Last Friday in Harare, US Ambassador Pamela Tremont stood before a Zimbabwean audience and delivered a masterclass in diplomatic posturing. The FIFA World Cup 2026, she declared, would be "truly historic." The United States, she promised, is "looking forward to welcoming the world to America."

Lovely speech. But from the perspective of any thinking person, just so much garbage.

Because while Ambassador Tremont is making claims of wonderful host nation, the United States action reflect the exact opposite of welcoming the world. They deported Africa's finest referee. And made it clear that for much of the African continent, the World Cup is an event to be watched on television, not experienced in person.

The Artan Affair: Welcome to America? Not If You're Somali

Omar Abdulkadir Artan was set to become the first Somali referee ever to officiate at a World Cup. He was named Africa's best male referee in 2025 and made history in January 2024 as the first Somali to officiate at the Africa Cup of Nations. He arrived in Miami with a valid visa, a diplomatic passport, and full FIFA accreditation.

He spent 11 hours in a questioning room at Miami International Airport, was transferred to a holding cell, and was put on a plane back to Istanbul without ever being told specifically why his valid visa no longer counted. Border officials questioned him about Somali politics and the al-Shabaab militant group.

"I'm just simply a referee who's trying to live his dream," Artan told the New York Times after his deportation. "I had the right papers and everything."

FIFA confirmed Artan "will be unable to train and officiate at the FIFA World Cup 2026 after he was denied entry into the United States," adding that it "is not involved in host country immigration processes.”

The humiliation is something that Africans should not dismiss or forgive just because Tremont chose to ignore it.

Iran, and the Pattern of Geopolitical Gatekeeping

Artan is not alone. Iran's Football Federation negotiated at the last minute to move the team's base camp from Arizona to Mexico, due in part to uncertainty over whether they would be granted visas to enter the US. While the players eventually received their visas, 15 administrative and management staff were denied entry. Iran's Football Federation described the decision as "political interference in sport in its worst form."

US President Donald Trump had earlier discouraged Iran from participating in the tournament at all, saying he didn't think it was "appropriate" and raising concerns over players' "life and safety." When the host of a global sporting event tells a qualifying nation it perhaps shouldn't come, the word "welcoming" loses all meaning.

South Africa: Administrative Chaos With a Systemic Cause

Bafana Bafana's departure for the World Cup was delayed because multiple players, coaches, and staff could not secure the US visas required to enter the United States — necessary because their second group-stage match was in Atlanta.

SAFA president Danny Jordaan told national broadcaster SABC: "They refused the visa, but gave no reasons. It is very difficult to deal with a process where you get no information." The team scheduled to play in the World Cup's opening match was stranded at OR Tambo airport, clutching in the dark.

Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie was unambiguous: "We are being made to look like fools."

While at the moment most Africans have issues with xenophobia in South Africa, as Zimbabweans we must not let Tremont’s surface optics blind us to the arrogance that the US is dishing out.

The Hypocrisy the West Refuses to Name

When Qatar hosted the World Cup in 2022, Western media spent years on a sustained assault, migrant worker deaths, LGBTQ+ policies, sportswashing accusations. Broadcasters refused to air the opening ceremony. Op-eds flowed like rivers.

Where is that energy now? The US has produced a tournament where African officials are deported after 11-hour interrogations, where Iran's federation chief cannot attend his own team's matches, where South Africa's coaches are denied visas without explanation. But because the host is Washington, not Doha, the outrage machine is running on silent. That silence is complicity and as Africa we must push back.

A World Cup of Shame, Dressed in PR

Ambassador Tremont can host as many Harare press events as she likes. She can speak of "international cooperation" and "shared objectives" until she is breathless. But the facts on the ground are not cooperating with her talking points.

Omar Artan did not lose his dream because of anything he did. He lost it because America confused hosting rights with the right to humiliate. And until the US stops posturing and starts genuinely welcoming the world, all of it, this tournament will remain what it already is: the most exclusionary, arrogant World Cup in the history of the sport.