AS I SEE IT COLUMN: Canada is a soccer nation, and other World Cup thoughts

Donald Trump tried to suck as much joy out of the World Cup as possible. American officials not allowing the Iranian team to practice in the U.S., forcing them to fly back and forth to Mexico to train, not allowing Africa’s top referee from Somalia to officiate any games, and not giving Iran their FIFA allocation of 8% of tickets for each game so Iranian fans could watch their team compete, are easily some of the most racist and disturbing stories in the history of international sport.

But despite the Trump regime’s shameful efforts, the World Cup delivered an inspiring tournament filled with many exhilarating matches. The passion, the spectacle and the pageantry of the World Cup was undeniable and contagious.

Here’s some highlights and lowlights of the biggest sporting event in the world.

· Canada had an impressive showing in the World Cup, what with 211 countries vying for the trophy and Canada making it to the final 16. Outplaying soccer giant Morocco for more than half a game, showed that Canadian soccer has arrived. The Canadian men’s team has certainly inspired a new generation of soccer fans and players. Canada’s American coach Jesse Marsch was spot on when he said his players are Canadian heroes.

· For those who like to cheer for underdogs, Cabo Verde’s stunning performance, where a tiny nation of 500,000 almost defeated Argentina, the defending World Cup champions, was something to behold.

· The final between Argentina and Spain took on a geopolitical life of its own, acting like a proxy for Israel’s immoral war in Gaza. Argentine President Javier Milei publicly declared himself to be “the most Zionist president in the world.” (Zionism is the poisonous, pro-genocide movement that seeks to seize all Palestinian lands in the Middle East and deny the creation of a Palestinian nation.) Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called the ethnic cleansing in Gaza “the greatest genocide this century.” Heading into the final, soccer fans from all over the world went onto social media to say they would be cheering for Spain because of its vocal support for Palestine and Palestinians.

· One of the many beautiful aspects of the World Cup are all the rituals each country has. Norway’s post-game tradition, where Norwegian players sat on the grass and pretended to row a boat in unison with their fans in the stands, was something the whole world fell in love with.

· A touching story line was a photograph taken nearly 20 years featuring a young Lionel Messi and a baby. The photo was a UNICEF fundraiser and the baby was Lamine Yamal, who amazingly grew up to become one of Spain’s best players. That he and Messi would meet in the World Cup two decades later is a soccer miracle.

· As glorious as the soccer was, all the diving and the embellishments every time a player got nicked by another player, remains a huge black eye for the sport. Players roll around on the ground like they’ve been shot, and then when they see a penalty is not going to get called, they get up like nothing happened and rejoin the play. It’s a horrible stain on the game, as is the constant harassment of the officials by the players.

· The opening ceremonies of each game were majestic and classy. One of the most unfair things in sport happens in international hockey, where the losing team has to stand on the blue line and hear the national anthem of the winning team. It’s humiliating and completely unnecessary. International hockey should mimic soccer and play both anthems at the beginning of the game. It’s a much more thoughtful and civil approach.

The unparalleled fervour that fans from around the planet brought to the ‘beautiful game’ was breathtaking to behold, and it was great that soccer fans in Canada could experience that passion in person.

When you consider the enormous success of our women’s national soccer team and the men doing so well in the World Cup, it’s fair to say Canada is indeed a soccer nation.