Football Daily - Destination New Jersey: Can Iran play a World Cup in the USA?

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

Mark Chapman is joined by Rory Smith, Mani Djazmi from BBC World Service and Nico Cantor from CBS Sports to discuss the impact of USA being at war with Iran as the World Cup approaches. Mani and Nico give an insight on potential contingency plans and how the war could affect the World Cup and its preparations. Nico gives his expertise on the footballing planning in the USA and the issues around fans and ticketing cost. Mexican journalist Marion Reimers joins the pod and tells the team how Mexico is getting ready and the latest situation in the country with the recent unrest.   TIMECODES: 01:30 – Rory on issues going into WC  05:10 – Mani Djazmi & Nico Cantor on Iran 10:00 – The questions over Iran at the WC 23:15 – Prepartions in the USA & ticket prices 29:29 – Journalist Marion Reimers on the feeling in host nation Mexico 38:04 – The draw5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries:Thu 1945 Wales v Bosnia-Herzegovina Fri 1945 England v Uruguay Sat 1200 Everton v Liverpool in the WSL on Sports Extra 2 Sat 1330 Man Utd v Man City in the WSL Sat 1730 Arsenal v Spurs in the WSL on Sports Extra, Sun 1200 Chelsea v Aston Villa in the WSL Sun 1500 Leicester v Brighton & Hove in the WSL on Sports Extra 2

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Bring more gear, carry more passengers, face greater challenges. Welcome to the world of Defender, with seating up to eight, ample cargo space and legendary off-road capability. It's built to make the most of every adventure. Learn more at landrover.ca. This is the Football Daily podcast with Mark Chapman. Welcome to Destination, New Jersey. of the 48 teams have qualified over the next week. So 22 nations will compete for the final six places.

Four will be European. Two will be from across the rest of the world. We'll get the latest from Mexico because that country is hosting the intercontinental playoffs as well. Rory Smith is with us for the next couple of hours because the start of it really. I mean, I keep saying it's 78 days to go and so on as overall on the assumption that everything will be fine. always have these sort of periods before World Cups, don't we?

Where we kind of think this all looks fairly sort of fragile all of a sudden. I've got to admit, I wasn't necessarily expecting that to happen in North America. I think quite a lot of people within kind of football's executive class had assumed this would be a bit of an easier one than Qatar and Russia and even Brazil and South Africa. It's not quite worked out like that, Chappas, but we live in hope. Yeah, but Jonathan Wilson in The Guardian, who, you know, you know, is probably just behind you as favourite hipster journalist. It says, this summer's finals already feel damaged,

then that maybe this is different like no other. Yeah, I think there's kind of three strands, aren't there? There's the more footballing problem, which is the ticket prices, and the sense that this is a giant kind of rampant, gouging exercise that FIFA is doing very little to stop and might even accidentally or on purpose be encouraging. There's the issue with Iran, which I think is separate from football, and I'm always slightly nervier around those things

because there is a war in the Middle East. Ultimately, how that impacts the World Cup is not as important as what is actually happening. And the third thing is the situation in the US at the moment in terms of how safe, how welcome it will be for fans from maybe not from Western Europe, but from a lot of countries, whether they are wanted in the United States, whether it is a place that they can travel safely and freely and enjoy themselves. I've been working on a story this week, Chapas, about Kansas City.

Don't call it Kansas. They get very upset if you call it Kansas. They do, yeah. They do. And I spoke to a guy from... Have you not known that from all your NFL reading and watching? That was one of the first things I learned when I did, when I'd start the NFL. I thought you could just call it Kansas.

in like the second dimension, but they really don't like it. Kansas City and Tampa Bay. You can't call Tampa Bay Tampa. But anyhow, we digress slightly. Why not? No. Well, we'll bring in somebody who knows more about this. I mean, this is kind of irrelevant to where you started your anecdote.

