'Something really special': FIFA World Cup soccer grows on Trump
· Yahoo Sports
President Donald Trump's family has gotten into the FIFA World Cup soccer spirit.
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He said at a FIFA reception in New York that his children are big soccer fans and that much of his family would be attending the championship game July 19 between Argentina and Spain.
“Who’s not going to be there?” Trump asked FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the July 17 event at Trump Tower. “If we had 10 million more, we’d sell every ticket.”
Trump didn't know much about soccer before the tournament arrived in the United States, Mexico and Canada. But he described how his “very tall son,” Barron, enjoys playing the sport. When the president asked how he would deal with a faster player from the final four teams in the tournament – Argentina, England, France or Spain – outmaneuvering him, the son said that wouldn’t happen.
“He said, ‘Dad, I’m a very good ball handler,’” Trump said. “I said, ‘But Barron, if he’s faster, what do you do about it?’ ‘Dad, he’ll never get by me.’ I said, ‘But when he does.” He didn’t want to answer that question.”
“He has good skills,” Trump added.
Trump said first lady Melania Trump would join him in attending the game with her father, Viktor Gnavs, who played soccer as a young man.
“He didn’t quite make it into the big leagues, but he’s a good athlete,” Trump said.
Trump said he's catching on to the sport watching plays like Argentina star Lionel Messi’s precision pass to set up the game-winning goal against England.
“He was well guarded,” Trump said. “Then he moved to the right and the other player was just standing there. He had plenty of time to kick it. It was within, I would say, a quarter-inch of being perfect. That was the end of the game. It was brilliant.”
Spectators from 200 countries attended 104 games in 16 cities. Trump asked Infantino whether the World Cup was bigger than the Olympics.
“Much bigger,” Infantino said to applause.
Trump didn’t want to jinx anything. But he said 50 federal agencies provided security, expedited visas and awarded $1.2 billion in transportation grants.
“Together we pulled it off flawlessly,” Trump said with Infantino standing next to him.
On the championship game, Trump declined to predict a winner.
“It’s going to be something really special,” he said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Something really special': FIFA World Cup soccer grows on Trump