Of course, what seems true before a World Cup has a way of getting blown to dust by about the second day of matches. But the 2026 tournament, cohosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada — though don’t mention the cohosting part to Donald Trump — kicks off this week in Mexico City, and in all the years I’ve been covering the event, I’ve never seen a World Cup generate this little advance excitement or this much advance disgust. I’ve also never seen a World Cup whose muted buzz could be so clearly attributed to fans’ exhaustion with the cartoon villainy of the people in charge.
I keep waiting to see if my indifference-bordering-on-disdain will shift into something more positive, but so far, no. This may be the first World Cup in decades that I don ’t watch … or I may end up watching every match I can. The switch could still flip. ⚽️