Atlanta stays in contention for World Cup venue

The U.S. Soccer Federation has whittled down its working list of cities and venues bidding for World Cup venues for 2018 or 2022, and Atlanta is among the 27 cities and 32 venues reaching the next phase of the process.

Among those bidders from the Southeast not making the cut: Birmingham, Fayetteville, Knoxville, New Orleans.

Still in the picture: Charlotte, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, Nashville, Tampa.

The USSF ultimately will submit around a dozen finalists when it formalizes its proposal to FIFA next May.

Here’s one soccer blogger’s rundown of the field. He puts Atlanta in the “near-lock” category.

But not everyone in Atlanta is working for a successful U.S. bid. An Atlanta-based consultancy, Helios Partners, has been hired to help craft Russia’s bid for the World Cup, also for either 2018 or 2022.

But a caveat here: Helios worked with Russia for its winning bid for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.