would "battle to bring...the tournament to his region." However, on 14 February 2008, Warner retracted this stance. England's Football Association agreed to visit Trinidad and Tobago to play a friendly against the Trinidad and Tobago national football team on the condition that Warner apologize. Warner argued that, "The time has come. The fact is they invented this sport [...] They last held the World Cup 42 years ago. That is almost two to three generations. There are guys in England who have never seen a World Cup on English soil." Warner maintained that the choice of England would not be popular among mainland Europe though. During the bidding process to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup's Warner continually supported the English bid, promising to vote in England's favour at the draw in December 2010. Warner approached the England bid team through David Beckham, offering to hold off on bringing out the vote for Russia in exchange for promises in relation to CONCACAF. Russia won the vote to hold the FIFA World Cup in 2018, with Warner widely reported to have voted for the Russian bid. Dwight Yorke In September 2008, after Sunderland player Dwight Yorke had withdrawn from the Trinidad and Tobago national football team, Warner attacked the club and the manager, Roy Keane. In a letter leaked to the press, Warner accused Keane of disrespecting "small countries" and having a "mean streak". Keane responded by denying the allegation, accusing Warner of being a "clown" and a "disgrace", and insisted that Yorke was retired from international football. Mayagüez 2010 Warner unilaterally withdrew CONCACAF's support of the football events at the Mayagüez 2010 games at the last moment stating that the tournament facilities allegedly do not meet the "minimum standards required to conduct an international tournament." He threatened to sanction countries that participated. Some of the possible sanctions were the teams accreditation by CONCACAF and ending economic helps. Corruption allegations Warner has been accused of corruption for repeatedly taking advantage of his position for financial gain. Black market ticket sales Via a private family company, Warner owned shares in Simpaul, a travel and holiday company. In a series of exposés during December 2005, the Trinidad and Tobago Express revealed that Simpaul was offering $30,000 packages to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, which effectively marked up match tickets at a high rate. FIFA's ethics committee criticised the ticket