Early, random thoughts on today's World Cup 2022 disappointment
by Steve Davis on Dec 2, 2010 11:59 AM EST
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- I had in my daybook: "Write for SI.com about the impact of U.S. landing 2022" ... guess I've got the day free now.
- Now everyone in the U.S. soccer establishment knows how the rest of the globe felt when the United States landed World Cup 1994.
- Look, I can take a month without beer. And I can take a month of temperatures where people will be melting like cheese. But both at the same time? Holy incapacitation! I don't know what we did to deserve this, but please allow me to apologize profusely.
- Qatar is the size of
OhioConnecticut in square miles. Population-wise, it’s the size of Philadelphia or Phoenix. - As for FIFA’s justification of awarding the 2022 event to such a tiny land, about exposing the game to a new areas … that doesn’t pass the smell test. That’s like saying it’s important to expose the game to Louisiana. Honestly, I just don’t see what FIFA at large gains. On the other hand, the cynic might say that it’s easy to see what 22 members of the executive committee might gain.
- Recently, a very high figure in the U.S. Soccer establishment told a small group of journalists that something has to be done about FIFA’s lack of global accountability. He equated it roughly to the Pope, another massive global figure who answers to no one. I’m sure he doesn’t feel one bit differently today.
- This from Daniel Robertson of Big D Soccer: Countries ahead of Qatar in population: Latvia, Gambia, Lesotho, Albania, Jamaica, Mauritania, Puerto Rico, Kyrgystan, Turkmenistan, JenniferAnistan. (I made the last one up.) States more densely populated than Qatar: Tonga, Kiribati, Seychelles, Andorra, Nepal, Cayman Islands, Guadeloupe, Luxembourg, SimonBorg. (I made that last one up, too.)
- Thinking back on the failed Olympic bid and where the blame went for that one, at least no one can pin this one on President Obama. Or can they … ?
For much more, including "Suggested ways to celebrate …" and best Twitters, read on …
Suggested ways to celebrate Thursday’s big announcement
- Dip yourself in oil. Then roll around in oil money.
- Haul ass over to Costco and buy a crapload of sunscreen. @AllenAHopkins suggests SPF 7000. They make that … right?
- Go re-watch the Moscow chase scene from Bourne Supremacy. Dude is a bad-ass.
- Imitate Daily Show's John Oliver and his thick British lilt and repeat over and over, "Oh ... The injustice!"
- Go out and get drunk! – ‘Cuz there ain’t gonna be any of that going on in Qatar
Best Twitters I’ve seen so far
@GarrettQuinn: Things illegal in Qatar: Booze, gays, pornography, weapons, gambling. Also, fun.
@kickette Brazil is going to hold one helluva party in 2014 and we'll all still be in prison by 2018, anyway.
@sportsguy33 (Bill Simmons): Qatar needs to thank its special consultant for the 2022 WC bid: Cam Newton's father.
@MedvedevRussia Ура! Победа! Мы принимаем Чнат-2018! Теперь нужно как следует готовиться к проведению ЧМ. И, конечно, достойно выступить (One of his bests! That dude always cracks me up.)
@LizzSum … RT @cris136: Wait, does this mean I'm not getting any more emails from Landon Donovan, Bill Clinton and Morgan Freeman?!
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Ohio is actually ten times larger than Qatar.
Qatar is smaller than Connecticut.
@jschnauzer
Bloggin' at http://joepasdoghouse.com
Well, to be fair
99.9% of it is inhabitable desert, so saying Las Vegas would be more apt, at least a 40 mile radius around Las Vegas.
We wuz robbed!
FIFA has to be right up there with the BCS, Blackwater/Xe, and [insert bailed-out Wall Street giant here] as the most egregious rackets going. Sepp Blatter officially joins my list of “piano people,” people for whom I would shed no tears if they were found under the wreckage of a fallen baby grand.
Phoenix is the best analogy
The World Cup was just awarded to a hotter Phoenix (same population, not even including suburbs), with half the games to be played in the daytime in June and July.
The main reason I’m shocked was that I assumed that China was making noise behind the scenes that it wanted 2026. Now that can’t happen unless FIFA conveniently changes the rules again.
Russia I can understand
it’s a big soccer playing country that hasn’t hosted a World Cup. But Qatar makes no sense at all.
"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, and disregard of all the rules."- George Orwell
by Arizona via Slough on Dec 2, 2010 1:34 PM EST reply actions
The bribes must have been enormous
FIFA is corrupt to its core.
Win or lose, we will always be here for you.
The betting lines were noted as being very curious.
I believe it was Grant Wahl that commented that the 2022 betting lines were skewed by a few people who were betting on Qatar, but assumed it was due to people trying to influence the vote.
What if those betters knew it was already in the bag?
@jschnauzer
Bloggin' at http://joepasdoghouse.com
If money was the deciding factor...
… at least they did choose the one (bidding) country that could afford to out-spend the U.S.
Random Thoughts...
1. …if Israel qualifies for the WC, will Qatar allow them to even enter the country? You see, in Qatar, anyone with an Israeli stamp on their passport is denied admission to the country.
2. Unless a lot of really good Brasilian’s become nationalized for the Qatari NT, whoever gets in the group with Qatar…well, that’s a group with just 3 teams.
