Blatter boost for England's 2018 bid

England’s hopes of staging the 2018 World Cup have been boosted at the very start of a four-day inspection of their bid, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter admitting it would be “easy” to stage the tournament in the country.

Blatter did also, however, warn that Russia will be very powerful opponents in the bidding contest, nevertheless England 2018’s bid team will be buoyed by the comments at the start of the visit by a six-man FIFA inspection team.