体坛英语新闻：Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay step up their joint bid for World Cup 2030

MONTEVIDEO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay will push their joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup during this year's edition of football's biggest tournament in Russia, officials said on Monday.

Government representatives from the three South American nations met in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo to discuss the next steps in promoting their candidacy.

"The World Cup is coming and I think the time is right to use all of our combined force to present [our bid] in front of a world audience," Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez said in a statement.

"[This year's World Cup] will be a great chance to position and consolidate our bid because the world will be focused on football and we can have a privileged space of attention."

This year's World Cup will be played in 11 Russian cities from June 14 to July 15.

Monday's meeting also included Argentine Football Association president Claudio Tapia, Argentina's sports secretary Fernando Marin and Paraguay's tourism minister Marcela Bacigalupo, among other officials.

The 2030 tournament will take place 100 years after Uruguay won the inaugural World Cup as hosts.

Argentina and Uruguay, both two-time World Cup winners, announced their plans for a joint candidacy early last year before adding Paraguay to the bid in September.

The tournament has been staged once before in both Argentina and Uruguay while Paraguay is aiming to host it for the first time.

According to officials, Uruguay and Paraguay would be allocated one or two stadiums each while Argentina could provide up to six venues.

Vazquez said: "If today it looks difficult to organize a World Cup, that's why there are three countries who are uniting to carry it forward.

"Think how difficult it would have been in 1930 to embark on the adventure of organizing the first World Cup and if it had been a bad experience, I don't know if we would be talking today about hosting it again."

He added that the commission would choose a logo for the candidacy within 15 days.