Forget the recent lockdown around Madison Square Garden. Ignore Travis, Taylor and the exhaustive plans to ensure their wedding passed smoothly.
That was a mere sideshow to the real security story of this month: there appears to be a hole in FIFA’s ring of steel around this World Cup. A miscreant has snuck through the net.
Recently, the Daily Mail has seen someone brazenly flouting one of FIFA’s golden rules of this tournament. Fear not: they have not been peeling off tape to reveal the brand name of popular condiments. Or playing soccer for more than 25 minutes without a drinks break – sponsored by Powerade.
Their crime? Sneaking AI glasses through the airport-style checks that greet every reporter at every game and at World Cup training bases.
The gadgets have been a big issue for security staff during this tournament. Time and again over recent weeks, visitors have seen their sunglasses rigorously checked over. But some are slipping through.
For the uninitiated: over recent years, brands such as Oakley and Ray-Ban have released glasses that look normal enough but contain mini speakers, microphones and cameras that allow users to send and receive messages, listen to music and capture photos and video.
World Cup security staff have been on the hunt for AI glasses at stadiums and training HQs
Meta AI glasses allow users to send and receive messages as well as capture photos and video
The Masters have also stepped up efforts to stop fans sneaking the gadgets into Augusta
The technology, which can cost up to $800, can be difficult to detect to the untrained eye. These gadgets are particularly popular with influencers. And apparently journalists of a particular persuasion.
More than once, the Daily Mail has seen someone touching the rim of their glasses to turn on a small light and begin recording press conferences. Honestly, is nothing sacrosanct? Won’t someone, for once, think of Mr Infantino?
The Daily Mail asked FIFA why it is so keen to keep this technology out of World Cup venues. No one responded. But the answer inevitably centers around broadcasting restrictions and protecting those rights holders who paid hefty sums to beam this World Cup to viewers around the world. It’s becoming a bit of a trend.
Back in April, the Daily Mail revealed that Augusta National had stepped up efforts to stop fans sneaking AI glasses into the Masters.
Augusta has a strict no-phone and no-camera policy but, in recent years, some fans have brought the gadgets inside the gates before posting videos online.
A source told the Daily Mail that the glasses are now among the club’s top priorities when briefing security, with officials learning how to spot the hidden cameras. Well, World Cup staffers need to look even harder.
Speaking of golden rules… you have to do quite well to be kicked out of a soccer team’s training session but there are certain dos and don’ts when watching from the sidelines.
During tournaments such as this, the first 15 minutes are usually open to cameras and it is not uncommon for stray balls to fly towards those watching on.
At USMNT training, journalists are asked not to pass the ball back to the players
At USMNT training however, there is one thing journalists were asked not to do: pass the ball back to the players. Instead? They must give it to a staff member. That might seem a rather tyrannical rule but there is a painful reason it was imposed.
A few years ago, the ball arrived at the feet of a reporter from a popular TV network. They decided against rolling it back towards the team. They drilled it… straight into the face of a player. They didn’t get to hang around much longer.
Has there been a better pantomime villain at this World Cup than Jesse Marsch? The Canada coach is a master at poking and provoking his rivals. Whether he always means to? That’s up for debate.
But, until Brazilian referee Raphael Claus sent off Folarin Balogun against Bosnia and Herzegovina, no one had got such a rise out of American fans and ex-players than their countryman.
Marsch lit the match before the group stages when he claimed USA players occasionally had to be ‘begged’ to sing the national anthem.
It didn’t do much for his popularity, either, when during the round of 32 he came to Los Angeles, belted out ‘O Canada,’ kissed the badge on his chest, and then gathered his players in a postgame huddle.
‘People like to say it’s performative to meet on the pitch and frankly, I don’t give a s***,’ he told his critics. So, is it all for the cameras? Well late last year, I learned that Marsch can be just as passionate and combative away from the spotlight, too.
Jesse Marsch celebrates Canada’s victory over South Africa in the World Cup round of 32
Marsch hit back at claims he was being ‘performative’ by gathering his players in a huddle
He was on my train from New York to Washington DC for the World Cup draw. Shortly after we arrived, I introduced myself. Marsch was polite enough at first.
Then he heard my British accent and who I worked for. It turned out that he had recently done an interview with another outlet that hadn’t gone to plan. So he told me – with the help of an F-bomb – that he wasn’t up for answering questions. I hadn’t even asked any.
How about this for a trick play? Shortly before the USMNT faced Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 on Wednesday night, an impromptu press conference was arranged at Levi’s Stadium.
Cindy Parlow Cone, the president of US Soccer, agreed to take some questions from a small huddle of reporters. But it was all a ruse.
Instead Parlow Cone, clutching a USMNT jersey in her right hand, turned to Paul Kennedy, who has spent 55 years covering soccer in America and is retiring after this World Cup.
The US Soccer chief presented him with the jersey, which had ‘Kennedy 55’ printed on the back. ‘I’d still ask [my] question,’ he joked.
