USA World Cup 2022? Warner Says So ...

"My message to the USA - and they don't have to listen - is to try to make a deal for 2022."

With those words, FIFA vice-president Jack Warner effectively ended all hopes of a 2018 USA World Cup. Warner presumably wants to leave 2018 open for an English bid to host the coveted soccer tournament.

Warner, the president of CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean and has three of the 24 votes in the bidding process, is broadly supportive of England's bid but admits it would be "political suicide" for him not to back a US campaign first.

However Warner believes the US would do better bidding for 2022 - FIFAwill decide on both hosts at the same time in 2011 - and should agree a deal to stand aside.

In an interview with BBC Radio Five Live, Warner said: "I have to convince them not to bid. It is easier for me to convince America to wait until 2022. I don't think they will be able to get as many of the votes as they will need [in 2018] for all kinds of reasons. I have said to England that until America gets knocked out that's where my vote will have to go.

"My message to the USA - and they don't have to listen - is to try to make a deal for 2022 and I'm quite sure that would have universal support. The kind of discussion I would have between England and the US is 'Will you support me in 2022?"'

Warner's backing for England was cemented by the friendly against his home country Trinidad and Tobago over the weekend. He said the challenge for 2018 was to do the same in other parts of the world.

He added: "England left behind a positive impression that will last for decades and they have to replicate that in other areas."

Warner had previously accused the hierarchy at the English FA of being "faceless" and "cold" while urging it to increase its political pro activity and to tap into David Beckham's celebrity to help secure the tournament for the first time in over half a century.

MY POV: What does one make of this? One day he's for the USA bid, the next he's not.
I don't know. Either way, I'd love to see the tournament here again. So we go from South Africa to Brazil to England and then here ... what about Asia? I guess the rotation system is dead in the water, eh?