6 big World Cup political moments as Argentina faces Spain

The path to Sunday’s World Cup final between Argentina and Spain has been dotted with political moments.

President Trump, inevitably, was to the fore.

Trump’s intervention to get Team USA star Folarin Balogun off the hook after the striker was sent off against Bosnia and Herzegovina sparked an international storm.

Balogun’s red card would have ruled him out for the next, crucial round-of-16 match against Belgium. Trump, however, called FIFA President Gianni Infantino — who was already seen by critics as too eager to ingratiate himself with the U.S. president — and Balogun’s punishment was duly postponed.

The outcome was welcomed by American soccer fans, but it caused outrage in much of the rest of the world. In the end, Belgium easily defeated the U.S 4-1, even with Balogun.

This year’s final has its political dimensions, too.

Argentina defeated England in the semifinal, underscoring the South American nation’s primacy in a bitter rivalry between the two nations that has its roots in the 1982 Falklands War.

As for Spain, a quirk of its soccer culture is that fans of one of its greatest clubs, FC Barcelona, are famously reluctant to back the national team, instead identifying with the cause of Catalan separatism.

Here are six examples of big political moments at past World Cups.

2014: For the first time, a unified Germany wins

Germany has long been a soccer superpower, but the nation did not prevail in any of the first three World Cups that predated World War II.

Postwar, West Germany was much the stronger of the two teams from the divided nation. West Germany won the World Cup three times: in 1954, 1974 and 1990.

The nation was reunited months after the 1990 final as the Iron Curtain fell. But it would be a long wait before the ultimate soccer triumph followed.

It finally came in 2014, when Germany defeated Argentina 1-0 in extra time at the famous Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

Back in Berlin, according to The Associated Press, “fans cheered, clapped and shouted, with groups of fans hugging and jumping into the air together. … Flares illuminated the stage and sent plumes of........

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