Late-night host jokes Trump's sports curse struck after Spain win

Seth Meyers turned Spain’s 1-0 win over Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final into another chapter of Donald Trump’s sports curse gag, after the president had publicly backed Lionel Messi and Argentina. Ferran Torres scored the decisive goal, and the result left Messi in tears with his international future uncertain.

The joke worked because Trump was not just watching from a distance. He spoke with Fox Sports’ Jenny Taft before the final, then attended the match with FIFA president Gianni Infantino at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Parts of the crowd booed when Trump appeared on the big screen, adding another layer of spectacle to a night already shaped by celebrity, politics and global soccer.

Trump later joined the trophy presentation and handed the World Cup trophy to Spain, a sequence that made him part of the event’s climax rather than a detached observer. That visibility is what keeps the curse bit alive in late-night comedy. Trump’s public sports picks, endorsements and sideline appearances are easily folded into a running narrative in which the outcome seems to rebound against him, whether he is at the venue or simply weighing in ahead of time.

Late-night television thrives on moments like this because they compress politics into a familiar cultural frame. A World Cup final offers a global audience, a clear winner and loser, and a highly recognizable cast: Trump, Messi, Ferran Torres, Infantino and the stadium crowd. Once those pieces are in place, a few seconds of commentary can turn a soccer result into a political punch line about branding, intrusion and the way Trump’s presence reshapes even a sports broadcast into partisan spectacle.

The 2026 final fit that pattern neatly. Argentina lost 1-0, Messi was left in tears, and Trump’s appearance, boos and trophy handoff gave Meyers exactly the kind of visual material that keeps the curse joke circulating.