The air of civility among World Cup bidding nations disintegrated Thursday as one senior FIFA figure appeared to accuse the United States of dirty tricks and another admitted that the best bid may not win.

With less than two months until the hosts for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups are announced, the gloves came off when South Korean FIFA vice-president Chung Mong Joon made a thinly veiled attack against the U.S. bid team.

He claimed there were “lingering suspicions” that a 2022 bid rival had planted stories that China might bid for 2026 to sway support away from other Asian countries in 2022. Just one bidder for 2022, the U.S., is not from Asia.

FIFA executive committee and Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed bin Hammam said that nations with the best spin may triumph over the best technical bids when the FIFA executive committee makes its announcement on Dec. 2.

“Whether the best candidates for 2018 and 2022 are going to win or not I’m not 100 per cent sure because this depends more on public relations,” bin Hammam said Thursday.

The Qatari admitted that his priority was getting his home country’s bid over the line in the 2022 race, and said that vote trading between FIFA executive committee members would be taking place despite an explicit ban.

“The bidders are [saying], ‘OK, if you vote for me I will vote for you,’” he said.