Brown, FIFA chief meeting boosts England's World Cup hopes

Port of Spain, Nov.29 (ANI): England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup seems back on track after one of football's top bosses declared "this is England's time" following a meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, it maybe recalled, had said a month ago that the perception among his colleagues was that England "had not wowed them".

Now, he says that if FIFA's executive committee voted now, England would finish runner-up in the race for 2018.

Sky News quoted Warner, as saying: "It was an exceptionally good meeting - it was the best case I have heard for a long time about the World Cup being in England.

"I was very impressed by his (Brown's) humility, his sincerity his knowledge of the game, and most importantly he didn't feel England had any divine right. He felt that England's time had come - a point to which I subscribed," Warner added.

"He said, and I agreed with him, that England has the best infrastructure to stage the tournament and that after a 52-year gap, this is England's time." (ANI)