But it was interesting. I spoke to a guy from Joe's barbecue, which is one of the big barbecue chains in Kansas City. And he was really keen to find out what sort of side dishes do you think English and Dutch fans might like? and what beers should they have on tap to make sure that people get a taste of home? And it's that full-on kind of Midwestern hospitality thing. But at the same, and that I think is true worldwide when you go to these events

is that people in those countries, normal people really want you to have a good time. They want to show the best side of their country. The issue with the US is whether that is reciprocated at a political and governmental level at the moment. And I think that is something that, how that plays out over the next two months is almost impossible.

to Gates. Let's talk to Nicco Cantor, who has been part of our destination New Jersey show many times from CBS Sports and was very much nodding about, as you would expect, on the Kansas, Kansas City difference. Mani Jasmine from the BBC World Service joins us as well. I think Rory's final point, Nico, was very fair and very true, actually, that the hospitality from the American people in my experience, maybe discounting New York taxi drivers, is always, you know, positive and friendly and can want to do anything and everything for you, customer service-wise. But this doesn't necessarily correspond, as Rory says, with maybe the message of the political elite here, before we even get on to the current conflict.

Yeah, Brad Rory, Will, thank you very much for having me on again. Yeah, I do think you're right and I echo a lot about what Rory was saying. I remember South Africa and all the difficulties going into that tournament and the controversy surrounding the building of the stadiums in South Africa. Meanwhile, when I arrived at Johannesburg, I don't remember a group of people that were happier to be hosting the world in their country and the pride that came with that. And the United States carries a whole lot of pride in welcoming the world. I've covered countless tournaments here in the United States football tournaments.

Copas America, Copa Oro's Gold Cups, all different types of tournaments where nations and clubs from all around the world have come to United States and discovered a country. Honestly, football has allowed me to discover my own country and understand different states and have Kansas City. barbecue and compare it to Texas barbecue, which is different, by the way. And I think a lot of us are going to learn in the United States, but obviously from a macro geopolitical level, the situation wouldn't be more different. So I do have my concerns, but I want to wait until the tournament is actually happening to cast judgment on as to whether it's going to be a success or not because we can't predict the future, because it's so volatile. at the moment. It is. And that probably, Nico, is a fair way to look at where we're at because the

situation changes, I was going to say, by the day, but sometimes it changes by the hour here, doesn't it? But the fact remains that in my, certainly in my working lifetime, and probably in my lifetime, I've never gone into less than 100 days to a Men's World Cup with the host country at war. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And I mean, I'm at the airport right now on my way out of the country. We've got a wedding with my wife at the weekend in Colombia. And just because of the conflict going on, the dispute in Congress over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, ESA,

which is the Transportation Security Administration that kind of takes care of security at airports has been massively understaffed. And what we've been dealing with the non-TSA workers are massive lines at the airport, while TSA workers themselves had to either quit jobs or go weeks on end without paychecks. And within the Department of Homeland Security is Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. And just right now, me passing security had never seen ice like this present at an airport. And obviously, we know how the Trump administration has handled their deployment of ice in states like Minnesota, for example, in Minneapolis, how it ended up being a nationwide debacle and debate.

Then you throw in all of the visa issues with traveling fans. I do echo your sentiment chappers that to a large extent, it's very, very worrying. The grand party the World Cup should be feels like it's under threat. Mani, let me bring you in here with all your knowledge. Middle Eastern football here and what you cover for the World Service. Because we need to look at this from an Iranian perspective, but we also need to look at it from other countries here who have been dragged into this, don't we?

But probably from the Iranian perspective, first of all, Manning. Well, it depends which Iranian perspective you mean, because one of the characteristics of being Iranian is that a lot of people have disqualification. agreements about pretty much everything. The official perspective, we don't know, because as Rory says, there is a war. Even today, the Pakistani official who's been mediating between Trump and the Iranian leaders says he can't get hold of them because they're all underground. And so that's a tiny glimpse into what's going on in Iran. They're everyone. Everyone,

there is in a fight for survival, there's abject terror, trauma, and into this environment comes to question, will Iran play in the World Cup? At the moment, I would have thought that nobody cares in Iran, whether Iran, whether the national team play in the World Cup or not. Now, the hair was set running on the first day of the war by the Iranian Football Federation president who said, can't see it. I don't think we can look forward to playing in the World Cup. That was just his personal opinion. But seen through the prism of the British media,

when the FAA president says something like that, it's big news. Then the sports minister who no one had heard of before, including in Iran, really, echoed those thoughts. And then he talked about going to play in Mexico, which is a complete non-starter. Today, I saw a report on Reuters about the national team who are training in Turkey

before playing a couple of friendlies. And those friendlies were described by someone, a media manager, I think it was, as being crucial preparation for the World Cup, which suggests that, you know, the idea is that they will go. And I've always thought they would go. It's a big thing.

