US border passes in World Cup | Football

On June 11, Mr FIFA World Cup 2026 It was launched in Mexico, where, together with the United States and Canada, they are hosting this year’s competition in a clear demonstration of continental cooperation.

To begin with, the whole idea of ​​sharing was funny, because one of the hosts is really bad at playing with others. For starters, the US maintains a system of extreme visa restrictions and “travel restrictions” for citizens of several nationalities, which provide a highly publicized economic event and undermine the illusion of international cooperation that the World Cup is supposed to exist.

The US also maintains a border war with Mexico, a country that US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized. to threaten bombing and raiding. In other unsportsmanlike conduct, Trump has labeled Mexicans as criminals, drug dealers and sex workers; in 2019, The New York Times reiterated his opinion that the US military should shoot migrants and that a tunnel full of crocodiles should be erected at the border.

After resuming office last year, Trump closed the US border to asylum seekers and economic migrants, an interesting move, given the state of the US. responsibility because of the many global problems that force people to migrate in the first place.

A young man I know from the violent Mexican state of Michoacan recently found out that he owed $10,000 to a coyote, or migrant smuggler, to rope himself across the border fence into the US, life at home no longer seemed financially secure or stable.

In other words, while other people around the world are dropping $10,000 or more on National Committee tickets, this guy had to raise the same amount to escape. Panorama operated by the US of poverty and bloodshed in Mexico.

For its part, Mexico’s decision to prepare for a more expensive competition – instead of spending such a large amount of resources, say, to follow what the country is doing. 134,000 missing people – was seen as a slap in the face by many Mexicans. Many a missing it happened following the US-backed launch of the so-called “war on drugs” in 2006, which has become a war on the poor.

The massive deployment around World Cup venues of Mexico’s security forces, known for human rights abuses and other repression, has also upset many people.

Meanwhile, FIFA’s long history of corruption, greed, fraud and other evils has been well documented by the president of the organization, Gianni Infantino, who in December presented Trump with the “FIFA Peace Prize – World Cup”.

The award seems to have been accidentally created by Infantino shamelessly with a brown nose to persuade Trump not to be upset about being denied the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Who better to receive the inaugural FIFA award than the first representative of Israel the massacre of people in the Gaza Strip?

Since October 2023, Israel has killed nearly 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 421 players. stealing The president of Venezuela, he also started the apocalyptic war in Iran and Israel, and support the new Israeli currency oppression and living in South Lebanon.

And while World Cup Canada likes to portray itself as the United States’ innocent neighbor to the north, the country. difficulties in killing people and sending weapons to Israel means it has also destroyed moral red cards.

The United States, however, are making this year’s World Cup as divisive and joyless as possible. Just a few days before the event, the Iranian Football Federation he announced that the ticket that distributed Iran’s three matches in the US was cancelled. Visas were also denied 15 the staff of the football association.

Then there is the matter of Omar Artana senior Somali referee who was due to compete in the World Cup but was denied entry to the US last week. And since Haitian citizens are banned from entering the country, Haitian World Cup fans can forget about going to support their team.

Yes, all of Somalia is Haiti they’ve been enjoying the brutal attacks of the US military for years, but heaven forbid their citizens cross the US border to attend football games.

Trump’s continued mass prison and to be expelled he also put a section on the ideal of “oneness”, where the prices of the mysterious sky tickets meant what could be Capitalism’s biggest World Cup until now: a reminder that people are not created equal.

To add icing to the sociopathic cake, Iran’s World Cup team has been forced to establish themselves in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, allowed to enter the US long enough to finish each match, after which he must remove himself from US soil. In other words, it remembers “Live in Mexico” a policy implemented during the first Trump administration, which used the country as a dumping ground for unwanted tourists.

The last time I crossed the US border from Tijuana, it was very embarrassing for me, even as a US citizen. I recklessly tried to cross with one mandarin orange, which the US border officials. treated as if they were nuclear weapons. (I would advise the Iranian team to leave any fruits at home.)

To be honest, it was easy in the times of destruction to lose yourself in the World Cup and the beautiful game – the eternal corruption of FIFA, the greed of the sucking companies, and the cheating on the sidelines. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been held at times unsullied beautysuch as when the Moroccan group not only defeated the old European colonialists but chose to show the cause of Palestine and produce white humanity.

However, this time, imperial arrogance and the problems that have arisen in the US in the Middle East do not leave much room for the old ideas of passion and magic that football used to inspire.

That said, I’m not lying: I watched the opening game between Mexico and South Africa on television in southern Italy, and I enjoyed it a little. I put on one of my Mexican soccer jerseys, bought a beer, and sat down in my room alone watching Italian Rai 1 TV.

In fashion, the people of Rai 1 decided that the most appropriate thing before the game was to visit some ex-Iranians in California who consider themselves Persians and who have sworn allegiance to the US football team rather than to Iran. I turned the volume down and drank a lot of alcohol.

Ultimately, the World Cup has become political. But this year the US border is moving straight into the race – and there’s nothing pretty about that.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect Al Jazeera’s influence.