Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he would back a bid to host the 2018 World Cup. The possibility of bidding for the right to host the tournament was discussed at an annual meeting between the national government and the heads of eight state and territory governments. “All governments agree enthusiastically that if the national body, the Football Federation of Australia, put in a bid for the 2018 World Cup, then all governments would support that bid very enthusiastically,” Prime Minister John Howard told reporters in Canberra. After barely qualifying on penalties against Uruguay, Australia had a strong Word Cup, defeating Japan, tying Croatia, and losing to Brazil and then Italy on a last-second penalty kick. In Australia, soccer continues to lag behind rugby, cricket and Australian rules football as the nation’s top sport, but the success of the team “transfixed” the country, despite the fact that games were played at night or early in the morning, local time. In recent months, FFA Chief Executive John O’Neill has said several times that a bid for the 2018 World Cup is seen as “putting a stake in the ground for 2022,” which is another way of saying, ‘if we don’t get it now, we’ll put out all the stops for four years later,’ kind of like what happened with South Africa, which will host the tournament in 2010 after losing to Germany in 2006.