Trump doesn't need the USMNT to be good, he's already won

The 2026 World Cup won't be long coming around as Trump grips the world's attention.

In the World Cup whistlestop tour that will pass through Russia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia all in the space of five tournaments, it’s the 2026 pitstop in the grand ol’ US of A which looks likely to be the most politically charged of any of those tournaments.

Fifa’s hairless harbinger of football gospel Gianni Infantino has identified America as his next region for the sport’s domination. It begins this summer when his pet project, an expanded Club World Cup, rolls into town, amidst a litany of problems and bad publicity from clubs and players as it packs a footballing calendar already busting at the seams.

The newly concocted competition failed to land a television deal until DAZN saved the day back in December, announcing an arrangement that will air all 63 of the games free-to-air and largely accessibly. A rare W for the sports fan, a delicious L for Infantino who would’ve been hungry for a lucrative rights deal on his grand plan for some added bias confirmation.

And with the thought that teams and players would treat the competition a bit half-heartedly, it was recently announced that Fifa have loaded the competition with prize money — the winner will land around $100million, about the same as winning the Champions League — not bad for seven games of work.

This will certainly test the resolve of competitors in the tournament and players hoping to take a backseat, which expands the old format up to 32 teams and includes the likes of mighty RB Leipzig as the ninth-best ranked team in the UEFA 4-Year ranking in an effort to pad numbers.

That’s all an early appetizer for what’s to come in 2026, when the USA, Canada and Mexico combine to host the World Cup amidst a backdrop of political jousting that has started since Donald Trump’s inauguration. Tariffs and trade wars between the three neighbours has increased tensions politically, with Trump joking that the upcoming tournament will be the “biggest World Cup” and that the tensions between the countries will only be a good thing and make it more exciting.

Human rights advocates have already labelled it as the Maga World Cup, with concerns that the Trump administration will use the tournament as a platform to generate more hateful rhetoric and peddle culture war topics.

Infantino unveiled the Club World Cup trophy in Trump’s office like an hyperactive toddler, an outlandish gold coin that opens out into something akin to an atom symbol, as Trump stood alongside looking utterly bored. The Fifa boss has puckered up to Trump with such tenaciousness that it’s a wonder he hasn’t landed a role in the cabinet, perhaps as some sort of Secretary of Soccer in an effort to ready the troops on the USMNT for battle next summer.

The thing is, for many in that cabinet — Trump included — the US have already won, simply by hosting the tournament. All eyes will on the United States this summer and next and it’ll be a perfect opportunity to pontificate to an even wider audience, whether they want to hear it or not. Infantino will no doubt extend the welcome embrace of Fifa and invite Trump to the World Cup final and one-up his appearance at this year’s Super Bowl. Trump would never miss an opportunity to growl over other international dignitaries, and Infantino is already an experienced diplomat when it comes to mollycoddling powerful figures — the very man shouldered both Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the 2018 World Cup.

It seems as the geopolitical tensions worldwide increase, Infantino is the one force pulling everyone together, a figure Trump described as the “king of soccer” — a moniker Infantino undoubtedly repeats to himself in front of the mirror every morning. Trump asked him could the US win the tournament and Infantino gave a usual mealy-mouthed response, likely unable to name a handful of players on the US team.

As for the USMNT and Mauricio Pochettino, two losses this past week to Panama in the Concacaf Nations League semi-final and then to Canada in the third place play-off sees pressure mount with the World Cup coming around quickly.

This comes not long after Canada manager Jesse Marsch responded to Trump’s efforts to demean Canada, saying “lay off the ridiculous rhetoric about Canada being the 51st state; as an American, I'm ashamed of the arrogance and disregard we've shown one of our historically oldest, strongest and most loyal allies."

Problems at the USMNT go well beyond Pochettino, but landing such a high profile name to lead the nation into a World Cup on home soil presents a huge deal of pressure on a manager who has his fair share of detractors. The standard of player at his disposal has been brought into question, with plenty of debate surrounding their commitment and heart coming out of this break — a very early tester for the Argentine to overcome and rally his team, especially with the Gold Cup on the horizon in a few months time.

Sadly for die-hard US football fans, this current form doesn’t bode well for 2026. As co-hosts they’ll be hoping that the team and not the president can do the talking for the country with a run deep into the tournament, in a hope to capture the imagination of a new generation of fans which can take the sport to the next level in the country.

Pochettino has called for patience with fans, saying "I am very optimistic and positive guy, even being angry and really upset and really disappointed, I want to find the positive things that we can take from these two games.”

Before this international break, Pochettino said the US can win the World Cup with the help of Trump and the fans. But with this sort of form he’ll lose the fans long before ever entering Trump’s radar, and that would be devastating for the real supporters who have a World Cup to look forward to and don’t want it to be a missed opportunity. They know the attention will be on the US and using it to leverage something positive and productive for the actual sport rather than as a vehicle for sportswashing would at least be something.

As for Trump, frankly its hard to know how much he cares — because as far as he’s concerned, in Trump World, hosting the World Cup and having Fifa flutter their eyes and having the world’s eyes his way is all the success he needs. He won’t care about this USMNT patch, nor will he worry about the fate of Mauricio Pochettino — his lust is simply for attention and you can bet Gianni Infantino will lay the groundwork to deliver it straight to his door.