Soccer stars David Beckham and Wayne Rooney were on hand at Wembley Stadium in London, England yesterday in order to promote the UK’s bid to be the host city for the 2018 World Cup Championship Match … tho, the UK’s bid also makes clear that they’d be just as happy to host the 2022 World Cup if their 2018 bid falls thru. Here are a few pics of Becks and Rooney at the stadium yesterday posing with scarves, face-painted children and a big ass soccer ball in order to entice the World Cup organizers to choose their city:

World Cup bid leaders will be stressing the quality of the stadiums, the fans in England and the economic benefits. They will also be at pains to avoid any suggestion that it is England’s turn to be hosts. Football Association chairman Lord Triesman, who is the bid chairman, stressed England’s infrastructure and the economic benefits of hosting the World Cup in 2018, or, if that bid is unsuccessful, in 2022. Triesman said: “We in England would be truly honoured to host the World Cup and welcome the world. We have first-class grounds. We’ve got good transport links, domestically and internationally. We’ve got excellent accommodation. A World Cup in England would be a truly memorable event – not only for our nation but for every nation. We’d extend a wonderful welcome to players and fans from across the world. Inside and outside our grounds, we’d share with them our love of the game and our sense of fair play. And they would enjoy our diverse culture – one that means England would provide a home-from-home welcome for every fan and player.” David Beckham, England’s most capped outfield player, said players across Europe admired the atmosphere apparent at stadiums in England. “There is no bigger support than our fans,” said the former captain. “The passion that’s shown in our country every time someone either puts an England shirt on or any time they play for their club, there are full stadiums everywhere. Every time that I played with some of the biggest players in the world – players like (Zinedine) Zidane and Ronaldo – one of the first questions that they all asked me is what is it like playing in England and how much they like the passion that the fans show. The passion does not just stop at Premiership level, it goes from Sunday League level and it goes all the way through every league that we’ve got up to the Premiership.” Lord Triesman also believes the passion for football in England is key to the bid. He added: “We believe that England can stage a fantastic festival of football, one that will engage the whole country and deliver positive change for football in England and across the world. “Now we must persuade our international friends and colleagues of our case. It’s easy to say, far less easy to do. Our starting point is England’s passion for football. It is our national sport, we have a strong football heritage which runs through every town and city. Every week hundreds of thousand of fans watch games and millions of people across the world and millions in this country – men women and children – play from pub sides to school teams to the FA Premier League and all of them -hundreds of million of worldwide know the FIFA World Cup is the global pinnacle of the game.

For some strange reason, some reports indicated that Prince William was also on hand for yesterday’s event but I couldn’t find any photos of the young prince at all … I guess those reports were wrong — or mebbe he was just hiding behind that soccer ball? In any event, I don’t expect that David Beckham will still be able to play soccer at the professional level when 2018 rolls around (despite what he may think) but it’s still very cool of him to use his starpower to help the cause. The World Cup Championship is the biggest soccer event in the world (and soccer, in turn, is arguably the biggest sport in the world) so it’s a big deal to host the World Cup. Good luck, England! Not that I have any stake in which city gets the Cup at all but on behalf of your Becksness, I hope you win your bid (or at least your runner-up bid).

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