Mark Carney, king of the cup
Why this matters: political developments that affect policy direction and public trust.
LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump has stayed away from the World Cup after making himself the main character of the months leading up to it. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum prominently gave away her tickets to Mexico's matches in what was seen as a populist rebuke to FIFA. But one North American leader is reveling in the fact that his country is hosting the world's top sporting event, and that its national team is doing well. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney attended two of Canada's group-stage matches, a visible and gave a locker-room talk to the team after its defeat of Qatar that spread widely on social media. Carney has been such an omnipresent component of his team's group-stage run that its one defeat, against Switzerland, has been blamed on the "Carney Curse" because the prime minister briefly stepped away from his seat when a crucial goal was scored. Carney has not said whether he is traveling to Los Angeles for today's knockout fixture against South Africa, but he did use the match-up as an occasion to call President Cyril Ramaphosa, where the two men discussed "growing cooperation in agriculture and agrifood," according to a readout provided by the prime minister's office.