CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Only Four Weeks to Go

From left, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexico president Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada Prime minister Mark Carney during the FIFA World Cup 2026 official draw at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., December 5, 2025. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)

Diego Maradona took the ball near halfway, skipped past five England players, rounded the goalkeeper, and calmly scored what is still regarded as the greatest goal in World Cup history. How can we forget?

Carlos Alberto finished a sweeping Brazilian move with a thunderous first-time strike after the ball flowed effortlessly through the entire team against Italy in 1970. Pure bliss.

Then there was Dennis Bergkamp in 1998—one impossibly deft touch to kill a long pass, another to slip past his defender, and a third to curl the winner beyond Argentina. I could hardly believe my eyes.

Can we expect some magic at the forthcoming World Cup? Or will a floundering Trump spend the tournament antagonising co-hosts Mexico and Canada badly enough to drain the joy from it all? Only four weeks to go.

Meanwhile, all eyes were on how noticeably scaled-down the Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square would be. “No tanks, no internet, simmering discontent,” as France 24 put it. At a moment when so many countries, including the UK, are struggling domestically, you wonder whether the world is overdue a little peace and love instead of this relentless cycle of militarised spectacle, however depleted of hardware this time round.

Does Russia see the writing on the wall? Of the four Ukrainian provinces claimed since the invasion, only Luhansk has been fully occupied. Western estimates suggest Russian military casualties may........

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