Episode
‘BLATANT MONEY GRAB’ - Is Trump’s America squeezing the joy out of the World Cup?
- Podcast
- The Fourcast
- Published
- Jun 12, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1813
- Processing state
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Summary
The World Cup has kicked off, with three red cards and a win for co-hosts Mexico while the USA face Paraguay later, but President Donald Trump is set not to attend America’s opening game. Before a ball was even kicked, this tournament wasn’t short of controversies, from strict border controls and eye-watering ticket prices to the prospect of two countries who are at war with each other playing a game of football. So, has the beautiful game’s biggest tournament become impossible to separate from global politics? Is this simply the reality of staging a World Cup across borders in an increasingly divided world - or are the doubters right that this World Cup could be spoiled by the drama off the pitch? On this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy was joined by our sports reporter Jordan Jarrett-Bryan, superfan Billy The Bee who is in Mexico right now and will head to America to follow England’s games and journalist Marcela Mora y Araujo.