MOSCOW -- The United States might not be participating in the World Cup, but it pulled off a historic victory in Russia all the same: The globe's biggest sporting event is returning to the U.S. In a long-anticipated vote on Wednesday, the joint bid of the U.S., Mexico and Canada defeated Morocco, its only challenger, as 200 national soccer federations cast their ballots to cap FIFA's annual Congress. The three-nation bid captured 134 votes, with Morocco earning 65 from the panel and only Iran choosing neither option. Cuba, Slovenia and Spain (whose delegation was in Krasnodar, Russia, handling its coaching situation) abstained. "This is an incredible, and incredibly important, moment for soccer in North America and beyond," said Carlos Cordeiro, the president of U.S. Soccer. The 2026 tournament will feature an expanded field of 48 teams -- the current field has 32 -- and will mark the first time in FIFA's history that a three-nation bid has been awarded the showpiece event. The joint bid's plans call for 60 of the 80 games to be played in the United States -- including all matches from the quarterfinals onward -- while Canada and Mexico host 10 apiece. The final is expected to be played at MetLife Stadium, just outside New York. FIFA president Gianni Infantino congratulates the presidents of the Mexico, Canada and United States soccer federations. Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images The tournament will be the first World Cup in the United States since 1994, and bid organizers frequently highlighted the importance of hosting a World Cup as a way to mark and push the expansion of the sport in the U.S. Winning the bid was a development long in the making, too: The United States -- and many others in the football world -- thought the 2022 tournament would be in the U.S., but the U.S. was beaten for those rights by Qatar in a vote eight years ago that was subsequently shown to be riddled with bribery. That vote took place under the old system, in which only a few dozen FIFA executives decided which countries would receive hosting rights in a process that was the epitome of backroom dealing. After a slew of high-profile arrests in 2015, however, as well as the ongoing investigations into football-related corruption by the U.S. Department of Justice and other law enforcement agencies around the world, the World Cup bidding process was overhauled, and now features each of FIFA's eligible member nations casting a public vote. To account for the new voting system, the so-called United bid spent the past several months with its leaders -- Cordeiro, Canada federation president Steve Reed and Mexico federation president Decio de Maria -- on the road, crisscrossing the globe to meet with as many federation leaders as possible. World Cup 2018 must-reads - Make your picks with ESPN FC Match Predictor 2018! - Welcome to the Alternative 2018 World Cup Fans' Guide - ESPN FC's experts make their picks - Marvel's amazing World Cup spoilers - Revealed: World Cup 2018 Ultimate XI - Fixtures, results and full coverage - Team-by-team previews of all 32 nations Cordeiro, who had a good foundation of relationships because of his past involvement on various FIFA committees, was the frontman, sometimes visiting as many as three countries in a single day. Figuring Morocco was likely to get most of the support in Africa, the North American bid focused on shoring up the Western Hemisphere and then targeted federations in Asia and Europe to push it over the top. "I'm convinced that it was critical to get in front of people, face-to-face," Cordeiro said. "They are elected federation officials just like we are, and you can relate to them because of that -- whether it's a big country or a small one." In meetings with other federations, the United bid did have to answer questions and address concerns about the political situation in the United States -- much of it having to do with policies regarding foreigners put in place by U.S. President Donald Trump -- but largely played to its obvious strengths: money and infrastructure. Bringing the World Cup to North America would produce staggering revenues of $14 billion, the bid predicted, and could mean as much as $50 million more in distributions to each member nation than if the alternative bid prevailed. Much of that, of course, comes from the well-established economy and corporate structure in the United States, which is already set up to handle all aspects of a massive event like a World Cup. Morocco was always the long shot, but any chances of success were hit hard by FIFA's evaluation report, published on June 1, which heavily favored the United bid. The United States, Canada and Mexico scored 402 points out of a possible 500, while Morocco received only 275, largely due to lack of infrastructure, and factored in Moroccan officials' admission that almost $16 billion was required for the necessary development across the country. U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro presents the United bid to the FIFA Congress in Moscow. Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images The same FIFA report also confirmed Morocco did not disclose its anti-LGBT laws when the respective campaigns had their human rights policies evaluated. The United bid wasn't only about flashing glitz, however. While the United States might be the world's largest economy, Cordeiro said to federation presidents, it is really more like a tiny nation when it comes to soccer. For example, U.S. Soccer has a budget of only about $100 million, while England has a budget five times as large despite having a population that is roughly one-fifth the size of the United States'. With only about 4 million registered soccer players in the United States out of a population of 330 million, Cordeiro sees the 2026 World Cup as a potential beacon, in addition to being a catalyst for greater expansion. "I make the argument that we are a vast, powerful, wealthy nation, but we have haves and have-nots, and our disenfranchised are underserved, and in many ways these are the people with whom the sport resonates most," Cordeiro said. "If we can bring them into the game, we'll go from 4 million to 12 million participants. Every little kid who is 10 years old and says, 'I want to play in that World Cup 10 years from now' -- well, why can't they?" Now, that dream is very much alive. And after a qualifying cycle that saw the national team suffer the indignity of