Los Angeles conjures up irresistible spectacle as USA sparkle in opening act | Barney Ronay

T he ball is magic, remember. Just keep watching the ball. On a lovely soft powder blue night in Los Angeles the World Cup produced an opening act on its US front that might have been conjured by the whirling hands of Gianni Infantino himself, a Fifa president who increasingly has the air and the mannerisms of an elite celebrity stage magician. Or at the very least, of a man who appreciates the power of the show. It turns out California really does know how to put on one of those. …