Global conflicts, United States policies and unrest in Mexico are significant problems.
The World Cup of men’s soccer begins later this week and you can excuse FIFA boss Gianni Infantino if he has buyers’ remorse because things are not going very well for FIFA in the United States and in Mexico. Infantino never anticipated all the problems when FIFA awarded the 2026 World Cup to the United States, Mexico and Canada. The United States has tightened its borders and has turned away team officials and spectators. The United States has not allowed Iran’s team to train in the country, Iran has games scheduled in Los Angeles and Seattle and Iranian players will fly in on the day of the game and get out of the country as soon as possible. Iran’s team is practicing in Mexico. In the United States, hotel operators have been blindsided by the Visa restrictions and are not selling rooms. Ticket prices are too high and there is an investigation into the ticket costs..
Teachers in Mexico City are angry. Protesters from the country’s teachers’ union blocked main throughways in Mexico City, brought central parts of the city to a standstill to demand better working conditions. Demonstrators also knocked down figures of World Cup soccer players. Families of Mexico’s 130,000 missing people, animal rights groups and others are protesting. On April 10th, 2017, the United States, Canada and Mexico announced that the three countries would bid for the 2026 World Cup. FIFA awarded the event to the united bid on June 13th, 2018. Mexico is hosting contests. Canada gets matches in Toronto and in Vancouver. Eleven American cities will host contests, Santa Clara, California, Los Angeles, Seattle, Arlington, Texas, Houston, Kansas City, Atlanta, Foxboro, Massachusetts, Miami, Philadelphia and the championship game is scheduled for East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 19th. FIFA reached for the sky and may fall flat on its face.
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