Has the English media undermined the 2018 bid?

England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup has become mired in yet more controversy after the team made an official complaint to Fifa and demanded an apology from Alexei Sorokin, the head of the rival Russian bid, over comments he made about England's social problems.

But behind the latest furore lies the hand, yet again, of the English press and if England does fail in its bid to host the 2018 tournament the team may be left wondering how much of its work was undermined by the media.

The row with Russia stems from comments made by Sorokin in an interview with the Moscow-based newspaper Sport Express. He said: "It's no secret, for example, that in London they have the highest crime rate compared with other European cities, and the highest level of alcohol consumption among young people."

Those comments that would appear to break Fifa's rules, which state that rival bids cannot criticise each other.

However, Sorokin's defence is that he was making a point about how the media in England has carried out a concerted campaign of criticism of Russia and its football fans, designed to portray the country in a bad light.

His claim that the racism displayed by Lokomotiv Moscow fans towards their former player Peter Odemwingie is being milked by the English press is a deeply unpleasant one (and it could end up hurting Russia's bid more than any press coverage), but he said Russia did not make capital out of Manchester United fans being anti-American by burning a US flag.

"We could start a conversation about the lack of tolerance and inciting ethnic hatred by English fans, but do not behave like the aunt in the kitchen criticising our neighbours," said Sorokin, before talking about London's crime rate and drinking problems.

Sorokin's criticism of the English media could chime with Fifa members who were none too pleased by a Sunday Times expose earlier this month, which claimed that executive committee members were prepared to sell their votes.

Although the investigation did not involve the 2018 bid team it can hardly have helped the English cause in the eyes of those who regarded the story as sensationalist. Members from the countries implicated may feel less well-disposed towards England now.

One of the officials caught up in the sting was head of the Oceania Football Confederation, Reynald Temarii from Tahiti, who allegedly asked for funding for a football academy in New Zealand in return for his support.

Many in Oceania believe that he was perfectly entitled to try and use his influence to help the development of football in the region. His apologists point out that he did not ask for anything for himself. They say Temarii was trying to ensure that the 2018 tournament had a beneficial legacy from Oceania's perspective.

Radio New Zealand host Bruce Hill was moved to recall Humbert Wolfe's comment: "You cannot hope to bribe or twist, Thank God! the British journalist / But, seeing what the man will do unbribed, there's no occasion to."

But perhaps the most damaging episode was the Mail on Sunday's expose of Lord Triesman, who was forced to step down as head of the bid leader in May when he was caught on tape apparently claiming that Spain and Russia were planning to bribe referees.

Triesman accused the paper of entrapment after it published transcripts of a conversation he had with his former aide Melissa Jacobs.

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, a former England player who is an ambassador for the 2018 bid, quit his column in the paper and said: "The actions of the Mail on Sunday in publishing [the story] have undermined the bid to bring the World Cup to England in 2018."

One thing is for certain, the press will only be more desperate for World Cup stories if England do win the right to host the tournament in eight years time. ·