Officials with the world's most popular governing body of international soccer were in Ottawa Wednesday scoping out the city to see if it would be a suitable place to host the Women's World Cup.
The tour included many prominent features, but no visit to where the matches would actually be held. The Frank Clair Stadium at Lansdowne Park is in no shape to be shown. The practice field at the University of Ottawa is.
"For them to see a practice field instead of a real field – it's a little bit embarrassing to be honest," says athlete and soccer fan Liz Palmieri.
Palmieri says it would be a great opportunity for Ottawa to host the tournament but is worried what's being shown so far is a bad sell.
Officials were shown designs of a future stadium.
"What we thought made more sense was to show them the actual renditions, the architectural drawings of what the stadium is going to look like," says Ottawa mayor Jim Watson.
Watson hopes it will be enough to bring Women's World Cup in 2015 and an under 20 tournament the year before. He says the city will be ready.
Local officials are hoping to boost the bid by focusing on the city's other strengths.
"We still have a lot to show them beyond stadiums," says Jantine Van Kregten with Ottawa Tourism. "It's the welcoming nature of the city; it's the infrastructure behind hotel rooms and practice facilities."
Still the bid will go ahead in spite of the legal struggle surrounding Lansdowne and its stadium.
Watson says he is not worried.
"Even factoring in the court appeal process, we can have the stadium ready by December 2013."
With a report from CTV Ottawa's John Hua
