Alexander Abnos

• Trump convenes first meeting of World Cup taskforce
• President hails windfall despite questions over readiness

US president Donald Trump convened the first meeting of his administration’s 2026 World Cup taskforce on Tuesday in a public event in which he revealed that he did not know Russia had been banned from Fifa competitions and insisted the tournament would go off without a hitch.

Boasting repeatedly that the 2026 World Cup, due to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, will be the “biggest, safest and most extraordinary soccer tournament in history”, Trump went on to claim that the tournament would generate “tens of billions of dollars in economic activities for local businesses” and “thousands and thousands of jobs for American workers”.

In her Hall of Fame induction speech, the World Cup winner opened up about the new perspective she has gained from retirement and motherhood

It’s been almost four years since Carli Lloyd announced her retirement as a player, and it appears to have been a transformative time for the two-time World Cup champion.

In a speech at her induction to the US Soccer Hall of Fame on Sunday, Lloyd struck a different tone than the one she used so often throughout her playing career, apologizing to her teammates for not being fully present as she single-mindedly pursued her goals as a player. Saying she “wasn’t there to make friends” and that she “avoided unnecessary drama,” Lloyd was well known by the end of her career for her steely demeanor that ran counter to some of her era’s more outgoing personalities like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan.

The two best players of their generation suffered same-day disappointments that show the game is starting to move on

Not long ago, the results might have been seismic. Or at the very least, worthy of an eyebrows-raised remark. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two leading lights of their generation, the dominant on-field forces for most of this century, both going out of continental competition in the semi-finals? Both in upsets? On the same day?