The shadow of President Donald Trump have ultimately not loomed all that large over the FIFA World Cup hosted by the United States, but his presence will be strongly felt Sunday at the final in New Jersey.
Trump is expected to attend the match, and, if last year’s FIFA Club World Cup is any indicator, may be prominently involved in the trophy presentation as well. When Trump attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals last month, his presence, though quiet at the game itself, became a major storyline — especially after the Knicks lost a pivotal home game in front of him.
And just last week, the Trump administration intervened to lobby FIFA to reinstate USMNT striker Folarin Balogun. After the team’s loss to Belgium, Balogun acknowledged that the effort led to “nerves” among the players.
As a result, Trump’s presence at the final on Sunday will bring plenty of baggage even from a sports standpoint, even before considering his low approval rating amid a reignited war in the Middle East.
These difficult dynamics are not lost on Fox Sports lead soccer announcer John Strong, who in a virtual news conference on Friday said he would “play it down the middle” when discussing the president on the broadcast.
“Certainly when it comes to President Trump, there are no neutral opinions,” Strong said, according to Fox News. “But that means there are a lot of people in the audience who are super excited to see him at the game, and there are going to be a lot of people in the audience who maybe are less thrilled to have him on their TV screen.”
“As ever, it’s my job to play it down the middle and acknowledge the fact that the United States president being engaged with the sport, being at the game, that’s a fun, unique thing,” he added. “Whatever I say, the tone of my voice will be scrutinized. It will be what it is. That’s the nature of it.”
Strong added that he did not want discussion of Trump to “overshadow” the competition, and if recent history is any indication, it won’t. Though Trump has been a fixture at live sporting events since returning to office, he mostly keeps to himself and leaves early.
Of course, if he hands over the trophy to Lionel Messi or Spain’s Rodri around a live microphone, it would be hard to imagine that the ever-polarizing president is not a lead topic of conversation going into next week.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.