The 2026 World Cup has landed on American soil, and the only thing more staggering than France's dominance on the pitch is the ransom fans are paying to watch it happen in their own backyards.
The New Yorker reported that the sixty thousand people who packed Boston Stadium for France's group-stage demolition of Norway had "paid ransom sums for tickets" — and then watched Norway's manager bench his best player. Erling Haaland, along with nine other regular starters, sat out the match. Norway manager Ståle Solbakken called the decision a "no-brainer," citing a tight turnaround after a tough win over Senegal in hot, humid weather. "We have to be smart rather than greedy," Solbakken said before the game. So fans who shelled out small fortunes got a B-squad — and the globalist machine that set the ticket prices couldn't care less.
On the field, France didn't need Haaland to show up to put on a show. Kylian Mbappé nearly scored twenty seconds in, hammering a shot off the inside of the crossbar. Seven minutes in, Ousmane Dembélé opened the scoring — and that was just the beginning. The Guardian reports Dembélé finished with a hat-trick against Norway, while Mbappé scored twice in France's opener against Senegal. France sits atop every power ranking for a reason: they are, as The New Yorker put it, "one of the deepest and most astonishing collections of offensive talent the world has yet seen."
The U.S. men's team, meanwhile, followed the same cynical script as Norway. After clinching their group, manager Mauricio Pochettino swapped out nine players for a match against Türkiye. The U.S. lost. So much for giving the home crowd their money's worth.
The Guardian ranks Mexico — a co-host — at No. 7 after they won all three group games without conceding, with coach Javier Aguirre insisting "what lies ahead is what counts." Colombia climbed 15 spots to No. 6, with coach Nestor Lorenzo noting that expectations have shifted: "When they hired me, they hired me to qualify, and now people want you to win the World Cup."
But the real question isn't who lifts the trophy. It's who pays for the spectacle — and who profits. The World Cup rolls through American cities while infrastructure rots and working families get squeezed for ticket prices that the press itself calls ransom. The tournament's revenue flows upward, as always. The bill stays here.
France will keep dazzling. The globalist class will keep cashing in. And ordinary Americans will keep paying for the privilege of watching it happen in stadiums they probably helped subsidize.
