NEW YORK — Back by popular demand, headlining in New York/New Jersey, the man who stole the world. Gianni Infantino’s big weekend began with a speech at the United Nations HQ on Friday followed by a reception in his honour hosted by President Donald Trump in an eponymous golden tower just a mile away.
The World Cup has delivered Infantino the dream vista, the defending World Champions Argentina against the European champions Spain in New York, the biggest game in world football in the world’s most dynamic metropolis. Lionel Messi versus Lamine Yamal.
It could have been bettered only by the involvement of Cristiano Ronaldo but that would have left Infantino open to accusations of manipulation, which is against football’s code of honour as well as Fifa statutes. And let’s face it, none could accuse him of that.
Well, okay, that’s a stretch. Infantino makes Niccolo Machiavelli’s scheming creation, the Prince, blush, no genuflection too great, no bow too low, no cap too big to doff.
Though Fifa is the most powerful body in sport, Infantino has surpassed the great Sepp Blatter in his alignment of sports richest economy with global politics. There is no world leader whose boots Infantino will not lick, no CEO to whom he will not ingratiate himself if it gets him through the door.
