USA may threaten England's possible 2018 World Cup bid

The FA has a history of inconsistency and failing to deliver under pressure and it could be their undoing should they come up against a well-organised American bid.

by Gareth Llewellyn-Stevens on 22 February 2007

Email this Article (5) Comments

75%

25%

Related Bet:

Free £25 bet when you register at

The USA have announced the are planning to bid for the 2018 World Cup, a move which will likely see them go up against an English bid.

Although the English Football Association is yet to formally announce their bid, backing has already been received from the government following a study into such a project, while Franz Beckenbauer is also said to want football’s biggest competition to return to the country with arguably the best domestic league in the world.

US Soccer Federation (USSF) president Sunil Gulati revealed on Tuesday that the USA is preparing a bid for the 2018 World Cup, despite hosting the tournament back in 1994. England, by contrast, famously last hosted the event back in 1966, winning one of the most memorable matches in history 4-2 against West Germany at Wembley.

The English FA, the government and other supporters who want to bring the World Cup to England will not be impressed with the USA attempting to influence FIFA in awarding them the 2018 competition. Neither will the be impressed at Gulati having hinted at how well the USA hosted the ‘94 finals when they were only a developing football nation.

with Major League Soccer (MLS) and the LA Galaxy having secured international superstar and former England captain, David Beckham starting this summer, and with other big names being linked with domestic football in the States, the USSF are hoping they can show FIFA and the world just how much they have moved on from 1994.

But this doesn’t give them a real reason to stake a claim for hosting the tournament. After all, some countries, and indeed, continents have had a long wait to get a chance at hosting the World Cup, with South Korea/Japan seeing the tournament head to Asia in 2002, and South Africa as hosts in 2010.

Comments (5)

by marisela on February 22, 2007

uhhh....no comment

by James, England on March 04, 2007

If you think using 3/4 stadiums in London and 2 in Manchester would make for a good world cup then you are out of your mind. The Government would have to look at putting money into redeveloping stadiums in Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool (all of which are bigger citys than Manchester) to get the tournament spread throughout the country. Look at Korea Japan, 19 of the 20 stadiums were built brand new for the tournament and were all over the two countrys and that was arguably the best world cup event there has been. Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh? FIFA have already announced that co-hosting a world cup was a one off for KoreaJapan and wouldnt be happening again.

by Mank on March 05, 2007

How does James get to think that Sheffield, Leeds and Liverpool are bigger than Manchester???

by James, England on March 05, 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_cities_by _population Mank, like most people you obviously think all the crap little towns like Stockport, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford all make up Manchester. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_En glish_districts_by_population similar link, Manchester still smaller than the 3 mentioned citys

by Gareth on May 12, 2007

It's got nothing to do with the Government, so they don't need to offer private football clubs money to redevelop their stadium - but you can expect yet more money would be offered from the public purse for something not everyone will want. Leeds are now in the 3rd tier of English football and are in such financial mess, they'll be lucky to keep playing at Elland Road in the coming years. And as you should know...what FIFA say and do are very different things - there is no mention of co-hosting - if they are okay with a British team at the Olympics then there isn't a problem with a British effort to host a world cup. At the moment, it seems unlikely that a stadia in Sheffield would be developed, while we know there will be at least one new stadium in Liverpool before 2018, more likely, there will be 2, which will feature in a World Cup bid. You can guarantee that the FA will make London the centrepiece of their bid. There may be bigger cities than Manchester in terms of population, but that do