By Matt Noonan (@MattNoonan11)
The 2018 World Cup officially kicks-off today with excitement for the tournament to return to North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States) in 2026.
And while the new tournament is barely one day old, there is certainly some excitement for it here in Boston, especially because we are one of the cities being considered to host some games, specifically at Gillette Stadium.
Boston is one of 23 cities being considered – the list will be whittled down to 16 locations in a few years. Other locations throughout North America include New York/New Jersey, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Kansas City, Miami, Edmonton, Toronto and Mexico City.
Sure, it would be great to have Boston be one of the 16 cities hosting the 2026 World Cup, but most likely games would be played in Foxboro, not Boston, as noted in a piece on Boston.com by Hayden Bird.
In addition to games being held in Foxboro, Bird also noted in his piece that Harvard University, Nobles and Greenough School, Wellesley College and the New England Revolution’s practice field would be potential training facilities for teams that would be housed in Boston.
WBZ-TV sports producer Joe Giza tweeted a video yesterday of Revs President Brian Bilello, who likes Boston’s chances of hosting the 2026 World Cup.
Again, we will have to wait a few years before FIFA announces the final 16 cities – we should know by 2020 or 2021 – but their goal is to make the 2026 World Cup a “North American event from coast to coast.”
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Additional stories and links from across the web!
- With a brand new World Cup set to begin, NPR previews the tournament, but also helps us understand “what you need to know.”
- Also from NPR, a ‘psychic’ cat has predicted that Russia will win its first match against Saudi Arabia.
- Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight has your World Cup Favorites, Sleepers and Most Pivotal Games. Make sure to check it out!
- Per The Guardian.com, more female broadcasters will be announcing and reporting from this year’s tournament to numerous British homes, which is awesome news!
- Lastly, NPR ranked the best World Cup songs and Will Smith makes a cameo in one of them!
