Daily Archives: July 19, 2026

Argentina’s New York fans share hopes before 2026 World Cup final

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A woman is seen in front of a Maradona-Messi mural in Queens, New York
“It’s dubbed ‘Little Argentina’, but lifelong resident Christian Gimenez says much has changed in the neighbourhood he grew up in. Once an epicentre of the Argentinian diaspora that settled in New York City, most relocating during the so-called ‘dirty war‘ of the 1970s, only a handful of Argentinian restaurants and bakeries remain as a foothold of what once was in the Elmhurst, Queens neighbourhood. But when the FIFA World Cup comes around, the block swells with revellers, clad in white and sky blue. With Argentina heading to the final against Spain on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, just a few kilometres (miles) away, everything on the block – from the asphalt, to the benches, to the store fronts, and even the fire plugs – bears the iconic colours. …”
Al-Jazeera

Christian Gimenez in the Little Argentina area of Queens, NY

Yamal, Soccer Star and Son of African Migrants, Personifies a Changing Spain

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A crowd near Rocafonda, the neighborhood where Lamine Yamal grew up, watches the player on a giant screen during Spain’s semifinal with France last week.
“Shortly before Spain’s soccer team won a place in the World Cup final, the grandmother of the team’s 19-year-old star player, Lamine Yamal, sat on a playground bench watching children of North and West African descent kick around balls. This was the place, she said, where her grandson, the child of a Moroccan father and an Equatorial Guinean mother, first honed his skills. It is also where his portrait, spray-painted onto a wall behind the goal, now looms over a neighborhood that lionizes him. Yet as hundreds of Spaniards, many wearing his name on their backs, made their way to a nearby park to watch him play on a big screen, his grandmother, Fatima Romani, remembered a time when Spaniards showed less love for him. …”
NY Times

‘Where did they go?’: homeless people feel force of America’s brutality in World Cup clean-up

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“… One week before the World Cup final, Gianni Infantino flew from Miami to Qatar on a luxury private jet. Infantino was in Lusail to attend the funeral of the former Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin ⁠Khalifa Al Thani (‘mentor, a visionary’), and was duly pictured frowning on a silver throne in full global statesman mode. … Also on the same day, the Guardian published a story about the homeless clearance at Freedom Park, less than a mile from one of Atlanta’s World Cup fan-watch areas. City employees had entered the park without warning and removed the tents, personal ID, medication and other belongings of people camping there. …”
Guardian