On Monday the United States, Canada, and Mexico announced their bid to host the World Cup in 2026. Now comes the hard part: winning the vote to hold the tournament. The three countries have a strong case to host the event. For one thing, the World Cup has not been held in North America since 1994, while between then and 2026 Europe will have hosted the event three times, Asia twice, Africa once, and South America once.
For another, Mexico, Canada, and the US have the infrastructure already in place to play the games. Strengthening the nations’ case is the fact that FIFA President Gianni Infantino partly owes his election to US Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati, who rallied votes for him.