for a country to withdraw a national team. It hasn't really happened. I mean, the last time teams withdrew from the World Cup was 1950, and that was just because it was too far away. It's a big deal. I'm sure Iran will go to the World Cup. I mean, it's an opportunity for huge PR. I mean, if the current regime are in place,

which looks like it will be, their flag will be raised on American soil. their anthem will be played on American soil, will be booed by the Iran fans who will go to those games. So, yes, I mean, the war has also disrupted hugely the preparation of countries like Jordan and Iraq. Jordan have had to cancel their farewell friendlies because they were due to play in this tournament against with Iraq. not against them, but that hasn't been able to take place in Amman because Iran can't fly there.

So the Jordanians have gone to Turkey to join Iran, Nigeria and Costa Rica. So their preparations have been hit. Iraq's preparations have been hit for these playoffs. Their coached last couple of weeks, I spoke to him. He said, we're not going to be able to make it because the airspace is closed, but they have made it. So, yeah, this war is playing a massive role in how teams are preparing to play in the Football World Cup. Mani, and I think, first of all, I think you're absolutely right that, obviously, I can't imagine what people in Iran are going through, but my guess is the World Cup is nowhere near the front of their thoughts. But are you surprised or just sort of depressed by the total absence of any sort of leadership or control from FIFA here?

Obviously, the situation is not their fault. Like, we can't blame FIFA for what's happening in the Middle East. But it does strike me that 78 days out, you would be looking to the competition organizer for at least a little bit of guidance as to how the, you know, I realize it's a relatively unprecedented situation. But their total absence does, does even by FIFA standards, sort of surprise me. I'm not surprised or depressed by that, really. FIFA haven't needed to say anything.

I mean, you know, there are still six places that haven't been filled in the World Cup. They have spoken out about not moving Iran's games to Mexico. I mean, there's no point to doing that because if Iran finishing one of the places and get a qualify for the second round, then whichever place they finish in, they'll have to play in America. So there's no point in move. And there'll be lawsuits and all kinds of things if they do that. I think FIFA have been quite sensible, really, just to wait and see what happens.

I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if in the end absolutely nobody says anything because the current situation, the default situation, is that Iran are going to the World Cup. And it may just be easier for everyone just to do that and not say anything. Because the leadership of the country, whoever that is, is preoccupied with far greater things. What I would say, Nico here, and Manny has mentioned, you know, if Iran were to get through. and I'd be honest, I haven't plotted a path for every country yet. There's plenty of other stuff going on at the moment. But if USA and Iran both finish runners up in their groups, which is D&G, they play each other.

And I know we're trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but you would have to, they would have to look at how they deal with that already. There have to be contingency plans. Do you not think? The other thing is it would take place in Texas. Yeah, I mean, if you think about it, this is almost like when UEFA during their own draws has to allocate, at first they were separating Ukrainian and Russian teams. And then the Balkans is a whole issue. They're trying to avoid teams from Kosovo playing against teams from Serbia.

And then the Albanians come into the mix. It's a whole mess that obviously just because of the history of Europe, UEFA has to deal with these all sorts of geopolitical entanglements. But there's precedent for the U.S. playing Iran. They played. They were in the group stage at the last World Cup in Qatar. And there was actually a particular situation that happened because the U.S. men's national team on their official channels, Instagram, Twitter and whatnot,

when they tweeted the group standings, they erased the Islamic Republic symbol from within the flag. So they posted the flag on their socials without that symbol that's very representative of a country. And it started a whole media firestorm before that match. Mind you, it was the last group stage match that the U.S. needed to win. And it mounted this unnecessary pressure on the U.S. And it's just, it kind of ended up being anecdotal because the U.S. went on to the next round.

They played the Netherlands and ended up losing. But yes, this is unprecedented that I would imagine. I'd have to go through every single World Cup matchup. But two teams that are actively at war playing against each other in the World Cup. would be something that FIFA has never had to deal with, I would imagine. It's interesting. It's obviously the really famous one, and Nito is quite right, they played in Qatar, but the really famous one was 98, which was the first time I think they'd ever faced at

international level, certainly at competitive international level, was what, 20 years after the hostage crisis, after the Islamic Revolution, you know, it was very much kind of seen as this flashpoint. I think they called it the Silent War was the game. And reading about that in preparation for this, I won't pretend I was doing it kind of just casually. But it was interesting that in the build-up to it, Clinton, who was the president,

