Sunil Gulati, left, President
of the United States Soccer Federation, Decio de Maria, center,
President of the Mexican Football Federation, and Victor Montagliani,
President of the Canadian Soccer Association, hold a news conference
Monday in New York. (Mark Lennihan/AP)
The United States, Mexico and Canada announced a joint bid to host the 2026 World Cup on Monday.
The announcement comes at a time of
unprecedented tensions, in the modern era, between the leadership of the
United States and Mexico. President Donald Trump has pledged to build a
wall on the southern border, and renegotiate the North American Free
Trade Agreement, of which Canada is also a party.
But that's not stopping the three countries from making a joint bid for the sports mega-event, in which the bloc is seen as the early favorite. The formal selection may not come until 2020.
"I was hoping for a U.S.-hosted World Cup,
remembering 1994 and how that changed U.S. soccer forever, and I wanted a
2026 version of the United States to also alone reap the benefits of
what a men's World Cup can do," said
former U.S. player Alexi Lalas, now a sports analyst. "However, I would
rather have a joint World Cup than no World Cup at all."
The U.S. and Mexico are seen as having more
tournament-ready soccer stadiums, while Canada lags. But the trio
announced that the United States would plan on hosting the lion's share
of the games – 60 in the U.S., 10 in Mexico and also 10 in Canada, the
Associated Press reports.
The tournament is expanding, from 32 teams to 48 teams, but it is not a given
that the U.S., Mexico and Canada would all receive automatic receive
bids for their national teams, as is custom for the host nation. The
United States and Mexico have been standard fixtures at the tournament,
held every four years, in recent decades. But Canada's national soccer
team is not as competitive, qualifying only once, in 1986.
The U.S. last hosted the World Cup in 1994. That
tournament was later marred by tragedy, when the upset victory of the
U.S. over Colombia as a result of an own-goal led to the murder of goalie Andres Escobar, 27, at a time of intense violence in the country.
Qatar is slated to host the 2018 games, and Russia is the designated host for the 2022 games -- selections that have drawn controversy.
[READ:
FIFA Proposes New 6-Team Playoff Ahead of 2026 World Cup]
Aiding the North American bloc's bid is that the
rules of the international soccer body, Fédération Internationale de
Football Association, or FIFA, bar an Asian or European country from
hosting because of the Qatar and Russian games.
The relatively recent hosting by Brazil, in
2014, is also expected to hurt the chances of a South American country
being selected. No African country has yet indicated plans to submit, the Washington Post reports.
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