Category: Politics

Around a hundred Samurai Blue superfans crowded the Old Ambassador’s Residence at the Japanese embassy in Washington, on Sunday for a watch party marking its World Cup opener against the Netherlands.

The supporters — a motley group including erstwhile English teachers in Japan, state department workers and embassy staffers — lounged around a projector set in the building’s front room, plates piled high with nigiri. Drinking Kirin Ichiban lager and Asahi Super Dry, they winced when the Dutch team had the ball in the opposing third and burst into cheers and sang “Vamos Nippon” when Daichi Kamada’s header tied the game in the 89th minute.

“The World Cup itself is a competition,” said Masatsugu Odaira, the embassy’s minister of public affairs, at the watch party. “But from the perspective of policy and diplomacy, it’s a very good chance to connect people across borders.”

At the event, POLITICO spoke to soccer fans who are already excited about Japan’s growing diplomatic footprint and soft power projection. And they hope the World Cup will buoy that cultural momentum, stimulating tourism — one of the nation’s most lucrative sectors — and drawing eyes to Japan.

The World Cup is “just a visceral way to connect people who have not yet had the opportunity to travel to Japan to be swept up in the enthusiasm of an international competition,” said Andrew Wylegala, president of the National Association of Japan-America Societies.

Japan is already “at the top of its game” in terms of soft power projection, Wylegala added — and “soccer now fits in with that.”

Embassy staff wore pink shirts with the American and Japanese flags on the back. “Together We Bloom,” they read.

The end result, a 2-2 draw against the Dutch, the world’s eighth ranked international side, only added to their enthusiasm.

The women’s team has a far more prolific record. Fans still hark back to their 2011 World Cup final victory over the U.S., months after a massive earthquake and tsunami slammed the country.

But the men’s team has won just seven World Cup games in its history. Japan’s best-ever finish: The round of 16, where they’ve fallen four separate times.

But there’s hope that, this year, the underdogs could pull off an upset. From Ajax’s Takehiro Tomiyasu to Kamada, a Crystal Palace midfielder, the Samurai Blue have more than enough talent to compete with the sport’s upper crust.

Odaira’s hope for this year? “Oh, becoming a champion,” he said.

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EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey — During the World Cup, FIFA officials, law enforcement agencies and transit planners across New York and New Jersey will be keeping an eye on things from a constellation of command centers and control rooms.

The sites — spread from Miami to Trenton, New Jersey to Brooklyn — will house a small army of public officials ready to respond to whatever pops up during eight matches being played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The number of distinct command or operations centers that will be in use is almost comical: The New Jersey State Police, the New York Police Department, multiple transit and transportation agencies in New York and New Jersey, Amtrak and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey all have their own spot on the map to work out of. Some these are permanent control rooms where officials are used to working in front of huge screens to monitor video and data feeds. Others are temporary or specific to the tournament: There’s an operations center near the entrance to MetLife Stadium that the host committee and others are using and FIFA has an operations center in Miami.

But each has a distinct function and some will be staffed by officials from other agencies to help with coordination. During the World Cup, a command center in Trenton is the big dog.

“At the end of the day, though, they all report in to the larger command center, which is the ACC, the area command center, which looks at the overall region, the impacts to the region for any events, the asset allocation at different sites,” said Lt. Col. David Sierotowicz, the deputy superintendent of the New Jersey State Police and World Cup incident commander.

Before the first match here on Saturday, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill paid a visit to officials at an operations center on an elevated platform in the MetLife parking lot. After Brazil and Morocco battled to a draw and the sun had set, one of her top transit advisers could still be seen looking out over winnowing crowds boarding buses and trains to go home.

And for at least part of the summer there will be yet another command center: Over July 4 weekend, when President Donald Trump is expected in town for a massive parade of warships and a military airshow, there will be a popup command center run by the federal government at Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan.

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DALLAS — The Trump administration has elevated dozens of more complex World Cup visa decisions to senior leadership as officials try to balance FIFA commitments with national security concerns.

In an interview Sunday, White House World Cup task force Executive Director Andrew Giuliani said many high-profile or complicated visa cases have ultimately reached his desk for a final determination.

“Dozens, I would say dozens,” Giuliani said when asked how many edge cases had required senior-level review. He also suggested that some applicants who might otherwise face difficulties entering the country have received additional consideration because of U.S. commitments tied to hosting the World Cup.