kind of gave this speech in which he said that, you know, he hoped that sport could be a building block for kind of normalization of relations. The rhetoric out of Iran from, I think that was Ayatollah Khomeini, was obviously less conciliatory, but the president at the time said something very similar. And although there were these strange, little bits of choreography

where the Iranian players weren't allowed to approach the American players to shake hands, it had to be the other way around. The Iranian players did present them with flowers. There was this attempt, and it maybe sounds naive now, but there was this attempt to use football as a way to say, look, this is sports and it is separate from

politics. In 2022, it was notable that none of that stuff happened. It wasn't overtly political, but it wasn't that same attempt to say, this is different, this is sport, we are all kind of on the pitch, all those other problems don't exist. And if you look at where we are now,

that is just not a great graph for the trajectory of the world, I would say, from 98, which was much closer to the hostage crisis, to now, we appear to have lost that ability to say that sport can be separate

or at least should be, should aim to be separate. Amani, you mentioned the reaction to the Iranian anthem in the past from Iranian fans who have been present at the grounds. Even by being at the World Cup, it will put the footballers themselves

and those connected to them in a difficult position, won't it? I mean, we saw what happened with the women's team recently at the women's Asian Cup in Australia and refusing to see the National Anthem and then perceived threat, not perceived threats, that then came back their way. It puts the athletes themselves and the staff

in a very, very difficult position. Yeah, but I mean, that's pretty standard for Iran Games of the World Cup. I mean, that game in France, 98, the Rory was talking about in the stands, was toxic because there was this constant baiting between Iran fans with vehemently opposing political views. And that wouldn't have been picked up by many people unless they were Iranian. but it was a horrible atmosphere. And in fact, Mehdemad Havigya, who scored Iran's second goal, said he absolutely hated playing in that match. So, you know, this is nothing new.

And the Iran men, of course, were the first team not to sing the anthem before their first game against England at the last World Cup. And it was only after visitations from security. people from the government who were all over the place in Qatar, it was just open house for them. They sort of half-heartedly sang before the second game, which they won.

Yeah, the players will be under huge pressure. I mean, Saadar Asmón, who's one of their best players, has been suspended from the squad because he posted a photo with the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, on Instagram and obviously Iran are attacking the UAE. So he was kicked out of this squad.

And all of them are under massive pressure and have to be careful what they say. So they choose the path of silence, really, and safety. And they don't say anything or they're not allowed to say anything, as is the case in Turkey. But yeah, if they play in the United States, then what will have in the stands is the same probably worse than what I've just described from France in 98.

And also in Iran, there is a question, I mean, this is all before the war. Who does this national team play for? Does it play for the people or does it play for the regime? And there are plenty of players who in the past have benefited from the regime. Mehti Tahrirmi, another striker, he did his. military service with the Islamic Republic, with the IRGC, which is now so, so powerful in the country. So that is another question. I mean, I'll never forget, after they lost to America at the World Cup last time,

seeing countless videos of people celebrating on the streets of Iran because the national team had lost. I've never seen anything like that belonging to regarding fans of any country in the past, never seen anything like it so there is also that to bear in mind in terms of how they're greeted by the fans in the stance Yeah, I was going to say that presumably

they mean they play at least one game in LA don't they which is home to a huge Iranian population and most of those I would guess obviously not all but there will be an awful lot of dissidents or in a second or third generation dissidents in that audience and they will be the ones in the stands. It will not be the case

I wouldn't have thought that the Iranian diaspora in the States is automatically pro-regime. The issue is more likely to be between groups of Iranian fans as it was in 1998. Quite, I mean, I mean, I

feel comfortable about putting a percentage on but a lot of them are pro Reza Pah-Lavi, who's the son of the Shah and has been living in America. A lot of them are quite happy about this war, about Iran being attacked. They've been calling for a long time. And, yeah, I mean, I don't know what their reaction would be when they get into the stadium and they hear the current anthem and they'll see the players will, have to sing

what they're and how will that can you imagine you know your at the World Cup and your own fans are booing the anthem and maybe

maybe they're booing you too Mani thank you very much for joining us appreciate that this evening from the BBC World Service Mani Jasmine we've got Nico with us as well

I don't mean this to sort of be an uncomfortable gear change but we move from the very serious stuff and the world conflict to the general preparations in the US.

