Long before the United States turned the World Cup final into an orgy of pop music and advertising, the signs were already there that this year’s co-hosts should never have been allowed within a thousand miles of the tournament. The garish half-time show curated by Chris Martin of Coldplay seemed to reinforce that – but then came a moment of improbable genius.

I was surprised. The last time America hosted, the problem wasn’t commercial overkill so much as sheer shrugging apathy. I was in New York during USA ’94. Apart from a few flapping banners outside the Nike store, you wouldn’t have known one of the world’s biggest sporting events was taking place. This, in hindsight, was a blessing. Football was allowed to football.

In our rampantly hypercapitalist age, we can only dream of such innocence. In the run-up to its 2026 iteration, co-hosted with Mexico and Canada, the cost to supporters of handing the lion’s share of World Cup games to America’s supersize-everything culture became horribly clear, from obscene ticket prices to price-gouging by local authorities over travel to games, with a $13 train ticket to the MetLife........

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