World football's most powerful administrator Gianni Infantino has hailed the readiness of Mexico for this summer's World Cup during a fact-finding tour of the country in which he met Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, viewing the stadiums in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara that will stage matches during the month-long competition.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino expressed confidence that Mexico will deliver a successful World Cup, saying organisers had carefully reviewed preparations for the tournament.
After meeting Infantino at the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City, Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum echoed that optimism. “We have been evaluating everything for the upcoming World Cup,” she said. “Everything is going to be wonderful.”
The 23rd edition of the tournament — and the first to feature 48 teams — will kick off on 11 June at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, where Mexico will face South Africa in the opening match.
In Mexico, matches will also be held at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey and Estadio Akron in Guadalajara, while additional games are scheduled across 11 cities in the United States, as well as in Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.
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On Tuesday night in Guadalajara, Jamaica take on Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in one of the two intercontinental play-off finals. The other in Monterrey pits Iraq against Bolivia.
A team from the DRC is trying to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1974 when the national team competed as Zaire.
"Advancing to the World Cup is the hope of the whole country," said DRC boss Sébastien Desabre on eve of the match.
"It's the hope of this entire generation of Congolese people who haven’t had the chance to see their team in a World Cup.
"It’s been a long qualifying campaign and here we are facing the final hurdle, which is often the hardest.
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"Just like us, Jamaica deserve to be here," Desabre added. "They’re a team with great potential, featuring players who play for top clubs."
The winner of the duel will play in Group K with Portugal, Uzbekistan and Colombia.
The victor of the match between Iraq and Bolivia will feature in Group I with France, Senegal and Norway.
On Tuesday night in Europe, four spots for the World Cup will be decided.
Bosnia and Herzegovina take on Italy at the Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica.
The Czech Republic play Denmark and Kosovo, who are attempting to reach the World Cup for the first time, host Turkey.
"They have players who possess individual quality," said Kosovo coach Franco Foda.
"But we also have a very good team. We’ve deservedly reached the pay-off final and anything is possible in a single match.
"We’ll do everything we can to secure victory in the game, but the most important thing is simply that we bring our ideas and our principles onto the pitch just like we did in the semi-final against Slovakia."
In the other game, former Brighton, Chelsea and West Ham coach Graham Potter leads Sweden into their showdown against Poland at the Strawberry Arena in Stockholm.
