World Cup 2026 – The “Final Four”

Happy Bastille Day to all.  I do not think it wise or fruitful to celebrate today by storming a fortress or a jail; rather, let me suggest a quiet dinner at a French Bistro accompanied by a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape.  Enjoy.

The “Final Four” of the FIFA World Cup tournament is set; people looking for storylines do not have to dig too deeply here.  Less than 50 years ago, England and Argentina engaged in a shooting war over the Falkland Islands and South Georgia; the fighting lasted about 3 months; the conflict involved air, land and naval forces.  The British prevailed in the end; now, England and Argentina face off in the World Cup semi-finals…

Spain and France occupy the other bracket of the World Cup Tournament; anyone who has ever gazed at a map of Europe realizes that this match could be characterized as a “border war”; the two countries share a border more than 400 miles long.  That alone could provide a storyline for the game, but a former Spanish Prime Minister – – Mariano Rajoy – – tossed some gasoline on the embers here.  Rajoy said that the French team in the World Cup this year “does not have any French players”.  That statement has been denounced by a wide range of French folks as a racist – – or at least a racial – – reference to the number of Black players on the French team.  Here is the translation of Rjoy’s complete remark:

“They are currently ranked number one in the FIFA rankings. They also have a top-level squad. That said, they don’t have any French players, and they are playing very well.”

To say those remarks were not well received among a variety of political figures in France would be the understatement of the month.  Just to pick out one reaction, here is what the leader of the French Socialist party had to say about Rajoy’s comment:

“The French team consists only of French people. France is not an ethnic nation; it has no skin color or religion. It is a political nation united around the republican motto. Much to the dismay of the racist right.”

Well, that escalated quickly …  And that is not the end of it all.  Here is the position taken by the French Minister for the French Overseas Territories:

“After each France victory, the same obsessions and racist insults resurface. These are not slips. This is a methodical and normalized hatred of France and what it is.”

And then this Minister called for the French Football Federation to “take legal action” over Rajoy’s remarks.  As if the stakes of the semi-final game in the World Cup were not high enough on their own.  At this point in my reading about this “controversy” I began to think that some of the French reaction here was just a bit over the top.  And then I ran across something that put this in a different light.

After France beat Paraguay last week to eliminate Paraguay from the tournament, a Paraguayan Senator went full racist in her remarks about French star Kylian Mbpappe.  After calling him a “colonized Cameroonian” (poor taste to be sure), she went on to say:

“That brute never even learned to write. Instead of breast milk, he sucked on coconuts, and the most educated creatures he ever listened to were chimpanzees.”

And there you have the standard for “Most Tasteless Remark Concerning the World Cup 2026”.  By comparison, the statement by Mariano Rajoy about the French team not having any French players seems bland indeed.

I am not going to pretend here that I have seen every game or even every team that competed in the World Cup this year; that is not the case.  However, I have seen all four of the “Final Four” teams play; and even in my rudimentary understanding of the game of soccer, I can see that these four teams are more skilled than the others I have seen.  If they are not the best four entrants in the field, they are certainly all deserving of their position in the semifinals.

Here is the schedule for the four remaining games in this year’s FIFA World Cup:

• July 14:  France vs Spain in Dallas, TX
• July 15:  Argentina vs England in Atlanta, GA
• July 18:  Third place game between the two losing teams above in Miami, FL
• July 19:  Final Game in East Rutherford, NJ

Finally, to end today on a lighter note, remember this from Mark Twain:

“Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………