COPENHAGEN: Carlos Cordeiro, one of the three joint leaders of the central/north American bid to host the 2026 World Cup, that President Donald Trump’s recent intervention should not be considered a direct to voters for rival Morocco.

Cordeiro is the new head of the United States Soccer Federation and was in Copenhagen as delegations from both United 2026 – the US plus Canada and Mexico – and Morocco 2026 presented their rival bids to senior officials of the Nordic football federations.

Earlier this week President Trump suggested in a tweet that countries which voted for Morocco risked losing US investment.

Cordeiro said Trump’s comments had “come as a surprise to us” but added: “I didn’t see it as threatening. You have to appreciate how he says things. I think what was implicit in what he said was that he would like to see people support our bid — and that is what I like my head of state to say.

“It doesn’t damage us. We have had extensive conversations with the White House . . . because FIFA require a number of assurances, warranties and guarantees on behalf of each of our governments in terms of access, taxes, work-permits, security, airport facilities — these are all part and parcel of submitting a bid which we did in March.

“You do that with the cooperation of your government and we have had a lot of contact with them, including meetings last week.”

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