“That’s part of the contract the U.S. government signed with FIFA,” Giuliani said.

In light of President Donald Trump’s tough border policies, these details provide a glimpse into the administration’s process of reviewing visas ahead of the largest World Cup tournament in history — a task that’s involved the State Department, Department of Homeland Security and the White House World Cup task force to keep the process moving.

Giuliani defended the decision to deny entry to Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, saying it was made by Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

While declining to discuss specific intelligence, he said Artan had been communicating with “bad actors” shortly before he was scheduled to travel to the U.S.

Giuliani had conversations with FIFA about Artan’s case because the Somali is one of the organization’s referees.

“We talked about it, obviously, right? I mean, it’s one of their referees,” Giuliani said.

“There are some things we can’t talk about,” Giuliani said. “We want all those players and coaches to come to the United States of America, and officials and referees, as long as they’re not communicating and coordinating with bad actors.”

Giuliani emphasized that the overwhelming majority of players, coaches, referees and officials have received visas without issue.

Still, Giuliani said the administration’s red line remains national security. Referencing broader concerns about individuals linked to terrorist organizations, he said the World Cup would not serve as a justification for admitting people deemed security risks.

“The first thing that is so key to this tournament being successful is the national security of the country,” Giuliani said. “We’re not going to let the World Cup be the excuse.”

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John Malkovich, NBA champion Toni Kukoč and the Croatian men’s soccer legend Luka Modrić walk into a bar.

It’s not the start of a joke, that was the scene at the AKA Hotel in Alexandria, Va., Saturday evening.

The Croatian National Tourist Board hosted a boozy reception for its country’s soccer team as it competes in the 2026 FIFA World Cup this summer, drawing a mix of athletes, business leaders, diplomats and Croatian-American community members to the glitzy rooftop of the hotel just outside Washington.

For Croatia, which reached the final in 2018 and semifinals in 2022, the tournament is about more than soccer. It is one of the country’s most effective soft power tools, a chance for a nation of fewer than four million people to project its brand to a global audience and translate sporting success into tourism, investment and cultural influence.

“This opportunity is a huge push forward for a promotion of our country,” said Kristjan Staničić, director of the Croatian National Tourist Board, in an interview.

Staničić said the U.S. has become one of Croatia’s most important tourism markets, with American visitors continuing to rise since the pandemic. American travelers, he said, are increasingly discovering Croatia as a year-round destination rather than simply a shimmering summer stop along the Adriatic coast.

“The FIFA World Cup is the most popular sport[ing] event in the world,” Staničić said. “This will for sure make Croatia much, much more visible these days, and in these next few months. We’re open for everybody, especially for American tourists.”

Croatian officials also spent part of the evening highlighting the country’s growing roster of celebrity boosters. Tourism and Sports Minister Tonči Glavina touted what he described as an all-star lineup of ambassadors for Croatian tourism, name-checking athletes like LeBron James, Rafael Nadal and Kyle Kuzma as prominent supporters helping raise the country’s profile abroad.

The celebrity connections continued on stage.

Malkovich, who was granted his Croatian passport at the event, appeared alongside director Pete Radovich, a longtime CBS Sports executive, to promote an upcoming project with the Croatian National Tourist Board.

Radovich recounted helping secure Croatian citizenship for football coach Bill Belichick before telling a story about a dinner with former NFL player Jason Kelce.

After Radovich told Kelce he was from Croatia, the former NFL star initially guessed his family’s roots were from “Romania, Hungary, somewhere around there.” The next day, Radovich said, Kelce texted him: “Thanks for last night. Great conversation. By the way, I talked to my mom, we’re Croatian.” Radovich said he immediately had a follow-up question: Why not apply for citizenship, too? (No word yet if Kelce has taken Radovich up on his offer.)

As for Croatia’s chances on the field — they’re slated to face England on Wednesday in Arlington, Texas — Staničić wasn’t lacking confidence.

“I hope there aren’t any injuries,” he said. “I think they’re the best. They’re going to the final.”

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Haiti has the highest level of perceived corruption of any country taking part in the World Cup, with Norway and New Zealand scoring lowest (something New Zealand might have to get used to!). These figures came from Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

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