US Aims To Make FIFA World Cup 2026 ‘Greatest Sporting Event In History’: White House

This past Saturday, Cordeiro celebrated an early 70th birthday at a dinner in Miami surrounded by family and friends including top FIFA officials and soccer executives — a brief pause before the World Cup kickoff.

Their varied responses testify to both the maddening complexity of contemporary life and the enduring wonder of world soccer.

It was a final that had everything: two global powerhouses, an aging legend proving he still had it, a young French phenom in Kylian Mbappé at his peak and drama that unfolded in real time.

While FIFA hoped all eyes would be on reigning champions Germany playing Bolivia in the opening match of the 1994 World Cup at Chicago’s Soldier Field, Americans instead were transfixed as the former footballer and actor turned suspected killer led police on a bizarre, two-hour, low-speed chase across Los Angeles.