WASHINGTON, Dec 4 — Organizing a World Cup is never simple. But when the host is Donald Trump, it’s even more complicated.

In just six months, the United States along with Mexico and Canada will host soccer’s flagship tournament.

And the mercurial US president has infuriated his co-host neighbors, threatened to relocate matches, and imposed visa restrictions.Hundreds of thousands of overseas fans are expected to flock to the host countries -- in particular the US, which is staging 82 of the tournament’s 104 games.

They will arrive in a nation led by a president who has made anti-immigration policies a cornerstone of his second term, which has been marked by widespread and divisive raids and deportations.

And Trump is tightening the screws. After an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard members near the White House, killing one of them, he announced plans to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries.”

Nineteen countries – including World Cup participants Haiti and Iran – have faced US travel restrictions since June, and have now had asylum decisions frozen indefinitely.

Iran briefly said it would boycott Friday’s World Cup draw in Washington, in response to the US refusing visas for several members of its delegation, but later rescinded the threat.