Football Daily | USA, Mexico, Canada: which World Cup co-host can boast the most?

AND HERE ARE YOUR HOSTS … An old footballing adage tells us that no World Cup is quite complete without a gutsy run of results from the host nation(s), who dutifully go deep in the tournament to stir up local fervour. See South Korea in 2002 for a prime example: a plucky and at times controversial slalom to the semi-finals before being crushed by a traditional heavyweight. Way back when, a host nation winning the whole thing was commonplace, occurring in five of the first 11 World Cups when Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934), England (1966), West Germany (1974) and Argentina (1978) triumphed on home soil. Nowadays, thanks to Fifa’s completely altruistic desire to spread the game globally, the prospect of a host nation actually lifting the trophy is somewhat diminished, with South Africa and Qatar crashing out in the group stage in recent-ish years. Even with three hosts for the first time ever in this unique Geopolitics World Cup, a run beyond the quarter-finals for any of them seemed unlikely when the pre-tournament predictions came in. Still, the cliches ring true and Canada’s 6-0 shellacking of Qatar in Vancouver, which virtually assures Jesse Marsch’s crew a place in the knockout stages, was a boost for the neutrals. A serious injury to Ismaël Koné marred the occasion a little , but Jonathan David’s hat-trick – which included a fizzing volley for the ages – will live as long in the memory as Mohamed Manai’s slapstick own goal. …