Shadowing Practice: Why this World Cup is chaos - Learn English Speaking with Video

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It's the day before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and FIFA's president Gianni Infantino has something he wants to say.
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Today I feel gay.
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Today I feel disabled.
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He keeps going.
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Today I feel a migrant worker. And going.
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At school I was bullied because I had red hair.
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For nearly an hour.
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Plus I was Italian, so imagine.
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The media called it a bizarre tirade, an unhinged speech, and a PR own goal that will be hard to beat.
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It's the most famous of many PR own goals Infantino has made in his 10 years as FIFA president.
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He once also said the World Cup can solve Europe's migrant crisis.
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To give hope to Africans so that they don't need to cross the Mediterranean in order to find maybe better life,
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but more probably death in the sea.
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And he claimed the Rwandan genocide inspired his career.
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And how this country came back up is inspiring.
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So I certainly couldn't give up.
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I continued to campaign.
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I was elected FIFA president.
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But what made seem like blunders are actually, in a strange way, part of Infantino's strategy.
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A strategy that has made him one of the most powerful leaders in FIFA's history.
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And to pull off this 2026 World Cup, he's had to crank his strategy up to 11.
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The ILC opened an investigation into wearing that hat.
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Infantino has defended awarding its inaugural Peace Prize to Donald Trump.
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Infantino has taken every step imaginable and unimaginable to please and appease Donald Trump.
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He is quite good at getting his way and quite a good political machinator, always talking out of different sides of his mouth depending who he's speaking to.
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He's very skilled at that.
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So how did Gianni Infantino become the most powerful man in football?
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And how has he made this World Cup unlike any other?
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The world's most popular sport has been plunged into turmoil.
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Gianni Infantino's rise to the top began in 2015, right as FIFA hit rock bottom.
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Several officials from FIFA were arrested today.
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FIFA officials were charged with racketeering, bribery, wire fraud and money laundering.
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Its president resigned in disgrace.
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FIFA also lost $360 million after sponsors fled.
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To many football fans and journalists, it was a long time coming.
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If you were to say, what do you know FIFA for, it was a byword for corruption.
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Adam Crafton writes for The Athletic.
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Now Infantino's not involved in any of that stuff whatsoever, but he was one of the beneficiaries.
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In 2016, FIFA's 209 member associations convened to elect a new president.
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But they didn't choose one of the prominent candidates, like the head of the Asian Confederation or a former FIFA vice president.
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Instead they chose the more obscure one.
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He was a bit of a technocrat kind of figure.
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Most football fans would have known him as the slightly kind of bumbling guy who would be on the stage
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when they would do the draw for the UEFA Champions League.
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Now you look over there to Giorgio, you can have a chat, because I'm going to shuffle this a little bit so that we are sure that you cannot see.
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But it was a smart choice because it let FIFA put on a fresh face.
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And Ventino promoted reforms, like limiting FIFA's presidency to three terms, and disclosing executive pay.
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And he skipped FIFA's private jet for a budget airline on his first trip.
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We have shown that we are listening to the fans, to the players, to football.
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We are listening to football.
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Infantino was able to lure sponsors back.
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And at the next World Cup in Russia, FIFA made $4.6 billion, a record amount.
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Infantino used that money to buy loyalty within FIFA.
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He gave an extra $5 million to each member association who governed football on the national level.
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The extra money was appreciated by the wealthy members in Europe and North America, but it made a huge difference for the less wealthy members, largely in Africa and Asia.
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Cape Verde renovated this field.
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Bhutan held more youth programs, and many countries invested more in women's football, something Infantino put extra emphasis on.
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These members became Infantino's base of support.
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And in 2019, they helped elect him to a second term.
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At the next World Cup in Qatar, FIFA made more money and re-elected Infantino again.
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Meanwhile, Infantino expanded FIFA's tournaments.
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He led the effort to expand the Women's World Cup from 24 teams to 32, then a tournament for professional clubs from 7 clubs to 32,
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and finally the Men's World Cup from 32 teams to 48, beginning in 2026.
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More teams meant more games that FIFA could sell tickets and TV rights to.
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It was also another way for Infantino to buy support.
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Because more teams also meant more members could make money from the tournament and have him to thank for it.
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They have a one-member, one-vote system.
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So the more nations who believe they have access to tournaments that are going to bring them revenue,
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the outcome is that that is better for Gianni Infantino when the next election cycle comes along.
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But once Infantino bought enough loyalty within FIFA, he began rolling back those reforms.
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He ousted FIFA's ethics officials, secured backing to extend his presidency past the three-term limit, and rebuilt the system that enabled FIFA's past corruption.
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Infantino also started to make major decisions seemingly on his own, like expanding that Club World Cup.
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There was no real explanation of where that came from, who was asking for this, why it happened the way it has, how the money was allocated.
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FIFA has become a very centralized decision-making process.
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Infantino was making money hand over fist for FIFA, but he was no longer acting like its humble servant.
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He was acting like its king.
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Infantino wasn't president when FIFA awarded World Cups to Russia and Qatar.
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But he seemed to love working closely with their leaders.
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In the lead up to 2018, he made appearances with dictator Vladimir Putin, where they laughed, kicked a ball around, and said nice things to each other.
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Russia is absolutely ready to celebrate a summer of festivities here in this beautiful country.
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Infantino caught a lot of criticism for this.
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But, to be fair, working with the host government is a necessary part of his job.
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You have to have a relationship with the host government.
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Whichever country you're in, there's certain things you need.
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So, of course, they should be engaging.
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I think the question is whether it's been an overindulgence and frankly over the top.
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It started feeling over the top in the lead up to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
