on granting visas to citizens of certain countries, Iran – which football team had qualified – had to lodge a formal protest to FIFA as the US was only going to issue the Middle East nation a few visas which would have meant that many of their officials would not have been able to attend the last year, December 5 draw which took place at the Kennedy Centre.
Already, football fans from Senegal, Ghana, Iran and some other countries have raised concerns over their likelihood of not being able to make it to the US to support their teams due to the stricter US visa policy.
Also, a number of European countries are even considering withdrawing their teams to protest his quest to take over Greenland, despite its being run by a fellow NATO member, Denmark.
Another area of concern is what we are seeing daily on our television sets – the frightening antics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, not only chasing people but even going out of their way to shoot them dead as has been the case in Minnesota, where two people have already lost their lives.
And now, this has even caught the attention of former FIFA President, Sepp Blatter who affirmed he supports fans boycotting World Cup matches in the United States this year due to security concerns.
Blatter gave his support owing to comments from anti-corruption lawyer, Mark Pieth, who worked with FIFA on potential reforms when Blatter was boss, saying fans should stay away from the USA in the tournament. “I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup,”
Blatter said on social media. Pieth cited the killing of a protester, Renee Good, by an American immigration agent in Minneapolis earlier in January as one reason for supporters not to travel to the USA, with Blatter’s endorsement of his comments coming in the wake of the death of a second US citizen, Alex Pretti, last weekend.
Even Alexander Abnos in an opinion in The Guardian on Tuesday, January 27, ti- tled: ‘Removing the US as World Cup host would be eminently sad – and entirely justified’, argued that it would not be out of place if the US hosting right was taken away saying:
“A country where safety is under threat from federal violence on the streets is not fit to stage soccer’s show- piece event.”
What is happening there makes me so sad especially when I remember how much different the US was when I attend- ed the first World Cup they hosted in 1994 – which incidentally, was also Nigeria’s debut at the tournament.
The Continental Airlines package I got out of the UK ensured that I had three trips for free in the US at no extra cost, which meant that I was able to attend at all the venues the Super Eagles played their match in to the second round at the Foxboro Stadium, where I met some people I had stayed with when I served in Calabar in 1984!
Although I have forgotten their names, it was a delight to see them and they spoke so highly of their relocation to the US which I could attest to as I was very well received anywhere I went and as soon as they learned I was a journalist in the States to cover the Eagles matches.
Sadly, things are no longer so with even my friends who are now bona fide US citizens expressing their reservations over the situation in the country now.
Well, there are still four months to go to the first game and since it is highly un- likely that FIFA will drop US as a host, one can only pray that God touches the heart of the man in the White House in ensuring the situation prevailing in the US improves for the better; and allowing aficionados enjoy their tonic by ensuring the narrative switches back to football and not what is happening on the streets of America, presently!
