England must befriend Africa

Success in 2018 World Cup bid is far from guaranteed

Last updated: 6th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

England must befriend Africa

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England have been warned that they will need Africa on side if they are to succeed in their 2018 World Cup bid.

The leader of South Africa's World Cup organising committee feels their could be a high profile casualty in the first round of voting, possible England, if bridges are not built.

Polling between the 24 members of Fifa is due to take place in December 2010, with Danny Jordan, chief executive of the committee planning next year's tournament, of the opinion that there may be a few surprises along the way.

He has added his voice to that of CONCACAF federation chief Jack Warner in warning England against complacency and feels Africa could hold the key to their hopes of coming out on top.

"The best team is not necessarily the winning team on match day," said Jordan.

"The difficulty will be in the first round. Where you have so many bidders, it is critical to survive the first round.

"It is very critical that England focus on the four votes of the African continent. That may very well take them through round one."

So far England have focused much of their attention on becoming the preferred choice of Europe's governing body Uefa, as they face stiff competition from a joint Spain-Portugal bid.

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