The pensioner I met in Florida whose treatment by Fifa shows why fans are angry

In Donald Trump’s America, the World Cup was always going to be political. Power and influence are a game currently being played by the US President’s rules, and that doesn’t change for sport. To report on the World Cup today is to witness a hostile environment for the game as we know it, even as fans expect football’s custodians to protect it in any circumstances. In this tournament, we’ve seen one without the other. I won’t forget the Haitians I had a kickabout with in a Boston park before their game against Scotland, whose compatriots were shut out of the tournament because of a US entry ban. “Racism,” they told me. Shorts The same restrictions applied to Ivory Coast, Senegal and Iran. Whatever the arguments around US national security, it has been a far cry from Fifa’s inclusive slogan: “Football Unites the World”. Then there was the exclusion of Africa’s top referee, Omar Artan. When I asked Andrew Giuliani, the White House tournament director, why Artan was refused entry to the country, he told me the Somalian had been in contact with “bad actors”. Nothing to do with Trump’s obsession with the place he calls a “shithole country,” I was assured. Even so, this tournament has been a huge success in football terms, and in the way that America has set the stage. This country does event management like no other, and regular Americans have demonstrated that their country is about much more than just its political travails. They have embraced the competition, as well as visiting teams and fans. The various diaspora groups have made every game a home game for somebody, and every stadium has been bouncing. The politics has receded – but not fully. This will forever be the World Cup where a US president overturned a red card. Folarin Balogun will forever be known as the striker who benefited, and the current Fifa leadership will forever be held in contempt for letting it happen. Gianni Infantino (centre left) looking on at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Fifa World Cup (Photo: Eloisa Sanchez/Reuters) No wonder the men in suits have endured stadium jumbotron moments that have been the equivalent of a ‘boo-cam’ for the game’s pantomime villains. In the eyes of many fans, Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, has played a political game that has neglected football’s best interests. Infantino’s name came up when I met a South American legend of the game, who related an everyday tale of when football forgets itself. I travelled to the home of Teofilo Cubillas, an ex-Peru international striker and a man who forever haunts Scots of a certain age. Scotland thought they were going to win the 1978 World Cup in Argentina until Cubillas scored two goals in his country’s 3-1 win. I was a football-obsessed 13-year-old in Edinburgh when I watched him crush a nation’s dream. It was a game that changed everything, signalling decades of decline in Scotland’s national team and with consequences far beyond sport. It’s often said the devolution referendum the following year didn’t get the ‘Yes’ votes it needed because the World Cup had so damaged Scottish morale and self-belief. It’s a lot to lay on the shoulders of a Peruvian pensioner now living quietly in a Florida suburb, but also all the more reason to track him down, I thought. James Matthews with Teofilo Cubillas: ‘I was a football-obsessed 13-year-old in Edinburgh when I watched him crush a nation’s dream’ (Photo: Supplied) The man is a footballing great, with a right foot that could peel an orange and, at the age of 77, still looks like he could play ninety minutes plus extra time. I listened to his recollections of a game in which Peru initially feared Scotland but grew into the game. Agonisingly, he told me about the unforgettable free-kick he scored for the killer third goal. His teammate, Héctor Chumpitaz, was going to take it until Cubillas persuaded him otherwise. He said it was the first-time he’d ever tried a free kick with the outside of his right foot, and the rest is, well… Scottish history, a dark chapter, now featuring Chumpitaz as the villain we never knew we had. When we were done talking about that game, we talked Infantino. Cubillas mentioned that he wasn’t happy because he hadn’t been invited to attend any World Cup games. He’d been involved with Fifa in the past and Infantino was a friend, but he’d been left waiting for an invitation. It was clear he was disappointed and unhappy. It was only after our report was broadcast – complete with a recreation of the free kick in his front garden – that things changed. I saw on Instagram that he’d been to the Scotland-Brazil game in Miami, and he’s since attended other matches. It looks like he’s had a grand time and, if it was our report that finally turned Fifa’s head, then I’m claiming an assist. There are, of course, numerous possible reasons why Cubillas was left high and dry and is bemoaning the lack of due care and attention. But it’s also true that it fits the perception that many fans hold of Infantino and his stewardship of the beautiful game. James Matthews as a young football fan with his mother (Photo: Supplied) When he replaced Sepp Blatter in 2016, there was a collective sigh of relief at the sight of a seemingly boring Swiss administrator tasked with the job of rooting out corruption from the sport’s largest governing body. Fast forward to this World Cup, and Infantino is certainly not boring anymore. The one-time pen pusher is pushing power, fame and wealth. Climbing the ladder, he was happy schmoozing the likes of Cubillas – the people who built the sport, original heroes of the game. Infantino stood on their shoulders as he pursued presidents and prime ministers, CEOs and celebrities. This has taken us all the way to the current tournament, where we have £10,000 match tickets, in-game hydration breaks to facilitate advertising and a half-time show in the final that will stretch the break to almost twice its usual length. And while football’s rulers gorge on this excess, the people at the heart of the sport – who made us fall in love with it in the first place – are being forgotten, left at home waiting for a phone call. Listen to James Matthews’ analysis on Trump 100 and subscribe to Sky News’ new podcast bundle for bonus episodes on Saturdays.