Does Soccer Still Explain the World?

Forget the $10,000 tickets and the travel bans and the fact that the last three World Cups have been hosted in Russia, Qatar, and Donald Trump’s United States—FIFA President Gianni Infantino is a romantic. “Football, or soccer, as it is called here, is the world’s universal language,” Infantino said in March. “It’s about hope. It’s about joy. It’s about happiness. It’s about coming together. It’s about uniting the world.” Fair enough. Of course, Infantino said those words at a meeting of…