Has Trump just trashed his own World Cup?

**Jon Sopel** (0:02)
This is a Global Production.

**Emily Maitlis** (0:04)
Donald Trump placed a call to FIFA's president, Gianni Infantino.

**Jon Sopel** (0:09)
It is so ugly, it is so reprehensible.

**Emily Maitlis** (0:12)
That that red card should be rescinded to allow Balogun to be part of the team tonight.

**Jon Sopel** (0:19)
It was absolutely pusillanimous on the part of Infantino to go, oh yes, Donald, let's look at it, and we'll try and sort this out.

**Emily Maitlis** (0:25)
What do you have here? You have Trump deciding that he has to respond as emperor.

**Jon Sopel** (0:31)
It's about politics, it's about crude muscle, and Donald Trump just throwing his weight around.
Where does this start and where does this end now? Can we overturn it or not overturn it? Or is that something that you will seek to pursue? Because like you say, there's surely a chance. Where do you draw the line? Yeah, where to draw the line is the question that I ask. I have no answer to that. Where does this end now? Do we appeal if a yellow card is not a yellow card? Do we think it's not a red card? Or who thinks it? Where does this start and where does this end?

**Emily Maitlis** (1:06)
It's my question.

**Gabriel Pogrund** (1:07)
I don't have an answer.

**Jon Sopel** (1:08)
Can Harry maybe ask Donald Trump to? Maybe, yeah.

**Emily Maitlis** (1:12)
That's a good starting point. That's the England manager, Thomas Tuchel, talking about red cards and match bans. He's not really talking about what happened overnight. That magnificent match where England beat Mexico. He's talking about another red card. And he's talking about the involvement of one Donald Trump who magically made a match ban disappear.
Has this World Cup just turned into a playground for Donald Trump? Welcome to The News Agents.
It's Maitlis.

**Jon Sopel** (1:54)
It's Jon in Mexico City.

**Emily Maitlis** (1:57)
And we are going to tell you about the dirty side of this World Cup in a moment because things have taken a turn for the worse by the intervention of one of our friends in the White House. That to come. But honestly, if you wanted to get a sense of just how powerful a national moment and a sporting moment can be, you were just in the right place at the right time last night, Sopes. I feel like actually we've been talking all night already.

**Jon Sopel** (2:27)
I know. Look, the Azteca Stadium is like nothing I've ever been to before. I mean, it's vast. It's huge. But the noise was utterly deafening. And when the Mexicans sang their national anthem with such gusto of people crying while they were singing it, it was really beautiful to behold. And likewise, when we sang, you know, God Save the King, every England fan was up there at the top of their voices. And the noise inside the stadium was deafening. And it was all about what was best in football. This was a breathless encounter by two teams, quite evenly matched. It ends up 3-2 with ascending off two penalties and extra time that went on for 11 minutes that felt like 11 hours. And honestly, I felt I had aged about 11 years.
And, you know, all of this in this hostile cauldron of a place, the Azteca, packed and the English were so outnumbered. And yet the game went on and it was like a siege at the end, where, you know, from history, the siege of Mafeking, or when, you know, your soldiers are running out of ammunition, there are only a few of them left, but you hold off the attackers. And that's what England did last night with Mexico City. And at the end of the game, it was a really fantastic atmosphere. And that was all that was best about the World Cup. All that you love about the World Cup was on show in the Azteca last night.

**Emily Maitlis** (3:55)
And Mexico have never lost a World Cup game in that stadium. I mean, I know there was a lot of nervousness seeing how defensively we had to play. As you say, it was this sort of wall that came up. But it was like every single team member was their absolute best in that, what was it, 100, 105 minutes in the end, wasn't it, last night?

**Jon Sopel** (4:21)
Yeah, it was. I thought it was absolutely amazing. I thought that every single player, I mean, you know, everyone talks about the superstars of Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham. Every, I mean, and they were brilliant. You know, Jude Bellingham was extraordinary.
Every player really put their body and soul into it. And, you know, I kind of, and also Thomas Tuchel changed the system. Suddenly there were five defenders. He had the, you know, we talk about Keir Starmer, about the fact that he couldn't adjust his style. And that was the accusation about Gareth Southgate when he was England manager. And with Thomas Tuchel, he just saw what needed to happen. And, you know, changed the formation when we were down to 10 men. And it was 3-2. And we were clinging on by our fingertips for dear life. There was one very amusing moment where two, when we were 2-0 up and we were feeling very relaxed, Mexico suddenly scored. And I was with a group of England fans.