Trump arrives at World Cup final for Argentina vs. Spain matchup

Donald Trump arrived at the final of the World Cup on Sunday afternoon, where the U.S. president will take in his first and only match of the championship as Argentina and Spain battle it out for the trophy.

Pool reports indicated that Trump departed Bedminster, New Jersey via Marine One just before 1:00 p.m. eastern time, and reporters were quickly afterwards ushered onto the field for the pre-game events. His helicopter completed a brief flyover, which went largely unnoticed by the crowd, according to reporters in the stadium. Marine One then touched down outside the arena.

At around 2:45, he appeared onscreen via MetLife Stadium’s scoreboard screen. Once again, according to pool reporters, there was no discernable reaction from the crowd. A staffer held out the FIFA trophy for him to inspect, which Trump patted before it was whisked away.

The president hosted a press conference on Friday as he hosted a reception with FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, and said that he’d bring up the idea of hosting the championship again to Infantino. Hosting rights for the next two World Cups have already been decided. Trump and Infantino attended Sunday’s match together, and their friendship has added another political layer to the global tournament.

"It turned out we were a soccer country, and I think it’s going to remain," he said on Friday, during the event at Trump Tower in New York. "This has really brought the world together."

He also spoke to reporters on the Fox Sports pregame show ahead of Sunday’s game. His attendance came amid a reignition of the U.S.’s war with Iran, with the two countries trading strikes over the weekend and news breaking a day earlier that two U.S. servicemembers were killed in an attack on a base in Jordan.

Trump is set to present the trophy to the winning team after the game. He isn’t outright backing Argentina, but told Fox reporters earlier in the day: “It’s hard to bet against [Lionel] Messi.”

"I thought about it a lot. I knew that was a question. I hate to get involved, even though politically, it doesn't matter so much. The head of Argentina is a friend of mine, he's done a terrific job. But I would say that it's hard to bet against Messi," Trump told Fox’s Jenny Taft. "I won't pick sides. I just think it's very hard to bet against Messi. He's great."

He described his idea for helping FIFA avoid controversy by allowing the U.S. to host again in the near future, adding: “I had a great idea for Gianni. I said: ‘You have to do two countries. So announce us for next time, and then announce another country after that and it’ll take out some of the anger and the shock!’ Now I think it’s a great idea. Based on the numbers, we will be requesting it again immediately. I said, to take out the shock, you could announce another country for the next one... but we have to do this again.”

The president sparked anger among football (soccer) fans after he called on Infantino to overturn a referee’s red card against a player on the U.S. team before their elimination earlier this month. That incident put a sour note over that has generally been a successful effort by the U.S. to host the World Cup, which played out in more than a dozen stadiums across the U.S., Canada and Mexico this year. Roughly 10 million people were projected to travel to the three countries to witness the games.

The next FIFA World Cup tournament will be primarily hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, and the 2034 event will be held in Saudi Arabia.

The earliest the U.S. could concievably host the next World Cup would be 2038, or nine years after Trump leaves office.