And every other day, there'll be an article on, you know, disagreements between local authorities or the grounds or the owners of an NFL stadium about who's funding what and then ticket prices as well. Not everything has been resolved, has it, Nico, or has it? To a certain extent it has. I think the fan's concern here in the United States is the, tickets and the access to the tickets given that FIFA is selling them exclusively on their platform, right? Their whole idea was to take out the middlemen, the, you know, the scalpers,

all of these people that end up making a lot of money off of a product that's not there. So FIFA created this very close system where you can buy and sell tickets that are fluctuating in price and it's called dynamic pricing. I mean, we see it in the U.S. And I imagine around the world with hotels and airlines. And it's a quintessential American thing. And FIFA decided to take the world's game and use this very American system of buy and demand to make the most money off of their tickets and keep all of the revenue from the markup themselves. And more than anything, beyond all the administrative issues from the cities that I think at the end of the day,

they'll manage to figure out there was a situation in Boston and Miami. but a lot of it is a magic negotiation tactics to kind of get your ducks in a row before all this begins in 78 days time, right, Chapters? 78 days time? So more than anything, what I'm feeling, there's a desperation for tickets amongst all types of fans. I think the disappointment for the cities has been that

that FIFA have made it so difficult for them to stage events around the world, World Cup and get commercial money in for them. That's been a lot of the issue. There's a security bill that had to be passed, I think, in terms of $625 million for security costs that I think that the federal government will now pay to the cities. That had been held up for a while. But, you know, we've seen in New York, certainly, I think, in some of the other cities as well, they've had to cut back on a lot of the kind of fan festy stuff. And look, they'll be listening to this. And they're charging, Rory, they're charging for fan fest, the ones that are still going on. Usually they're free. I remember in all the World Cups that have attended.

you can just kind of like walk in. And it's, I mean, in Brazil, it was on Copacabana Beach. You would just walk onto the beach and there was these huge screens. It was awesome. And I think there will be a lot of fans. In Qatar, there was nobody in them from what I remember. But it often depends on the venue in the country. They made the mistake in Qatar, I think, of putting them in a very hot country

in places where there was very little shade. So I think people correctly decided to go to the suit. That was, the suit, my memory of guitar is, the suit was a gigantic fan fest, even though it wasn't meant to be. But yeah, the idea is that they're free or certainly has previously been that they're free. And there is this sense around the World Cup that FIFA have decided to make as much money as possible

for themselves off it. And to be honest, I think politically, there's a point, and look, it was only 78 days, so maybe time is running out for this to be a problem. But I wouldn't have thought the Trump administration would like the idea of FIFA coming into the US, keeping all the money and then leaving again. That doesn't seem very make America great again,

if I'm completely honest. But FIFA thus far, it seems to have worked for them. They've been able to kind of ring fence. But that's what they do, though. That's what they do at tournaments. I mean, that's what the Olympics as well, isn't it? They have specific tax rules and so on and so forth. That means they make their money and go again.

Yeah, I think this is a more extreme case because partly does the pricing and partly because of the way that they've done the commercial deals for the city. So if you're Boston and you want to run a fan fest, the way in the States it would generally work is you'd get a corporate partner to sponsor that and you shove a load a new balance advertising around it. But you can't do that because Adidas, I think, are a top-level FIFA sponsor. So you're not allowed to get any sponsorship from anybody who competes in the same field as Adidas. And given the number of FIFA sponsors, that rules out most fields by the end.

So it's become very hard for the cities to put anything on, which is why, as Nico says, they will be charging prices for it. it feels like a very capitalist World Cup and that has, I think it will probably affect the number of people who travel just as the cost of it is so extraordinary. Well, the cost, if I was just going to give you some indications,

for one person, if you attended eight matches at this World Cup, one in each round, so all the way to the final, if you just went the lowest price range, it would cost you about just over five grand. If you went for the middle tier, eight and a half grand,

And if you went for the most expensive tier, just shy of 12.5,000 pounds. Now, you say, Nico, that dynamic ticket pricing is very much an American model. Are the American people, American football fans, recoiling at those prices? When you say American football fans, let's just be specific, you're talking about the sport where it's 11 men versus 11 men. Yeah, sorry, yes, I am. I want to make sure because the American football, the pig, as we call it here.

