England still going for 2018 WC?!

[baron-pierreIV 1693]

Go f*ck yourself, hateand.

[hadeand 1]

Temper, Temper

[Mikel 0]

baron, controle yourself

[arwebb 133]

You're asking a lot there.

[lrd1rocha 0]

The U.S. may be ~6 in the world in the FIFA rankings, but that is based on games played against 'their' opposition... the United States opposition in the North America region isn't exactly quality teams. Put the U.S. against any of the major European teams, even Belgium, and they would struggle. These rankings are misleading.

So, true. The match between Real Madrid and the MLS "All-Star" team (and they are using the term "star" loosely) only serves as evidence of how putrid is the local American soccer league. True, no one was expecting the MLS "best players" to beat Real Madrid in their stadium, but a 5-0 defeat in favor of Real was just pathetic. If the States wants the cup back it will have to show that 1994 had a much bigger impact than the creation of a Major League Soccer that is far more remarkable.

In any case, 2018 will possibly be the return of the World Cup to Europe to a more traditional market (Spain, England) or perhaps a random European market. I wouldn't discourage Canada or Australia as possibilities, but I'd rather see England or Spain hosting.

And to a previous question, yes Mexico was the alternate host to the 1986 World Cup. Colombia was the original host, but backed off when they extended the number of involved national teams. Mexico was named the replacement, and hosted the tournament despite the earthquake that slammed Mexico City half a year before.