FIFA World Cup Final: Diplomatic Tension And Football Superstition Converge In New York

New York: MetLife Stadium in New York is set to host the FIFA World Cup Final between Spain and Argentina on Sunday night. More than 80,000 fans will pack the stands. But the match on the pitch may not even be the most interesting contest happening inside that stadium. Up in the VIP box, Donald Trump will be sitting alongside one of his sharpest critics on the global stage. And his closest friend in the world has refused to show up at all.

Why is Trump hosting his biggest critic?

Spain made the final, that means Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has flown to New York to cheer his team. Spain's King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and their daughters are also attending. Politically this is anything but a comfortable situation for Trump. Sanchez has spent years openly criticizing Trump's policies. He has slammed America's stance on the Iran conflict, pushed back against US support for Israel's military operations in Gaza and clashed with Washington over NATO defense spending. At the recent NATO summit Trump called Spain a terrible partner and threatened economic sanctions because Madrid refused to commit five percent of its GDP to defense. Sanchez tried to smooth things over after that but the tension between the two men never fully went away. Now fate has placed them in the same VIP box. And if Spain wins, Trump may have to hand the trophy personally to Sanchez's team.

Why did Trump's biggest fan stay home?

Argentina is in the final. Argentine President Javier Milei is considered Trump's closest ally and greatest admirer in the western world. Trump would have loved having him in that box. But Milei had denied and is not coming to New York. The reason has nothing to do with diplomacy or politics. It is pure superstition and In Argentina this is called Cabalas.

Milei believes that watching matches from a specific chair at his presidential residence in Olivos has been a lucky charm for Argentina throughout this tournament. Every one of Argentina's seven wins in this World Cup has been watched by Milei from that same chair. He is not about to change that now. Speaking to a local radio station, he said that there is no way he is changing the routine and will watch from Olivos.

What is the lucky jacket story?

Milei's superstitions go even further. During the quarter-final against Switzerland he was wearing a thick YPF branded jacket because it was cold and he had not turned the heating on. At some point during the match he felt warm and took the jacket off. Immediately the opposition scored. He put the jacket straight back on and has not taken it off during a match since. He told the story himself and was completely serious about it.

This kind of thinking runs deep in Argentine football culture. At the 1990 World Cup, then-President Carlos Menem attended a match and Argentina lost to Cameroon in their opener. Menem was labelled Mufa, which roughly means jinx or bad omen. Since then no sitting Argentine president has gone to watch the national team play in a stadium. Milei has no intention of being the one who breaks that tradition and ends up in the history books as the man who cost Argentina the World Cup.

How the football, politics and superstition all at once?

On the pitch, it is Lionel Messi's Argentina against Spain's young and hungry squad. In the VIP box it is the silent but loaded diplomatic tension between Trump and Sanchez. And hovering over the whole thing is the ghost of Milei sitting alone in his palace chair in Buenos Aires, jacket firmly on, refusing to move. It is hard to remember a World Cup final that has packed in this much politics, friendship, rivalry and superstition all at the same time.