One World Cup had barely ended, and Donald Trump already wants another - but this time only for America, without Canada and without Mexico. „You should pick the USA again. Only this time we'll leave out Canada and Mexico”, he said at a reception in Trump Tower, ahead of Sunday's final match.

The current tournament was held across three countries, but America hosted 78 of the 104 matches, including all 12 from the quarterfinals onward. So the neighbors got crumbs from the table anyway - and now Trump wants them gone too. The 2038 hosting still has no holder: under FIFA's continent-rotation rules, only North America and Oceania are in play, since 2030 is split between Africa, Europe and South America, and 2034 is taken by Saudi Arabia.

Trump also revealed that FIFA president Gianni Infantino had contacted him about a possible joint US-China hosting at some future tournament. Sport and geopolitics have long been intertwined, but rarely does anyone put them so openly on the same table.

The juiciest part is the one Trump prefers to keep quiet: he allegedly contacted Infantino to have the red card and suspension of American player Folarin Balogun lifted. And even though FIFA controversially lifted the penalty, the US lost to Belgium 4:1 and didn't get out of the group stage. So the pressure on FIFA worked, the result on the pitch - didn't. If the host, with all that authority, couldn't get out of a single group, why would the world want to play in his backyard again?