The U.S. government, and I was actually told the Mexican government as well, has not signed off on the government guarantees that FIFA requires to confirm a World Cup bid.

The cities who would potentially host this tournament, or at least not all of them, have fully agreed to the equivalent of the agreements that they signed years ago

for the 26 Men's World Cup. So there are still discussions about what exactly the organizational

model for this 2031 Women's World Cup will look like, how involved U.S. soccer might be.

A lot of that has not been fully decided.

Music while U.S. soccer might be. A lot of that has not been fully decided. Hello, everybody, Jillian Sackavits with you.

A very warm welcome to full-time focus.

It's presented by Amazon Prime.

The United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica were meant to be

confirmed as the hosts for the 2013 Women's World Cup at the end of the month on April 30th.

However, FIFA has now suddenly canceled plans for any announcement. What's the holdup?

We're going to tell you on today's show we'll get into all of the stalemates, perhaps responsible, including the fact that the men's World Cup will be here in North America in just two months' time and the lessons that can be learned from ticket and transportation pricing to the way that FIFA and the host cities are creating their agreements around the biggest sporting event on the planet. Let's get into it.

And here with me now to get into all things, U.S. soccer and the long runway to the

2013 Women's World Cup, making his second appearance here on full time. It's Henry Bushnell.

Hi, Henry. Hi, Jill. Thanks for having me. I realize I should note. I think my last appearance was the last women's national team game I had covered, which was that dreadful two one loss to to Portugal. So I figured I had to stay away while they were winning without me. But now the streak has ended, I figured I could come back. Yeah, it's it's. It's happier times I'd say, and that was a one-off anyway, Henry. Now, getting closer to 30 or so appearances here on full-time, it's Melanie Anzi-Day. Hi, Melanie. Hi, thanks for having me. I didn't know I was reaching 30 caps, but happy, happy to hear it. Neither did I. Producer Theo told me that. Okay,

so let's get people just all caught up for those that are unfamiliar, Henry, with the latest

of what we know about where the Women's World Cup will be after 2027 in Brazil. It is looking like

it will be a mix between the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica,

for the simple reason that there are no other bids.

Exactly.

It will almost, I think it's fair to say, it will almost certainly be a U.S.-led World Cup in

2013.

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