Members of the 2026 World Cup joint-bid team of Canada, Mexico and the United States have been working on some last-ditch campaigning ahead of the June 13 vote at the FIFA Congress in Moscow to decide who will stage the global showpiece event in eight years' time.
The North American bid came out strongly over rivals Morocco in a FIFA evaluation of their respective offerings, but with geopolitical issues likely to sway some nations, they have been in the small South African city of Polokwane, trying to sway members of the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA).
Africa makes up a sizeable proportion of the voting delegates in Moscow with 56 out of the 211 FIFA member associations. COSAFA has 14 of those, including the influential South Africa and Zimbabwe, who also have the ear of many other nations across the continent.
Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Ahmad Ahmad has stated on a number of occasions that members should support the Moroccans as an "African bid", but this will not necessarily be the case for all and many are still open to persuasion.
North American bid members presented at the weekend to COSAFA associations that have gathered for the regional COSAFA Cup in Polokwane, and they feel they have been well received.
"Our presentation focused on our bid, which is united among the three associations, and the certainty that we bring with our infrastructure, stadiums, faculties and transportation, and the opportunity that it provides for all the member associations throughout the FIFA family," Steve Reed, president of the Canadian Soccer Association and co-chair of the united bid, told KweséESPN.
"We have tried to focus on what does this mean for everyone, all 211 federations. We want to host the best competition possible, but also give back to everyone, all the other federations throughout the world.
"That is the primary focus, making it the best [World Cup] for the players and the fans, and having the legacy for everyone that is involved in the football family globally."
Reed says they were pleased with the feedback they got from the Southern African associations.
"It was good; our presentation was very compelling. We are very proud of what we have done and how we presented it," he said.
"We are proud of what we offer to the world of football. There were very good questions from the Southern African delegates [and] we are pleased with the outcome."
It is the second time that the bid has presented to the COSAFA region as a bloc, and comes just two weeks after the Moroccan rivals did likewise.
Reed says there is nothing unusual about them returning for a second time though.
"We have visited many federations throughout the world on multiple occasions. The initial visit [to Southern Africa] was very early on in our campaign, and we wanted to make sure that we came back to visit as many federations as possible.
"We have done the same thing in Europe and Central and South America. We want to tell our story and ask them [associations] what are the questions they have to continue to have that dialogue.
"It is important to not just go to the congress having had that one-time [engagement], but have many opportunities to speak to the federations and know what their issues are."
Decio de María, president of the Mexican Football Federation, says they have been buoyed by the FIFA evaluation report that found the North American bid to be the stronger, but says that is certainly no cause for complacency.
"The evaluation was published and we got good results, but we need to keep going," he said. "Our goal is to talk with every federation and show them what we want to do. And by that I mean what we want to do together, because it is not only the United States [bidding].
"Our target is to make friends, create relationships and make sure people know us. And obviously our major target on June 13 is to win.
"For that it is important to know people ... to look in each other in the eyes."
De Maria believes they have cause for optimism that the vote at the FIFA Congress in Moscow will go in their favour.
"As a team we have worked very hard; we have put together a nice bid and hopefully on June 13 we can tell the world and tell our families in Canada, the US and Mexico that the work was done well and we have a responsibility from all the FIFA family to organise the World Cup in 2026."