The Guardian reported today that the US, Canada, and Mexico are preparing a joint bid for the 2026 World Cup. This—and any other joint bid including countries with existing soccer infrastructure—makes a ton of sense. It reduces the burden any single country has to bear, relies on existing stadiums rather than constructing new ones, and gives more fans the opportunity to possibly attend World Cup games.
The main argument against it has to do with travel. It would be less than ideal to have a team play one match in, say, Mexico City, and then another in Vancouver days later. Then again, Brazil and Russia both had some arduous travel schedules, and hopefully a little advanced planning can prevent any team from having to go from one side of the continent to the other. Considering the benefits, this seems like a fairly minor and perfectly surmountable drawback.
Videos by VICE
You’d think the people speaking about the joint bid—in this case, CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani—would tout these very points. But no. Instead, we get this horseshit:
“We have had nothing but positive remarks about it and it is a very strong sign of what football can do to bring countries together.”
“Asked if he was referring to Trump’s belligerent rhetoric about building a wall, Montagliani, a Canadian insurance executive elected as the Concacaf president last May, [link included in The Guardian] said football has to “rise above” all kinds of political regimes which many people dislike.
“‘It behoves football and leaders of football to deal with it and rise above it,’ he said.”
Given the state of the world right now, this kind of haughty football kumbaya is the last thing I want to hear from soccer officials, much less from the confederation at the center of a massive, global racketeering conspiracy. Aside from the fact that, barring a Constitutional amendment, Trump will not be president in 2026, I don’t want any FIFA-tangential official to even start with the “soccer can bring countries together” hogwash when the World Cup is still being hosted in Qatar.
Before this gets any further, I want to plead with Mr. Montagliani and everyone else associated with this bid: please don’t make this about the sanctity of soccer and its ability to heal global wounds. Don’t talk about how soccer can tear down walls, shatter borders, or any other such nonsense. Don’t make the same mistake LA2024 is making and believe that the World Cup has a duty to exist for the good of mankind. It only detracts from your otherwise excellent points in support for your bid. Please, Mr. Montagliani, don’t believe your own bullshit.
