No kings, few fans: USA's year of World Cups gets off to a flat start

The Guardian

6 hours ago

Before we begin, two quick notes: Jonathan Wilson is on vacation for the next few weeks, so we'll have a series of guest writers on the newsletter, beginning this week with Leander Schaerlaeckens. Alongside that change, we're modifying the schedule to better line up with the Club World Cup and Gold Cup as they take over the United States. Next week's edition of the newsletter will land on Friday 27 June, and will recap the group stage of the Club World Cup. From then on, we'll be in your inbox on Monday as usual. Jonathan will return on 14 July.
That the two events should coincide was so perfect as to almost feel heavy-handed. Donald Trump's comically underattended military parade lurched through Washington DC at the exact same time on Saturday as the overwrought opening ceremony unspooled for Fifa's beleaguered Club World Cup, in a definitely-not-full Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Trump's jingoistic birthday bust contrasted painfully with the multimillion-strong turnout at the 'No Kings' anti-Trump rallies that gathered all over the country. The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, meanwhile – or 'Johnny', as Trump pronounces the name of one of his favorite allies in the sports world – had promised the opening match of the swollen tournament he forced down the soccer world's throat would be sold out. Instead, attendance between Inter Miami and Al Ahly, a fitting 0-0 stalemate, was announced at a still-better-than-expected 60,927 in the 64,767-seat venue.
Mind you, that was after ticket prices had reportedly been cut from $349 to just $4.
And so began not only the expanded Club World Cup but the Concacaf Gold Cup as well, kicking off a 13-month period, culminating in the 2026 World Cup final, during which organizers hope the United States will take a star turn as a soccer destination, elevate the sport and enrich all those involved.
For all the buildup, and despite the bought-and-paid-for enthusiasm from the Dazn studio analysts hyping up the Club World Cup, the entire spectacle felt a bit flat, and about as impactful as the omnipresent advertising for Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund on the hoardings surrounding the field at both tournaments.
On the Big Soccer Event Excitement Dial that reads 'meh' at one end and '2022 World Cup final' at the other, the needle never crossed beyond the halfway point. Attendances reflected as much.
On Sunday, the United States men's national team dominated an utterly hopeless Trinidad and Tobago in their Gold Cup opener, 5-0, reconstituting a modicum of momentum at long last following a dispiriting stretch of losses for Mauricio Pochettino's men. But a mere 12,610 had turned up to the 18,000-seat PayPal Park in San Jose.
More remarkably still, Mexico did not pack out SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Saturday, even though the Los Angeles area is probably El Tri's biggest market other than Mexico City. Just 54,309 of the 70,240 seats were occupied as Mexico edged past Gold Cup debutants Dominican Republic 3-2.
None of the other Club World Cup games of the opening weekend sold out either. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena drew plenty but was not full for the most appealing match of the slate, European champions Paris Saint-Germain's 4-0 rinsing of 10-man Atlético Madrid. Only just over half of MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford filled in for Palmeiras v Porto, another scoreless affair. Bayern Munich's 10-0 destruction of Auckland City – because it was apparently important to establish whether the champions of Oceania belonged on the same field as the 34-time German champions – couldn't even fill up a 26,000-seat Major League Soccer venue in Cincinnati. Fans, however, did score an 11th goal, of a sort, with a banner marking the 10th anniversary of the Baur au Lac raid that swept up a generation of corrupt Fifa officials. 'World football is more poorly governed than before!' it proclaimed. 'Smash FIFA!' Sunday's nightcap between Botafogo and the Seattle Sounders didn't sell out either, with an official attendance of 31,151 in 68,740-seat Lumen Field, even though the Sounders were playing at home (though that figure is in line with the team's usual average).
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And then there was the sorry sight of the Gold Cup double-header: Saudi Arabia v Haiti and Costa Rica v Suriname in San Diego, which appeared to have about as many attendees as a last-minute wedding for a couple nobody is confident will last through the honeymoon.
It isn't like the two tournaments cannibalized one another's attendance. After all, there was hardly any overlap in the markets where matches were held last weekend – other than PSG v Atleti and Mexico v Dominican Republic, both played in the Los Angeles area.
Certainly, the shocking prices Fifa initially demanded for the Club World Cup did not help, even if the 'dynamic pricing model' ensured that they tumbled rapidly in the last few weeks. Concacaf, likewise, is notorious for charging sky-high prices, even if those prices leave stadiums half-empty. That's hardly looking like it will change. When US Soccer submitted its bid book with Mexico and Canada for the World Cup more than eight years ago, it projected an average ticket price of $305 for the group stage.
Yet there was fun to be salvaged from the proceedings. The USMNT's big win was satisfying, for US fans at least, and the Dominican Republic's challenge of mighty Mexico was an uncut bit of fun.
Al Ahly ran roughshod over Miami for much of the first half but somehow failed to find the net with a disallowed goal and a missed penalty in a scintillating 45 minutes marked by Miami goalkeeper Oscar Ustari's remarkable saves. In the second half, Lionel Messi stirred himself to bedevil the Egyptian side with a vintage display. Yet Messi hit the crossbar with a long, late, swerving shot and Al Ahly made a series of remarkable goalline saves to preserve the draw.
These were footballing fireworks. And that's the reason these myriad money-grabs tend to work out just fine for their perpetrators – soccer, in the end, is still sublimely soccer.
This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question? Email [e-mail].