World Cup wonder

Just as a billion people prepare to lose their minds while they watch athletes chase a ball around a field, Canada gets a piece of the action.

Of course, we refer to soccer’s World Cup, which opens today in Russia, and which was awarded on Wednesday to Canada, Mexico and the U.S. for 2026.

So while we gather around our televisions to celebrate the 2018 version, we can fantasize about watching the real thing in person eight years from now.

Current plans award 10 games each to Mexico and Canada and 60 to U.S. sites. To get a chance to host a game, cities had to be in on the bid from the start.

Of 23 North American cities still in the running, 16 will be chosen later by FIFA, the body responsible for organizing the event. Halifax, stadiumless still, is not among those Canadian candidates. Proposed Canadian venues are Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton.

The field will be expanded to 48 teams from the current 32, which gives Canada, which doesn’t have a team in this year’s event, a better shot at qualifying. Canada’s women are ranked in the top 10 in the world, and Canada hosted the Women’s World Cup in 2015.

The news should give a boost to the new Canadian Premier League, which begins play next spring and which contains a Halifax franchise, the Wanderers, who will play at a temporary 6,000-seat stadium at the city’s Wanderers Grounds.

North America’s win should put an end to a decade of scandal. FIFA has been shaken by bribery and corruption allegations so widespread and so troubling that many now question how Russia, and Qatar, the event’s 2022 host, won the right to host. Dozens of officials face racketeering and fraud charges in U.S. courts and the organization has been forced to change its membership and its method of awarding the tournament.

In some countries, match-fixing is endemic and the results on the field are often tailored to suit some gangster’s bet. Such corruption taints any sport, but somehow, rabid fans of the so-called beautiful game need their soccer fix. All is forgotten when Ronaldo connects with a beautiful cross and puts it into the top corner.

Canadians often compare our obsession with hockey with the rest of the world’s obsession with soccer (OK, football). But let’s face it, there’s no comparison.

Hockey is absurdly expensive. It’s limited to coldweather countries, mostly played by affluent kids whose parents can afford all the gear and ice time.

But any poor kid, anywhere in the world, can dream of playing in the World Cup. As long as you can run, as long as you can fashion a roundish object from scraps, you can kick it around a patch of ground with your friends, pretending you’re Messi scoring in overtime.

They’ll be watching every screen in the world over the next few weeks, screaming themselves raw as their heroes struggle on the pitch.

Every questionable call, every yellow card, every embellished injury to a player who magically appears at top speed seconds later will feed a frenzy unmatched in the sports world, even by the Olympics, the Super Bowl and dare we say it, the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Join the fun.