I live in Mexico. Mexicans are not naive about their country; they know it has problems. Serious problems in terms of violence, as evidenced in the recent violence following the killing of authorities of a major drug lord. Some of this violence happened in Guadalajara, a city that will host the World Cup, so suddenly news (and actually a lot of fake news were published on media, specially social media, and with the uncritical approach that most people have to social media, these were taken as truths...) started complaining about the World Cup being in Mexico, and requiring a cancellation. Even Portugal, who will be playing a friendly match in Mexico City in March, expressed concern about the match.
This baffles me for so many reasons.
Mexico is huge; it is larger than France, Germany, Spain, and Italy combined, and as such a large country, regions are very different, also in terms of where you should go. Surely it is a problem that gang violence can erupt like it did in a city hosting the World Cup (that said, take my word for it, Guadalajara is a great city), but it is also a result of the government's firm response to criminal groups, a response that in my personal opinion also illustrates how seriously Mexico will take the World Cup.
And Mexico is amazing, full of kind and welcoming people, and frankly they have more experience in hosting world events than many: this will be their third World Cup, but they have also hosted Olympics, numerous international events, that includes yearly Formula 1, NBA and NFL games. It hosts world class museums, universities, and some of the most visited and famous tourist sites in the world.
So people should have no worries about Mexico.
It almost baffles me as much to hear people say that the US should be withdrawn as host because of the policies of the current government, given that this tournament has before been hosted by rather unsavoury regimes that I am not going to bother mentioning, but who hosted memorable tournaments. The US has the infrastructure and the experience in hosting events, including the 1994 World Cup. Perhaps, some years ago, I would have criticized it for not being a real footballing country, but I do not think that this is valid today; of course other sports are bigger, but football (I refuse to call it soccer) is a big and growing sport, with an interesting and solid MLS with decent quality.
I do not know or can I comment on the government policies, but notwithstanding the mess in the Copa America final, I think the US will be great hosts, also because no matter what, in my experience, the vast majority of US Americans are also kind and welcoming people.
There are huge problems with FIFA and how the World Cup is awarded, the exaggerated and overblown prices and the completely shameless pursuit of money rather than the popular beauty of football.
But Mexico and the US (and Canada) co-hosting is not one of these problems.