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As early as 2017, human rights groups reported that Qatar was abusing migrant workers building at stadiums.
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And journalists wrote of workers dying of heat stress.
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But Infantino stuck very close to the Qatari monarchy.
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He used one of their private jets, moved to Qatar's capital, Doha.
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And on the eve of the tournament, he gave an extraordinary speech.
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Today I feel Qatari.
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Today I feel Arab.
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Today I feel African.
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Today I feel a migrant worker.
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I'm not really a migrant worker, but I feel like them because I know what it means to be discriminated.
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Infantino was shifting the blame from Qatar to its critics.
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You know what this is?
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This is racism.
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This is pure racism.
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Many in the West found Infantino's speech absurd, but it wasn't really meant for them.
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It played well with his audiences in the Middle East and potentially the global south as well.
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I think there's a lot of parts of the world who don't really like the Europeans
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and Americans lecturing them about human rights abuses about who's in the right and who's in the wrong.
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Infantino was demonstrating to his base that he would do anything to back them.
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And over the next few years, Infantino cultivated relationships with other world leaders, especially in Africa and Asia.
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He formed a close alliance with Saudi Arabia's monarchy.
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There is a double standard here, which I really don't understand.
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And defended Putin after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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I hope that we can bring back as well Russia in the football landscape because this would mean that everything is solved.
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These relationships helped Infantino secure support and helped FIFA raise more money.
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But they didn't do anything to help Infantino or FIFA's reputation.
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He provokes very, very strong feelings from a lot of football fans and not always good ones.
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Now Infantino's grand strategy is culminating at the 2026 World Cup.
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Of course, it's the biggest ever, spanning the US, Mexico and Canada, and including 48 teams — a few countries for the first time.
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And it's no surprise it'll likely make FIFA more money than ever — possibly $11 billion.
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And as usual, Infantino is going above and beyond to back the hosts, particularly this one.
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Infantino began wooing Trump during Trump's first turn.
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I am lucky enough in my life to come across some of the most talented athletes in soccer.
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And President Trump is made of the same sort of fiber.
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And as soon as Trump won his second term, Infantino was all over him.
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He showed up at Mar-a-Lago at the inauguration, chuckling in the back row.
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Infantino also met Trump in Saudi Arabia, in Qatar, and by my count has visited the White House at least five times in the last year.
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Infantino is even going to things that have nothing to do with sports, like a summit about peace in the Middle East.
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And Trump's so-called Board of Peace, where he donned a Trump hat.
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Most infamously, Infantino made up a new award just for Trump, the FIFA Peace Prize, something Adam says was news to the rest of FIFA.
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It really does appear to have been one man deciding to do that.
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On the one hand, who cares, right?
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It's a prize.
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The other side is, that is arguably one of the things now that FIFA is most known for, reputationally, in the United States.
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And that's the first problem Infantino is running into.
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The more he appears with Trump, the more Trump becomes the headline.
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When Infantino tried to announce a visa program for World Cup ticket holders, Trump changed the subject.
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Trendy, Aragua, the gang, they're worse than ever.
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They're killers, they massacre people, they cut them up into pieces and they bury them.
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Then threatened to relocate World Cup games in cities run by his opponents.
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If we think there's going to be the sign of any trouble, I would ask Johnny to move that to a different city.
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Yeah, I think safety and security is the number one priority.
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And at another football event, Trump brought up transgender athletes.
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Men playing in women's sports.
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Could a woman make your team, fellas?
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Tell me, you think?
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From my perspective as someone who covers this, it's brilliant.
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Every day there is something to write about, but there's also times where Infantino's in the Oval Office and kind of you're squirming for him.
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And the second problem is that it's not really clear that this pandering has won Trump over.
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Trump called Infantino a piece of work for refusing to kick Iran out of the tournament.
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And as of April, Trump's yet to agree to halt ICE raids in host cities.
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Now city governments are opting out of FIFA events and picking fights about costs.
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Infantino turned to politics to supersize the FIFA World Cup.
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But now it's politics that many say is bringing the World Cup down.
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I think it is going to be a story across the country,
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and particularly if Infantino keeps going out publicly and saying we're going to make $11 billion. But here's the thing.
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At every World Cup I can remember, scandals dominate the headlines until the first game starts.
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Then by the finale, everyone's forgotten and FIFA moves on to the next one.
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Gianni Infantino knows that better than anyone.
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Those fans who come to the stadium, they just want to spend 90 minutes without having to think about anything else.
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And he can probably count on it happening again.
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The next men's World Cup in 2030 will be hosted by six countries across three continents.
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The 2031 Women's World Cup will be in four countries and include 48 teams for the first time.
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Infantino also bent the rules to award the 2034 World Cup to one of his staunchest allies, Saudi Arabia.
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And he intends to see these tournaments through.
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He recently announced he's running for a fourth term as president.
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At the moment there's no competitor for it, but if someone wants to come forward, he needs those federations to realize he's made them as much money as possible.
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Infantino was elected to rebuild FIFA from ruin.
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He made it bigger and richer than ever.
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But whether he's improved FIFA's reputation is another story.
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of four FIFA World Cup videos.
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So look forward to more.
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We're gonna be publishing every two weeks.
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We've also got the conversation going over on newpress.com.
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That's a new platform started by Johnny, Kristoff, myself.
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It's a place where you can ask me questions.
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I can ask you questions.
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You can help with my reporting and a lot more.
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So head over to newpress.com to check that out today.
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I'll see you in two weeks for another World Cup story.
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See you then.

