Simon Cooper

I go around Dutch theaters.

I give this talk on the World Cup and geopolitics and everything.

And we show this picture of the Dutch team arriving back home in 74, having lost the final, welcomed by enormous cheering crowds.

They then go to the prime minister's residence where we have a photograph of the players and members of the royal family and the prime minister dancing the conga.

So there was no mourning in the Netherlands at all.

There was this immense pride, this small country finishing second in the world.

That's great.

And they were right to feel immense pride.

Imagine, if you can suspend disbelief, Ireland finishing second in the world.

You lose the final to Germany.

Would you feel crushed?

I don't think so.

One is everyone is welcome.

FIFA doesn't discriminate against brutal regimes.

So Argentina hosted in 1978, Putin in 2018, the Qataris.

FIFA is totally fine with that.

Secondly, people talk about the leader using the World Cup.

So that's the big story now.

People have, oh, Trump is going to turn the World Cup into a propaganda show.

Of course, the leader tries that.