The bid committee overseeing the joint U.S./Canada/Mexico push for the 2026 World Cup released an updated list of potential host cities for the tournament on Thursday.

The United Bid Committee announced Tuesday that it has sent Requests for Information to 44 cities in North American, regarding a total of 49 stadiums. Included on the list are Toronto (2), Montreal (2), Vancouver, Ottawa, Regina, Calgary and Edmonton. 

The CAF has said it will back the Morocco bid, and this is where it gets interesting. Africa has 54 full members, so that means from the continent Morocco already has more than half the votes it needs to usurp the CONCACAF bid. If you want to compare a FIFA vote to a Canadian federal election, think of the CAF as riding-rich Ontario. Win Ontario, and you become awfully tough to beat.

Using my regular PVR-ing of games as a tested-over-time barometer, I can state that 30 minutes of stop time might actually see fans treated to more ball-in-play action than we have now.

Post-Christmas, Canadian Soccer Association and CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani told the media that he was “open” to the idea of a joint bid between Canada, the United States and Mexico for the 2026 World Cup.

Remember, though, FIFA has a rule about senior World Cups. All games must be played on the same surface. Either they’re all on grass, or all on artificial turf. Unless that rule changes, or the Mexicans and Americans agree to tear up a lot of grass, a joint bid would mean that Canadians would be left with the very pricy option of placing grass surfaces in stadiums.

Why was Canada’s women’s national team coach so angry? Because Christine Sinclair, who moved into the No. 2 spot on the all-time women’s international scoring list in 2016, wasn’t on the shortlist for The Best FIFA Women’s Player Award. (Herdman was also skipped over in the coach-of-the-year selections).

FIXER is part of a special soccer fiction supplement that ran in Plastic Pitch's Autumn, 2016 edition...

Now, Justin Trudeau is the Prime Minister, at the head of a Liberal majority. So, how does the new regime see our bid for the World Cup? We asked Carla Qualtrough, the Minister of Sport and Persons With Disabilities.

Canadian soccer followers have seen it in World Cup qualifiers and in the CONCACAF Champions League — how the standards of officiating differ between Canada, the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. But Canadian official Sonia Denoncourt has been put in charge of the region’s referees — can she create standards that make sure no one ever gets “CONCACAF-fed” again?