They're used to that. You know, the Super Bowl prices. And you mentioned those price ranges. That's exclusively just tickets, right? Imagine the whole dynamic pricing happens for airlines. I invite you to get across from Inglewood, California, all the way to Atlanta, Georgia. It's not cheap, you know, like get from Miami to New York. And then the hotels find a place to stay.

The United States right now is an expensive country. I mean, a lot of politicians have been running their campaigns on affordability. it's going to be an extremely expensive World Cup. So I wonder, to be honest, it's incredible all these traveling fans. I ask the same thing. My family is Argentinian. I have a lot of Argentinian heritage, and I know how Argentines live and breathe football with their economy and tatters,

absolutely destroyed. They were able to find a way across the globe, go to Qatar en masse, and celebrate. their country winning a World Cup. Some people maybe never had seen Argentina won a World Cup. And even if they didn't have a penny, somehow they made it over.

So I wonder if those same dynamics for a lot of these countries that are football mad, they'll be able to do it in the United States. This is the Football Daily Podcast. With Mark Chapman. Hello, this is Matt Chawley's urgent questions, your daily dose of political mayhem

from the heart of Westminster. Order, order. I call Matt Chorley. I'm a supporter of flags. It turns out time is finite. Government doesn't want to be involved in this. I did not think the candidates are fruit books. Match for release.

Urgent questions. Subscribe to the podcast and you'll get the best bits every day from around 5 o'clock. Listen on BBC Sounds. This is the Football Daily podcast with Mark Chapman. Six teams from five different continents essentially will make it to the World Cup finals in these intercontinental playoffs that are going on and will take place in Mexico. You've got D.R. Congo in Iraq, who are the seeded teams and are just one game away. In the semifinals, you've got New Caledonia against Jamaica. The winner plays D.R. Congo.

And then Bolivia takes on Surinam to face Iraq. Marion Ramers, Mexican sports, journalist for TNT Sports, Mexico joins us. We'll look ahead to the actual games in a moment. But again, Marion, a little bit like we were talking about at the top of the show with the USA, we're coming into quite a volatile situation here, aren't we as well, with Mexico? Hello, everyone. So good to hear you again. So good to be on the show again.

Yes, it is a volatile situation indeed. But we need to understand that, well, first and foremost, the Mexican government has been very clear in terms of the ability of Mexico to receive the World Cup in these three cities. Mexico City, Guadalajara in Monterey. Guadalajara in Monterey will be hosting these replay matches over the weekend and over the next couple of days. And Mexico will be playing against Portugal in Estadio Azteca,

which is like the new opening of Azteca Stadium. Now it's called Stadio Ciud de Mexico. or Mexico City Stadium for FIFA purposes and, you know, sponsorship deals and whatnot. But all of this has to do. It's still the Azteca, Marion, isn't it? I mean, it is the Azteca. It has to be the Azteca.

It has to. It will always be the Azteca. Hang on. Is Azteca a brand? Yes. It has the name of a bank now. And for commercial purposes, since that does nothing to have with,

does nothing have to do with FIFA, you need to call it Estadio Ciad de Mexico or Mexico City Stadium. But I mean, we all know it's called Estadio Steka. So let's just keep it at that, guys. When you've been on before, we've talked about how, for a lot of fans, they will probably choose to base themselves in Mexico and travel two games, partly, I think, because of what we were talking about earlier in Niko, about the cost of the USA and the dynamic pricing and so on and so forth.

Do you think that will still be the case despite everything that's gone on? I believe it will be the case. I do understand that there is a lot of fear and paranoia, particularly because of the news. And I do understand this has to do with the detention of Nemesio Osegera, better known as El Mencho, who used to be one of the biggest drug lords in Mexico and abroad. He had been monitored by the Mexican government for at least five years.

This also has to do with a lot of pressure of the U.S. government. We need to understand that. President Trump was threatening with military invasion to our country. So in that regard, the response of the authorities is obviously to collaborate. And this also happens, guys, in a political climate that is very important in North America. because Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. are waiting to sign a new commercial deal, better known as Telkan. So in that regard, that is also something that we need to take into account in the context of the political relationships.

