Mexico supports US bid for World Cup

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey — Mexico has officially backed the United States' bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. Justino Compean, president of the Mexican Football Federation, said Friday before his team played Ecuador that every nation in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean) should back the U.S. The United States is up against Russia, England, Australia, joint bids from Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium. Qatar, South Korea and Japan are only in the 2022 race. Winners will be announced in December. "The U.S. has the best stadiums in CONCACAF. There are no comparisons," Compean said. "The infrastructure throughout (CONCACAF) of our stadiums is not comparable to the U.S. So we decided we need one bid to come from CONCACAF and we are supporting the only bidder from our region." In thanking Compean for his backing, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati expressed "extreme confidence" that the Americans will be selected for one of the tournaments up for bidding. "There is a general belief that '18 is going to go to Europe, it seems," Gulati said. "We can go to 2022 in that case. But we are just as interested in '18." Gulati noted that U.S. representatives supplied a ton of documents to FIFA detailing the bids. For the 1994 tournament hosted by the United States, which was a huge financial success for FIFA and for American soccer, everything was contained in a loose leaf binder. "We are far more ready than in the 1987 and 1988 bidding, but the requirements have changed enormously," he said. "Back then, you needed a plan. Now, we have contracts with 18 cities and stadiums, have contacted every conceivable government agency ... and this is also a different soccer country. We have seen the birth of a league (MLS), which today announced its 19th team. We have a woman's league and soccer-specific stadiums." – AP