{"id":669,"date":"2026-07-20T19:13:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=669"},"modified":"2026-07-20T19:13:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:13:38","slug":"soccer-great-american-sleepover-softens-us-image-abroad-but-world-cup-charm-campaign-hit-some-bumps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=669","title":{"rendered":"Soccer-‘Great American Sleepover’ Softens US Image Abroad, but World Cup Charm Campaign Hit Some Bumps"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Amy Tennery<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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NEW YORK, July 20 (Reuters) – A supersized World Cup tournament and its \u2060dizzying \u2060array of feel-good social media fodder gave the \u2060U.S. image a much-needed boost globally, though concerns over high-level interference and visa difficulties for some fans \u200bovershadowed the action on the field at times as the lines between politics and sport blurred.<\/p>\n

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An annual study of democracy in May\u00a0showed that global perceptions of the \u200cUnited States under the Trump administration had fallen \u200cbelow those of Russia. A crackdown on immigration, sweeping tariffs and the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran damaged America’s standing in the eyes of \u2060the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But while \u2060U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s approval rating at home was at the lowest of his second term \u200bearly in the tournament, a series of viral social media moments may have softened the world\u2019s perspective on Americans – at least temporarily.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Tartan Army Scottish fan base’s love affair with Boston provided one of the tournament’s feel-good storylines, as did Algeria’s unlikely friendship with Lawrence, Kansas, where they held their training base camp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And Americans themselves \u200bhad their eyes opened to soccer’s global roar, delivering blockbuster television ratings while packing fan festivals. Fox Sports broke its World Cup records \u2060with \u2060an average of 5 million American \u2060viewers per group-stage match, up \u200b92% from the Qatar World Cup four years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Clearly, soccer struck an emotional chord in the United States and engaged millions \u200bof people who weren’t previously big soccer fans,” \u2060Leigh Steinberg, the agent attorney for the U.S. soccer team the last time the World Cup was played in the states in 1994, told Reuters as the American team moved into the knockout stages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“World Cup is just the US having a giant sleepover with the cousins we never see because our parents hate each other,” wrote X user @JamelleMyBelle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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By Sunday’s final, where Trump smiled as he took the field to deliver the trophy even as a chorus of boos \u2060from fans rang out at the New York New Jersey Stadium, the American organizers were ready to declare victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“America \u2060fell in love with the World Cup, and the world fell in love with the United States of America,” said Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House task force for the World Cup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But some incidents did not help America’s reputation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A Dallas police officer\u2019s heated interaction with Egypt\u2019s national team made headlines, while a U.S. television reporter\u2019s ill-considered remark that she could not point to Bosnia and Herzegovina on a map soured the run-up to the co-hosts\u2019 Round of 32 match against the Balkan team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Trump’s involvement in one of the tournament’s biggest controversies, the suspended red-card ban of U.S. striker Folarin Balogun, ignited outrage, even as FIFA insisted the president had no impact on its decision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And the country that had promised to swing open its doors to \u2060the world, kept them stubbornly shut for some, denying visas to fans from several nations, according to rights groups.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Jules Boykoff, author of the book “Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed Machine,” said the Trump administration had “weaponised” the tournament to its advantage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“The rest of the world is like, whoa, this is putting fairness in jeopardy,” Boykoff told reporters at a Sport & Rights Alliance \u200bmedia briefing. “But domestically, he can say, ‘See, I’m a strong man who gets these international institutions to bend to \u200bmy will’.”<\/p>\n

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(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Alistair Bell)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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