Pablo Lemus, who is the governor of the state of Halisco, where Guadalajara is said, has given all the guarantees that everything will be working out fine. And I mean, I was out of Mexico City. I was in Acapulco, in Guerrero, which is also a difficult state, let's say. And yes, there were a couple of hours of chaos. But after that, I traveled back by road. Everything was okay. And I think that the Mexican government wouldn't have done or wouldn't have entered a situation like this

if they didn't anticipate the consequences. The consequences were measured. And I think that people will still come here because many travelers and many fans are afraid of them being detained in the United States. The presence of ice recently at different U.S. airports, particularly at JFK, have also, I believe, strengthened that fear. And Mexico will show itself as an open country and as a safe country. and as in every other country, it depends on where you're traveling to. I believe that if you're in the host cities, and particularly in cities that are considered very safe,

such as Merida, for example, merida is the safest city in the whole of Latin America. People will be fine. Marion, obviously, the government have kind of, as you said, given people reassurances that everything will go ahead, that, you know, the response from the cartel to the death of El Mentiono is kind of contained.

Is that the sense you get from like normal people? Is there is there a worry that I mean, I don't know how you kind of try and presume what a drug cartel will do. Is there a worry that over the next couple of months things might flare up again? I understand what you mentioned, Rory. I mean, I really wish that I could predict the future

and just say nothing is going to happen. But in terms of what I see, with people on the street, with our regular lives, with our everyday lives, everything feels just like business as usual. If you go to Sinaloa, Tukuliacan, for example, that is a city that has been harassed by drug cartels for the past 20 or 30 years, you will probably feel unsafe. If you're in Mexico City, if you're in Monterey, if you are in Cancun, if you're in any other city, I do not believe that to be the case. And I get the feeling that most citizens feel safe. Most citizens are continuing with their regular lives. What has Mexico City citizens more worried

has to do with Estadio Stica being ready, with what is happening with the roads, with everything that the government promised with the airport, but it doesn't have to do with security as such. That's good old-fashioned traditional World Cup worries That is exactly how everyone should be doing Exactly, exactly Exactly Exactly Yeah we've been there for each one

A bit of Mexican spice to that You need to add a bit of Mexican spice to that Let's talk about the actual football there I don't think we spoke to you since Well I haven't spoke to you since the draw was made Is the feeling in Mexico With South Africa, South Korea And then one of Czechia Island

Denmark or North Macedonia, is the feeling that they ought to win this group? Oof, that is an extraordinary question because I do feel there is a bit of pessimism, but it doesn't have to do with the teams Mexico will be playing against. It has to do with Mexico itself. There has been a lot of pessimism in the last World Cups. There isn't the enthusiasm that Mexico had in the late 90s and early 2000. with these extraordinary teams. We have a Javier Aguirre as a coach

who is basically coming up as a savior for the third time. They have been calling him the fireman eternally when he managed Mexico in 2002. Then he did it again in 2010, and now he is managing the national team 16 years later. There's a lot of worries in terms of injuries, particularly with Marcel Ruiz, for example, in midfield, they have to call up Guillermo Ochoa again.

Talarangela Rangel has been doing an extraordinary job, but this would be Guillermo Ochoa's sixth World Cup guys. And, I mean, he's an extraordinary goalkeeper. He's very talented, but I do believe that that speaks of the lack of deft in terms of talent, then of Ochoa's extraordinary capabilities. So there's a lot of worrying around how the team will perform as a collective

because individualities are not as strong as you might expect or as the process should have helped Mexico in that sense. There were a couple of younger players Jan Momorah was kind of the poster boy about Obed Vagas who's

at Atlatito Madrid or certainly belongs to Atlatito Madrid now. And I mean people talk very highly of Ruiz as well. Obviously I'm not sure any of them are in the current squad for the game with Portugal. Is there no kind of excitement over the fact there appear to be Ruiz is a bit older, but you know, there's a little

bit of young talent coming through. Absolutely. I mean, Hilberto Mora is the new sensation. He's an extraordinary player. But as you guys might have probably reported on other national teams and clubs, the calendar is having

severe consequences on the health of players. That also happened with Mora, who we all expect to be healthy. But that is what happens when you don't have a huge pipeline of talent. You depend on a few players. One of them is Hilberto Mora,

who at his very young age is already carrying a lot of responsibility. So that is why I think specialists and the press in general are expecting the team to try and work as a cohesive unity instead of relying on individual talent. I mean, we have Raul Jimenez, who's extraordinary. Santiago Jimenez playing also in Italy is not fully recovered. So that is what you can expect when you have such a severe calendar when you are expected to perform as a host in a tournament.

