It was an exceptional Sunday for the Italians: Sinner triumphed at Wimbledon and a few hours later a young coach, Maresca, became world champion in New York with his Chelsea.
Three-nil to Paris Saint Germain, which had humiliated Inter Milan in the Champions League final at the end of May. The unplayable were said on the eve, proving once again that soccer is wonderful because it is unpredictable and that everything can be played, always, as in life.
But something else unpredictable, in a political sense, happened in New York, namely the presence of Donald Trump. Not only that, the president came down on the green lawn, relaxed, at the end of the match, cordially greeted the audience and then awarded the players together with Fifa President Infantino.
I had to watch the images twice to believe my eyes, Trump patiently doing the whole liturgy, correctly, from the vanquished to the victorious. In short, all those who said the Club World Cup was crap, that America is not only not ready for soccer but snubs it (empty stadiums and free tickets), were silenced.
Trump says the marriage between the States and football can be done. It will not be an anthropological and social revolution but a media and economic one. After all, why do we still call him the Tycoon today?
But there is more to it than just hard and raw business and the president’s communicative genius. Sport is now no longer just a romantic and sentimental matter of an area or a person. Sports, all sports, are now as globalized as finance, rights and sponsors are the masters. And everyone is allowed in, must be allowed in, not just those who have been schooled, Europe and South America. After all, that is the beauty of democracy, equality at least of participation.
This time the rules were flawed, but in the future there will be 12 more teams, as will happen for the real World Cup, the national teams’ World Cup, again in America next year, again with the final in New York. Then an English team wins (where soccer was born) and an Italian coach wins, where soccer still matters, even though we are all tennis players in tribute to the greatness of Sinner .
But that’s okay…by the way, the two Italians who participated, Inter and Juve, despite only making it to the round of 16 took home good money. And excuse me if it is little in these times where our soccer market no longer makes one dream or even hope.
The article Trump in camp comes from TheNewyorker.
