Will this be the Donald Trump World Cup? (With Football Daily, part 1)

**Adam Fleming** (0:00)
Hello, Marianna.

**Marianna Spring** (0:01)
Hello.

**Adam Fleming** (0:01)
Here we are in the same studio at the same time for us.

**Marianna Spring** (0:03)
We are.

**Adam Fleming** (0:04)
For a special project.

**Marianna Spring** (0:05)
Yeah, we are talking about one of my favourite topics, football and the World Cup, maybe one of your favourite topics.

**Adam Fleming** (0:11)
Well, it's about to be. Yeah.
I mean, I always get into it when it is the World Cup. Yeah.

**Marianna Spring** (0:16)
And also I think that this World Cup is particularly interesting, which is why we're talking about it because it's obviously happening in the US, Mexico, Canada, and there is lots to discuss in terms of geopolitics.

**Adam Fleming** (0:28)
And there's a lot going on between a lot of countries at the moment, and a lot of those countries are going to be meeting in the three host countries, the US, Canada, and Mexico. And we're going to have a bit of a theme of threes because we've brought together three podcasts. There's mine, Newscast.

**Marianna Spring** (0:42)
There's Americast, and I'm not alone.

**Anthony Zurcher** (0:44)
Not alone, Anthony, here in Washington DC, in America for the American World Cup show.

**Adam Fleming** (0:50)
And joining us from the third legendary podcast, is John Murray from Football Daily. Hello, John.

**John Murray** (0:56)
Hello, everyone. Yes. And I know I'm going to be going straight to Mexico. I know I'll be in the United States. And depends what happens in terms of who goes through, who goes out, whether I get to Canada or not. But I'll certainly be going to two of the three.

**Adam Fleming** (1:09)
And for those of you who cannot see John, he's got his proper football commentary lip mic. So I feel like he's in the commentary booth already.

**John Murray** (1:16)
Well, in the Football Daily, in the Commentators View podcast, we always do it on lip mics. Just to, I think, give it that extra little bit of football commentator feel. So old habits die hard.

**Adam Fleming** (1:28)
It's making me want to talk very, very closely into my microphone. But that probably will not sound as good. And certainly my content will not be as good as yours, John. Anyway, welcome aboard because we're going to do three episodes looking at lots of elements of the World Cup. Not necessarily the actual football. There's plenty of that elsewhere, but all of the interesting aspects around the politics, the money, the relationships, and some of the things that might happen.

**Marianna Spring** (1:51)
Welcome to a special Americast.

**Adam Fleming** (1:55)
Americast.

**Marianna Spring** (1:56)
Americast from BBC News.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:58)
It's going to be the world's largest sporting event ever hosted.

**Anthony Zurcher** (2:03)
But when the time is up, they'll have to go home. FIFA is making $11 billion off of this World Cup.

**Gianni Infantino** (2:10)
If somebody buys a ticket for the final two minutes, I would personally bring him a hot dog and a Coke.

**Anthony Zurcher** (2:15)
It is such a unifying event. It is also about winning. I may put on shorts.

**Gianni Infantino** (2:20)
I look extremely good in shorts.

**Anthony Zurcher** (2:22)
Enjoying the play.

**Adam Fleming** (2:28)
Hello, it's Adam in the Newscast Studio.

**Marianna Spring** (2:30)
And it is Marianna sitting next to Adam in the Newscast Studio.

**Anthony Zurcher** (2:33)
And it's Anthony in the BBC Bureau in Washington, DC.

**John Murray** (2:36)
And this is Jon sitting at my desk where I am putting my final preparations to what I'm planning to use once I get to the World Cup for our commentaries.

**Adam Fleming** (2:47)
Jon, does that mean you have a big binder? That's a stationary item very close to my heart.

**John Murray** (2:51)
I'm looking around my desk here, Adam, and I've got piles of paper. I've got the current edition of World Soccer. I've got Diego Maradona's autobiography.
And I've got various other books and files. So the answer is yes.

**Adam Fleming** (3:05)
Marianna's just got her phone, which has fallen out of her pocket. That was that little thud was. She's got everything on one device.

**Marianna Spring** (3:11)
No books or bookshelves, unfortunately.

**Adam Fleming** (3:14)
Right, we're recording three episodes. This is the first one. We're doing it on Thursday, the 4th of June. And it is the afternoon, just so you know what the world looks like as we're recording this episode right now. And this first in our three part series, we're going to look at kind of the genesis of this World Cup. How did it end up being in Canada, the USA, and Mexico, which is quite an unusual situation. And also this intriguing relationship. I don't want to call it a bromance, because that's a bit of a cliche now, between the two presidents, Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino of FIFA, because that's an interesting story in itself. So Jon, when did you realize you would be spending this summer in North America?