Simon Cooper

So I think this has almost no impact on the American story.

You have the fastest moving news cycle in modern history.

So 47 minutes after the World Cup ends, there will be a new news cycle story that everyone's grasping over.

This World Cup, almost all World Cups will fade like a dream, leaving no impact on the host country.

But of course, Trump is going to make it into a Trump show where he comments on the action, not from the stadiums, but from the White House nonstop.

I mean, I'd cite two moments.

One is not at the World Cup.

It's when December 2nd, 2010, they vote on the host of two World Cups the same day, 2018 and 2022.

And everyone, including me in a long piece in the FT, is predicting Russia will get 2018, the US will get 2022.

But for 2022, guitar is pulled out of the envelope by Sepp Blatter.

So the two World Cups are given to Russia and a country that many people hadn't heard of.

And this moment exemplifies what my colleague Gideon Rachman at the Financial Times calls easternization, the movement of power, the draining of it away from the West towards the Gulf, Russia, China.

And this becomes visible then, and it's a shock to many people in the hall, including Bill Clinton, who had fronted the US bid, who was in the hall because he expected the US to win.

And this is an, oh my God, we've lost control moment for the West.

And the other moment is the first match of the 2018 World Cup.

Russia, Saudi Arabia, the Petro Derby.

And before the game, Vladimir Putin, the host of the World Cup, stands up and he makes this speech about football spreading love.

So very much in the Julie May spirit.

And the crowd gets bored.

And after a couple of minutes, people start to chat amongst themselves and watch videos on their phones.