That is also so fast, guys. You know, you have not much of a possibility of reaction. It's not like a long season. You have a month and a couple of days and then you're done. For these intercontinental playoffs then that are being. staged in Mexico. Will locals turn out to watch these? Will there be a fascination and an interest in them?

What will the crowds look like for them, Marion? Well, I mean, Estadio Azteca, at least, which I understand is not the games you're speaking about, but I do think this is important because there still needs to be, a lot of work needs to be done at Estadio Azteca. We are hoping everyone is excited to see this on Saturday. I mean, Cristiano Ronaldo will not be.

here, but tickets are up the roof. Everyone is waiting to be there. And I do also believe that Monterey in Guadalajara, out of a sense of pride, they will be filling the stadiums, whether they have to give the tickets to students or not. But I do think that we will have big crowds because usually you have many important games happening in Mexico City. It's a very centralized country. So also for Guadalajara and Monterey to be able to show themselves will be very, very important. So I do think the crowds are going to be, they're going to be okay. I'm not sure they're going to be massive because the teams are not as attractive in Field of Stars as maybe you might expect with, I don't know, Portugal, Belgium, Argentina, Spain. But you will have a warm audience,

particularly in Monterey, which I feel they have a sense of pride since the general feeling is they were snubbed. They were snubbed out of the World Cup draw, which they were looking forward to hosting. They will not be hosting Mexico games. So out of a sense of pride, they will be trying to show the world what Monterey is made of.

And that's Bolivia against Suriname that's in Montreal. Bolivia might have preferred to be in Guadalajara because the altitude's more, isn't it? And obviously Bolivia play in great altitude. Is that right, Rory? Particularly in Mexico City. Yeah.

Sorry, Rory, go ahead. Yeah. Bolivia's sort of traditional advantage is they play in El Alto, which is the kind of, the capital is La Paz. Alato is kind of on the rim of the crater. La Paz is kind of on the rim. The reason I look slightly confused is because my note said, with Rory's answer, he will say as a former resident of La Paz that altitude does indeed make you awful at football that's what I don't says.

I was awful at football before I moved to La Paz when did you live in La Paz? When I was a much younger, a more interesting man chappas Right. Yeah, no. If I was going to pick anyone in my friend's circle

to have lived in La Paz you would have been at number one. It's, yeah, you used to don't watch the strongest always been a lifelong, the strongest fan in La Paz. No, it does. It's a huge advantage for Bolivia. And the fact, to be honest, the fact that they've not made it automatically when so many South American teams made it automatically,

despite the altitude, a lot of the other countries in South America think they shouldn't play there. They want them to play in Dr. Bamber or Sukhre, which are at more normal altitudes. It's an interesting one, Bolivia Surinand, because Bolivia is, they've not been to a World Cup since 1994, which obviously was in the US as well. it's a very kind of traditional team they've got a lot of players who play for the generally wonderfully named clubs

in Bolivia, so Bolivar, which is the big one, the strongest that my boyhood club represented a bit as well. And then there's a team called Always Ready who I don't think he existed when I lived there, but it's a great name. They are always ready. They've got a few players in there. But Suriname a little bit like Yorosel

have got a lot of players from the Surinamese diaspora in the Netherlands. So there's players who've kind of Stefano Densville and Rizaciano Haps and kind of players who've got a little bit of champions lead experience with the Dutch clubs. There's five or six of them in that Surinamee squad. The coach is Hench Ten Carter, who you might remember from Chelsea. Yeah.

So I think you'd look at that game, and I won't pretend I've watched either of them play football, but you'd look at that game and think Bolivia is a bigger country than Suriname. They've got a little bit more history than Suriname in terms of qualifying for tournaments. They would be the favourites. I think Surinam might make it, particularly because, they're on the Iraq side of the draw. As Mani was telling us earlier, Iraq had a terrible time getting to Mexico.

So you wonder whether Suriname might kind of complete the set with Curacao of Debuton. Marion, thank you very much for being with us as ever. We will talk to you soon. Thank you so much. Always a pleasure. And allow me to tell you, bienveninos to Mexico.

Thank you. Mary Arrivers, Mexican sports journalist for T&T Sports Mexico. What did you do? you in La Paz. I have visions of you just wandering around quite bohemian with a hat on and a beard painting. But what were you doing? No, I was a journalist. There was an English language newspaper there that I worked for for a little bit. All right.