U.S. and Mexico seek to host 2018 and 2022 World Cups

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With the national teams of the United States and Mexico set to square off in Columbus, Ohio, on Feb. 11 and again in Mexico City on Aug. 12 as both try to qualify for next year’s World Cup in South Africa, the last thing an already hot soccer rivalry needs is a bit more heat.

But that was guaranteed on Friday when Mexico’s soccer federation said that it had formally notified FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, that it would seek to host the World Cup in 2018 and 2022.

The move came just three days before the U.S. will do the same thing. The U.S. Soccer federation has scheduled an announcement on Monday, when it will say it also is bidding for both tournaments. For the first time, FIFA is allowing bidding on two tournaments simultaneously.

With the 2010 Cup set for Africa and the 2014 event already awarded to Brazil, African and South American nations are out of the running in 2018 and 2022, leaving the door open for Europe, Asia, CONCACAF (the North and Central American and Caribbean region) and Oceania.

The likelihood is that 2018 will go to Europe and that Asia and CONCACAF will dispute 2022.

Mexico staged the World Cup in 1970 and again in 1986 on a fill-in basis after Colombia was unable to host the event. The U.S. was host in 1994.

‘Mexico has a name in the world of football, we have already organized two World Cups and a Confederations Cup and I believe we have one of the biggest number of supporters in the world,” said Decio de Maria, the Mexican federation’s general secretary.

“Putting our cards on the table will generate the need to improve stadiums and create new infrastructure.”

With that last comment De Maria might have shot Mexico’s bid in the foot. The U.S. already has the stadiums and the infrastructure in place and is ready right now to stage the 2014 World Cup should Brazil falter as Colombia did in 1986.

-- Grahame L. Jones