Argentina great Zanetti excited by 2030 bid

Former Argentina captain Javier Zanetti said it would be a “great satisfaction” for his country to host the 2030 World Cup as part of a joint bid alongside Uruguay and Paraguay. Zanetti, 44, appeared at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups and played 143 times for Argentina, a record he shares with Javier Mascherano. Zanetti, speaking at Conmebol’s Casa del Futbol in Moscow, said the bid “would be a great satisfaction for us as a country after we organised it in 1978, for us to organise such a competition like this again that makes the country grow”. The joint bid is the only confirmed candidate so far for the centenary tournament, although the bidding process is not due to open for several years yet.