Arriving in the U.S. from Belgium to cover the World Cup, one overarching controversy stood out from the Iran war, visas and commercial exploitation: Should POLITICO call the sport football or soccer? Our style guide entry — “The worldwide sport should be referred to as football in Europe and soccer in the U.S. In European…
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the state’s rancorous GOP gubernatorial runoff, aligning the popular governor with President Donald Trump on their preferred candidate. Kemp’s last-minute public blessing of Jones on Sunday night comes just days before the Tuesday election and marks his clearest effort yet to shape the race to…
Around a hundred Samurai Blue superfans crowded the Old Ambassador’s Residence at the Japanese embassy in Washington, on Sunday for a watch party marking its World Cup opener against the Netherlands. The supporters — a motley group including erstwhile English teachers in Japan, state department workers and embassy staffers — lounged around a projector set…
No European country has infuriated Donald Trump more than Spain. Now it’s desperate to win his World Cup. Teenage superstar Lamine Yamal, Rodri and co. enter the tournament as joint favorites alongside France. With the U.S. president apparently intent on making this a World Cup that projects his personal influence and America’s soft power, victory…
LOS ANGELES — In many World Cup host cities, competing teams also find themselves jostling for soft-power supremacy around their matches. But before its first match tomorrow in Los Angeles, New Zealand has had the diplomatic landscape all to itself. New Zealand is scheduled to face Iran, which has not had formal diplomatic relations with…
Sunday’s four-goal thriller at Dallas Stadium was one that started slowly but undoubtedly came to life in the second half. The Netherlands drew 2-2 against Japan thanks to goals from Virgil Van Dijk and Crysencio Summerville that were then respectively canceled out by Keito Nakamura and Daichi Kamada. This was also a battle between two…
LOS ANGELES STADIUM — A day before the USA men’s national team produced its most lopsided victory in almost a century’s worth of FIFA World Cup appearances, head coach Mauricio Pochettino mentioned something that felt like a throwaway remark at the time. In their opening match of the 2026 tournament, the USA’s players “need to…
Germany cruised past the smallest nation ever to reach a World Cup, but the lopsided scoreline over Curaçao doesn’t answer some of the pre-tournament doubts about the four-time champion. Felix Nmecha had the favorites ahead inside six minutes, and by the hour mark, this was a procession. Curaçao did get its moment — and it…
Waffle House and Carolina barbecue, the Auburn War Eagle and Boston Harbor boat parties, ranch dressing and bacon-wrapped everything. Welcome to America. The United States boasts a tremendously eclectic culture, and, let’s be honest, sometimes it’s super weird and inexplicable, even to some Americans. So many things across the 50 states — they each have…
Jameis Winston traded the gridiron for the world’s game this summer, living it up with a different kind of football (and football fans) as a FOX Sports World Cup correspondent for the 2026 tournament. Winston — the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner and current quarterback for the New York Giants — will take the hype around…
