The Present Indicative, 28 July 2026
My Current Mood: The Politics of Sport
The platform remains free (and worth it) but in case you’re feeling philanthropic, I’ve set up a subscription page!
“One is ten thousand to me, if he be the best.” Heraclitus, Fragment DK B49
Am I becoming redundant? All I want to talk about are ancient philosophers, educated politicians, and World Cup. And all of those are now past reminiscence. Our prologue. But summer is meant to be lazy, musing on all that was, and could be again.
What began with invasion concluded in heartbreak, redemption, and history. 2026 World Cup! Grant me the platform una vez mas, por favor.
Argentina 2 - 1 England
We have a brewery in the town next door that specializes in cask-conditioned ales as well as imported UK sweets and treats. Cadbury Crunchie, anybody?
While I watched a room of English hope become frustration and then resignation, I thought about the historical influence of England on its commercial network. While cricket would be the sport of England’s 19th-century colonies–India, the Caribbean–soccer took root in countries like Argentina where England would trade or industrialize but not overtly control. Forgive my objectivity; others would describe England’s actions as perennially rapacious. Argentina’s vice-president, Victoria Villarruel, recently painted England as usurping pirates, a term dating back to the war over the Falklands/Malvinas in 1982, when periodicals in Argentina would put an eye patch on England’s prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.
The islands are 300 miles off the coast of Argentina. If you think proximity should be a right for sovereignty, then talk to Gibraltar. And while contested between several nations in the late 18th/early 19th centuries, England officially asserted control in 1822 (more than forty years before football’s “Laws of the Game”), and a 2013 referendum of island residents to continue their status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom generated a turnout of 92%, with 99.8% voting to remain a British territory.
England 6 - 4 France
Hastings. Crécy. Agincourt. Trafalgar. England and France have a long acrimony, but not since their Battle of Dettingen in 1743, during the War of the Austrian Succession, has there been a contest between these two nations to be described as “a happy escape, rather than a great victory.”
Neither team seemed that excited to play for third place, until England scored. And scored. And scored. And scored again. Then France returned the volley in the second half. Soccer is fun to watch when the refs don’t favor one side and physical play does not revert to flopping, says the American. And as an American, let me state for the record that for a tournament hosted by three countries, I was a touch abashed by the US hosting the last three matches (Atlanta, Miami, and New Jersey). At the very least you can’t put this consolation match in Canada? After all, these two countries met there for the Capitulation of Montreal in 1760.
Spain 1 - 0 Argentina
If England-France was a contest for the uninitiated, Spain vs Argentina was a match for the cerebral. Nothing about that final score screams interesting, but the dedicated midfield passing and consistent pressure from Spain finally broke the flopping and favoritism of Argentina. Enzo Fernandez, whose late red card forced Argentina to play 10 instead of 11 into extra time, caused the American commentator on the channel I was watching to state: “Messi is like two players, so the teams are still even.” Heraclitus might agree with him (you read him up top), but Heraclitus never met John Wooden:
The star of the team is the team. “We” supersedes “me.”
Spain recognized Argentina’s independence in the same year that English football drafted those Laws of the Game that I reference above: 1863. And while the diplomacy of both countries has been amicable for the majority of their co-existence, their latest relations have been complicated by current heads of state. Kinda like how the match between the two countries ended in a brawl between players following the final whistle.
In Related News…
Speaking of complicated, they edited out the president. And then they edited him back in? Or they didn’t edit him at all.
Once the fight between sides settled, the next controversy involved the stage and our American president pulling focus from the champions. At some point, an Australian commentator said on camera, “They’re going to edit him out of that.” And when Spain posted the picture to socials it certainly seemed like they did, prompting White House social media to put President Trump back up front. But some experts conclude the photo was never doctored, nor restored, and our perspective is shaped by suggestion and faction.
Lest we forget, not two weeks earlier, President Trump urged the US to cut off trade with Spain at a NATO summit. Whatever his intention to linger on stage, we have bigger problems to solve: we live in an age where we can change the present (and president) to fit our narrative, or not change anything and see what we want to believe. The human brain can hallucinate just fine without the help of AI. Be your own judge.
Trump steps all over World Cup winner’s moment… (The Independent)
Trump again steals World Cup Spotlight… (Sports Business Journal)
Donald Trump’s Awkward Role…Goes Viral (Yahoo Sports)
Trump’s World Cup Stunt Gets Savaged in Hot Mic Moment (The Daily Beast)
Why Spain cropped Donald Trump out of World Cup celebration photos (Yahoo Sports)
White House re-edits World Cup photo after Spain and FIFA crop out Donald Trump (All Out Soccer)
Fact check: Trump wasn’t edited out of Spain World Cup photo (DW)
¡¡Enhorabuena!!
Alex Effgen