The World Cup is upon us and the biggest folk fest in the world has begun, but FIFA is making it increasingly difficult to focus on the football.

The African referee of the year 2025, Omar Artan, was denied access to the USA after arriving a couple of days ago. He was set to referee games in the group stage in the US, but was denied entry almost certainly because of his nationality. Omar Artan is from Somalia, and Somalis have been banned by the Trump administration from entering the US since July 2025. FIFA backed the US authorities’ decision, stating that the host nation itself decides who enters and that FIFA has no say in the matter. This directly contradicts what Gianni Infantino said in August 2025 on the subject of entering the host countries:

“Everyone will be welcome in Canada, Mexico and the United States for the FIFA World Cup next year.” Everyone it seems bar people like Omar Artan a FIFA World Cup referee. Pictured below a few days ago (centre) being honoured in Mogadishu, Somalia.

This is of course extremely problematic. Sports-washing and corruption go hand in hand with World Cups. Qatar and Russia are clear recent examples, and fascist Italy in 1934 (below) is another. But we have not seen this kind of blatant political corruption affecting the tournament itself since Argentina in 1978. These are scary times; Infantino is deeply enamoured with Donald Trump, and his proximity to that power means that no previous rules or promises seem valid or trustworthy.

Infantino attended a controversial press conference, saying that ”sometimes it’s best just to chill” and ”relax” in relation to Omar Artan's denial of entry. He ends the press conference with a request that everyone should “spread the message of unity in the World Cup”. Infantino is a man who has sold this World Cup to the elite, ticket prices for £2000 and ad breaks during the games, allows host countries who break all the rules and promises unpunished, and then says he does it in “the name of football”. A man who is actively destroying the beautiful game. The disappointment doesn’t end there.

As of writing there are new things popping up everyday, each statement more embarrassing than the other, but we don’t have the time to cover it all.

I covered the drama around the Iranian team in the first World Cup report, but simply the fact that the US is currently the aggressors in a war against one of the participating nations — at the same time as hosting the World Cup — is obviously very problematic. The last three World Cups were all hosted by states actively violating human rights and welfare:

Russia 2018 — Having annexed Crimea four years earlier and illegally occupying it during the World Cup. We all know what happened in the following years.

Qatar 2022 — Migrant workers had their passports confiscated and were in practice treated as modern-day slaves, thousands of whom died during the construction of World Cup infrastructure.

USA 2026 — Actively waging war against one of the participating nations, denying access to players and referees from certain countries, with corruption at FIFA presidential level so brazen it is almost laughable. To be fair to the 2026 World Cup, Canada and Mexico have done nothing wrong in the hosting process.

This is deeply troubling. FIFA has no morals, and never has, but these choices of hosts and this kind of FIFA leadership detract from what I love about the World Cup — the football, the festivities and the world uniting for a month to enjoy the best sport on the planet. But let’s focus on that too.

Here comes a quick review of some of the most interesting games so far (as well as our own Swansea players are doing):

Mexico vs South Africa (1-0):

The replay from the 2010 opener had a lot to live up too. In 2010, Tshabalala’s opener became one of the most famous World Cup goals. In 2026, the Estadio Azteca did the heavy lifting. One of the most historic Worl Cup venues, the Azteca has hosted players like Maradona, Pelé and now Raul Jimenéz and Sphephelo Sithole. The Mexican’s looked alright and managed a 2-0 win over a very poor Bofana Bofana side. The 3 red cards were memorable.

⚽️ USA vs Paraguay (4-1):

The US came like a pick up truck and completely rolled over the Paraguayans. I was very impressed by their intensity and attacking fluidity. Paraguay looked stunned and couldn’t organize their otherwise strong defense in time. 4-1 with Pulisic and Folarin Balogun with the most impressive performances.

⚽️ Brazil vs Morocco (1-1)

After USA-Paraguay, you were in for another late-night banger. The FIFA ranked #6 vs #8 — a sleeping giant vs a new African powerhouse. Morocco came 4th in Qatar. Morocco looked very impressive this game, attacking with a lot of creativity and ferocity. Honestly, Morocco played you’d normally expect the Brazilians to. Eredivisie player of the year, Ismael Saibari, opened the scoring but Vinicius Jr answered with a great goal only 11 minutes after. Overall a tight game, but Morocco walks away more pleased with their performance.

⚽️ The Swansea magic:

South Korea beat Czechia (Czech Republic) 2-1 in an extremely important game in Group A. This win gives them very good chances of advancing to the next round. Eom saw around 20 minutes of play, winning 3/3 duels, completing a cross and overall looking pretty decent. He got subbed in after the Koreans equalized and 11 minutes after they took the lead. Coincidence? Perhaps, but we choose to see it as a sign that Eom should play more.

Cameron Burgess carries our Swansea banner the highest in this round. The Soceroo’s, with 4 Championship players in their starting XI, survived the Turkish onslaught and even scored twice to win it. Watford’s Nestory Irankunda was their offensive force but Burgess and his backline led by Harry Souttar (Leicester) was the most crucial part of this very clutch win. I said beforehand that Group D could become really interesting and that has already proven to be true. Keep your eye on this group.

🤷🏻‍♂️ On Tuesday the 16th at 2 AM Marco Stamenic’s New Zealand faces off against Iran. Let’s see if he can continue the Swansea-player win streak.

Here are the remaining top games that I think are really worth watching:

⚽️ Netherlands vs Japan (Sunday 14th, 9 PM):

This game will probably decide who wins Group F. The Netherlands have not lost a game in over a year and Japan have some new stars for this World Cup; I’m particularly interested in Feyenoord goal machine Ayase Ueda. I predict a tight game with the Dutch coming out on top.

⚽️ England vs Croatia (Wednesday 17th, 9 PM):

The 2018 semi-final replay — this game is so hard to predict. England have some real superstars and probably the best player in the world in Harry Kane, but there are concerns. They have not looked amazing under Tuchel and the Croats always turn up for the World Cup. This could go either way; well worth a watch.

Those are, in my opinion, the most interesting games of this first round. Hopefully the focus can shift to the football and the controversies around the tournament can end. This could be such a wonderful tournament, but instead it feels wasted on petty, corrupt politics. Football lives on either way.

Cheers !

Olle on the Swans at the World Cup. Report 1
⚽️Swans on top of the world

Report 2
⚽️Jacks across the World Cup

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