About This Lesson

This lesson focuses on practicing English speaking and listening skills through a critical examination of a notable speech by FIFA's president, Gianni Infantino, during the 2022 World Cup. As you watch this video, you will enhance your ability to understand diverse perspectives, improve your English pronunciation, and develop your IELTS speaking practice skills. By analyzing Infantino's controversial statements and tone, you will learn to express opinions on topics related to sports, leadership, and global issues while expanding your vocabulary.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • tirade: a long, angry speech of criticism or accusation.
  • PR own goal: a public relations mistake that reflects negatively on someone.
  • political machinator: a person skilled in scheming or manipulating for political gain.
  • obscure: not well-known; little-known.
  • reforms: changes made to improve a system, often in politics or organizations.
  • bribery: offering something (usually money) to someone to persuade them to do something illegal or unethical.
  • corruption: the abuse of entrusted power for private gain, often involving bribery or dishonest actions.
  • disclosing: making information known that was previously kept secret.

Practice Tips

Utilizing a shadowing method can significantly enhance your English learning experience. For this video, focus on the following tips as you practice your speaking skills:

  • Listen carefully to Infantino's pace and intonation. His delivery is impactful yet varied in speed, which can help you learn how to articulate complex sentences effectively.
  • Repeat after him, mimicking not just the words, but also the emotional tone and inflection. This will help improve your English pronunciation and make your speech more engaging.
  • It's essential to understand the context of Infantino's statements. Reflecting on the themes of leadership and controversy can provide a rich discussion for your IELTS speaking practice.
  • Consider pausing the video after key phrases to repeat them until you feel comfortable. Using a shadowing site or platforms like shadowspeak can enhance this practice.
  • Try summarizing the main points of Infantino's speech in your own words. This exercise will reinforce vocabulary usage and improve your ability to articulate complex ideas in English.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.