missing out on the World Cup this summer, American fans can at least say they have a significant salve. The format for automatic bids for host countries is in transition. The North American region will get 6.5 bids (including one-half of a bid because one team will play another team from another country in a playoff to get in), and it hasn't been decided whether all three hosts of the United bid will get in automatically. In 2002, when Japan and South Korea co-hosted the event, both teams were given automatic bids. "What an exciting day for the sport of soccer in Canada, Mexico and the United States -- and really, for the rest of the world," MLS commissioner Don Garber said. "This decision that just came down from Moscow to allow our region to host the World Cup in 2026 is a testament to how our three nations came together for an unprecedented united bid, and it's a monumental step in our collective mission to further advance the game of soccer here and to do what we can to grow the game around the world." Sunil Gulati, the longtime U.S. Soccer president who elected not to run for another term after the national team's failure, was at the heart of the failed bid in 2010 and set this bid in motion several years ago. To him, knowing that the World Cup will be returning to the United States is a long time in the making.<doc-sep>Carlos Cordeiro, the president of U.S. Soccer, wiped away tears before making a short speech in which, with his voice trembling, he thanked FIFA’s membership for “the incredible privilege” of hosting the World Cup. “It was a very emotional moment for everyone,” Cordeiro said later, recalling the devastation he felt in 2010 when the United States failed to secure the right to stage the 2022 World Cup, losing to Qatar in a much-criticized voting process. The 2026 tournament will be one of firsts. It will be the first time the World Cup is hosted by three countries, the first time it has a 48-team format (up from 32 teams), and Wednesday’s vote was the first of its kind to be decided by FIFA’s entire membership. Of the tournament’s 80 matches, 10 will be in Canada, 10 in Mexico and 60 in the United States — including every match from the quarterfinals to the final. The last time the men’s World Cup was held in North America was when the United States hosted it in 1994. It was held in Mexico in 1970 and 1986, and Canada has never hosted. It was unclear Wednesday whether all three nations would be granted automatic bids into the field, as is customary for the host nation; FIFA said there had been no final decision on the matter. Leaders of the North American bid had been on the road since April, visiting voting nations around the globe. As the race entered its final stages, several top officials and bid staff members relocated to London, deeming it a better base camp from which to visit far-flung federations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and southern Africa. At one point two weeks ago, Cordeiro and his staff traveled from Europe to Bangkok for a single meeting, returning the next day.<doc-sep>US soccer received a much-needed jolt of positivity on Wednesday, when it was awarded the bid to co-host the 2026 World Cup with neighbors Mexico and Canada. But that fleeting high will come with a Thursday morning hangover when this year’s tournament kicks off, and the greater significance of what happened to the US in their failed campaign to qualify for Russia 2018 begins to truly, finally sink in. The 2026 World Cup will bring welcome publicity and interest in soccer in the US but in the present day US Soccer does not appear to have entirely grappled with the long-term ramifications of missing out on Russia. Most of the players involved in the Calamity in Couva, when a loss to Trinidad & Tobago doomed the US campaign, have described the experience as a waking bad dream. “The main thought that goes through your head is shock,” says midfielder Dax McCarty, who was on the bench that night. “Being a part of it, you almost have a feeling of helplessness. You’re just hoping, praying, that something, anything goes your way. When the final whistle blows, it’s a feeling of shock and awe.” The knock-on effects of the letdown continue to reverberate even up to now. The Guardian spoke to two bars in the soccer strongholds of Portland and Seattle who estimated that they will lose something like $20,000 in revenue on days on which the USMNT would have played. Elsewhere, FourFourTwo scaled back its US operation a few months later, citing advertisers who pulled out after the Trinidad loss, putting several of the country’s best soccer journalists out of work. The World Cup remains the only time soccer is front and center of the mainstream American sporting consciousness. There are one-offs, here and there. The Champions League, for example, has gained in relevance in recent years. Major League Soccer continues to improve, and crowds continue to grow even if television rankings remain comparatively stagnant. Every four years, however, the World Cup thrusts the game toward the very top of the news cycle. Players pose for magazine covers beforehand and make the late-night talkshow circuit in the aftermath. Bars fill to standing-room-only even for games the US are almost certain to lose. That shared, communal experience is impossible to replicate. Ask American soccer diehards to date the beginning of their fandom, and most will reference a World Cup year —from the 1994 edition on home soil to the USMNT’s underdog run to the quarter-finals in South Korea in 2002. All of those possibilities for connecting with new fans vanished in an instant with the 2018 qualification debacle. Despite the World Cup setback, those within the soccer bubble have mostly played down and waved off concerns about negative long-term implications. Prior to last year’s MLS Cup final, just a few months after the loss in Trinidad and at his annual State of the League address, Commissioner Don Garber insisted that the sport remains on the rise in the US. Garber pointed to increased investment in the domestic league, the gains made in player development, and soccer’s rising popularity among millennials. Garber’s not wrong, per se, but it’s also undeniable that the league has benefitted from the USMNT’s regular World Cup appearances. It is impossible to separate MLS’s gains from those casual fans being introduced to the sport every four years. The players, at least, realize that Trinidad & Tobago 2-1 United States will forever be the first line of their respective career epitaphs. For a group that likes to refer to itself as a brotherhood and which has taken pride in results that have outpaced their collective talent levels over the years, to have been the first team to fall short in 32 years has been devastating. Midfielder Benny Feilhaber recalls the silence in the locker room afterward the Trinidad game, how Arena was the only one who spoke. “’Obviously, there’s not much to talk about,’” Feilhaber recalls Arena saying. “’We didn’t get it done. That’s it.’ It was up to everybody to deal with the fact that they were part of this massive failure.” World Cup Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email The powers that be seem to have escaped a similar self-reckoning. During the US federation’s election this past February, it was president Sunil Gulati’s long-time No2, Carlos Cordiero, who was voted in to replace him, rather than any of the self-described “change” candidates such as Kyle Martino, Eric Wynalda and Hope Solo. Despite the fanfare about the new general manager position, it went unfilled for months before the hiring of Earnie Stewart from the Philadelphia Union. It remains unclear, however, whether the role is going to hold enough power to actually bring about meaningful change – that the process to fill the position took so long, and that so many of the leading minds within MLS shied away, hint that it does not. “Whatever we’ve been doing hasn’t panned out the way that we, as Americans, expect,” former USMNT defender Brad Evans said. “We always think that we’re the best at everything, and that we deserve the best in everything. We have money. Why are we not the best? That’s the mentality through every single sport. I think it’s hard for us to grasp that what we’re doing isn’t right.” Even after Trinidad, the single most traumatizing night in the modern history of the United States men’s national team, it’s unclear whether the federation has still totally grasped Evans’s point. There are those who think that any kind of drastic change would be rash, and unwise. Soccer has been on an upward trajectory for years now – why completely shift course? “You don’t make wholesale changes based on the ball being two inches wide or two inches in,” said Gulati after Trinidad, referencing a Clint Dempsey shot that hit the post in the final qualifier and could have saved the day. That argument may ultimately be proved right. It may also merely keep the federation on track for another, unseen and even more traumatizing reckoning further on down the line. Regardless, it’ll be of little consolation to the millions of American sports fans who tune into the World Cup this month and flip channels in bewilderment looking for the USMNT. And it means that the loss in Trinidad has no silver lining, that the promise of change that sustained some in the aftermath will be unrealized, and that the hollow pit in the stomach of American soccer fans this summer will have no useful purpose moving forward.<doc-sep>
MOSCOW — The United States will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup after its three-way bid – along with Mexico and Canada – was granted staging rights during a vote here on Wednesday. The “United” bid, that will see 60 of the tournament’s games held in the U.S., with Canada and Mexico getting 10 each, beat out the underdog campaign of Morocco to bring soccer’s biggest show back to American soil. The U.S. previously hosted in 1994 and the potential for a highly lucrative tournament, plus the existing stadiums and infrastructure, likely played a major role in swaying voters. With the breakdown of voting results made public, the United bid claimed 134 votes, with 64 giving their support to Morocco and one country voting for neither bid. After the U.S. men's national team missed out on qualifying for this summer’s tournament, which kicks off at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on Thursday, the news of the successful bid was a boost to frustrated American soccer fans. Following allegations of corruption regarding the 2018 and 2022 voting process back in 2010, more than 200 member nations took part in the decision this time around, instead of a 24-person committee. While Morocco, as expected, obtained strong support in Africa, the United bid’s power base in Central and South America, plus some welcome backing from parts of Europe and Asia, made the difference. World Cup predictions:Can Germany become first repeat winner since 1962? Every World Cup champion:Tournament history lesson World Cup:Top 10 best moments in tournament history There had been concerns that political factors, such as the United States’ waning popularity overseas and what was perceived as an interfering tweet about the bid from President Donald Trump, would count against it. However, the strong marks the United bid received from FIFA evaluators boosted its prospects. It is expected that both semifinals and the final will all be held in U.S. venues. Indeed, Trump's behind-the-scenes actions may even have helped sway some key votes. The White House provided U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro with three separate letters that Cordeiro showed to delegates, containing guarantees from Trump that any immigration policies relating to predominantly Muslim countries would impose no restriction affecting the tournament. Both bids were permitted 15 minutes to make a presentation to the FIFA members immediately before the vote. The United Bid featured a youth team player from each of the three nations, beginning with a moving tale by 17-year-old Canadian Alphonso Davies, the current Major League Soccer player of the week, about how his family had been welcomed after fleeing civil war in Africa. The three federation chiefs also spoke, with Cordeiro strongly emphasizing the profitability of a North American tournament, promising $11 billion in revenues. Morocco's presentation took some not-so-subtle shots at the U.S., highlighting the fact that guns are banned in Morocco and stating that during the 1994 World Cup even world-renowned soccer stars were unknown in America. It was a solid performance by Morocco, which entered bidding late and was always going to be up against the odds. In the end it wasn't enough, and Americans fans can look forward to the return of soccer's greatest event in what can only be seen as a massive boost for the domestic game.