3. Play out this scenario: No China big in 2026 (b/c same confederation as Qatar. 2030 is supposed to rotate back to Europe. So the earliest the US could get the WC is 2034—and we’d have to compete against China—WTF? Even if you’re anti-American or into really wild agendas like “expose the game to new areas” the idea of pushing both America and China out until 2034 or later is just….ignorant and financially dumb.
Europe is every other year.
Captain, there are doubt's...
Element's from the past and the future combining to form something not quite as good as either.
In the Qatari bid, they mentioned Israel
I didn’t see the specifics of it, but I have the impression that they said it wouldn’t be a problem, and in fact were hoping to use it as an olive branch. But since I only scanned it, I could be wrong.
I think Texas should bid.
As the old tourism slogan said it’s like a “whole ’nother country.” It’s hot as blazes in the summer, there are dry counties, and it has a lot of oil wealth. What’s not to love?
@jschnauzer
Bloggin' at http://joepasdoghouse.com
You joke,
but Texas already has the infrastructure to host a World Cup. JerryWorld, Reliant, AlamoDome, Cotton Bowl, Austin Memorial, Kyle Field, Floyd Casey, Amon Carter, Sun Bowl, the stadium in Lubbock, RIce Stadium. That’s 11 stadiums that are larger than 45,000, and that’s off the top of my head
exploding highfive
I would imagine that there are dozens of high school stadiums in Texas that are 45K+
@jschnauzer
Bloggin' at http://joepasdoghouse.com
2026 Bid Questions...
Will Europe be fighting to host 2026?
Europe is waiting 12 years to bring it back after Germany in 2006. Will they wait 12 years again? (Please do, it’s the fair and right thing. Soccer is no longer owned by Europe.)
Will Europe go after 2026 since Russia isn’t Western Europe?
How good was it that 2022 went to Qatar and blocking China for 2026 instead of Australia getting 2022?
If Europe stays out of the fight for 2026. I see the same countries who lost out on 2022 fighting for 2026. USA, Australia, South Korea, Japan. And that leaves USA in a good position.
Roll Tide and Vamos United!
No Asian nation can host 2026...
…unless, as I mentioned above, FIFA conveniently changes the rules again.
2026 strikes me preliminarily as a “US vs. Europe” clash. Since it was pretty much a given that Europe would receive 2018, there was no reason for UEFA to close ranks behind one candidate. Would they be more inclined to do so if a formidable US bid was in the mix as well?
Also, what if Australia left Asia and returned to Oceania? Would it be eligible to host 2026?
There’s four, if not eight, years to figure out all the politics of the next round…
by Hopkins Horn on Dec 2, 2010 4:08 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
On the other hand...
…Jack Warner might be licking his lips right now, think “If Qatar can pull it off, why not T&T?”
by Hopkins Horn on Dec 2, 2010 4:11 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
According to FIFA's rotation policy ...
Once a Conference hosts a Cup, it’s out for the next two. So that means no UEFA and no AFC country for 2026. A CONMEBOL country has it in 2014 (Brazil), so that leaves CONCACAF, Africa and Oceania entries at the most likely.
I like the U.S. odds in that group.
by The King of Norway on Dec 2, 2010 5:10 PM EST reply actions
Italy 90, France 98, Germany 06
Methinks your facts are mixed up.
CONMEBOL will be in play, but it will basically be US vs. Europe for 2026
2010
was the first year for which the bidding process was subject to continental rotation. The decision to award Germany the 2006 cup, which took place in 2000, was controversial, and led to new regs implementing a rotation of continents, but they were dropped after the 2014 cup was awarded to Brazil.
Since 2007 the policy King of Norway mentioned is in place, namely that any country can host, provided that its confederation hasnt hosted either of the previous two cups.
So Europe is indeed out of 2026, unless they change the policy again, something thats not impossible.
So Basically they make the rules up as they go along
And they do the next selection process for the World Cup and then throw that out.
Maybe we should get those Salt Lake City Olympic Committee guys and put them in charge of 2026, they seem to speak the right language.
Since Clinton already tried and failed, I’m pretty sure they are just looking for money and don’t care about free women/and or whatever. Let’s get oiled up!
One question I have though, is that if the guys at the top are almost certainly corrupt, who could even possibly begin to believe that the referees are all honest?
When you put it that way
It makes more sense. That pretty much leaves Mexico, Canada and maybe Nigeria, Egypt as real longshots as the only real competition. Not exactly a big challenge. Of coarse I guess Argentina could jump in there to, but that’s probably a longshot as well.
Maybe that was a factor in the US loosing? FIFA knew that the US was going to win 2026 anyway? Maybe they will want a combined US-Canada bid?
Well, they probably just change the rules again and give it to Italy via Sicily.
2022 = The year the world cup sucked
"There is nothing like a wise phrase or quote to help convince others that your decision makes sense." - Anon
"If you're ever in a fair fight, then your tactics suck." ಠ_ಠ
Dec 2th, 2010
The day international football died.
Few more years
International football nows its going to have a nasty ordeal soon. Just not yet. Brazil will be a party. Then maybe it’ll go downhill from there.
by patrickhattrick on Dec 4, 2010 7:31 PM EST up reply actions
i mean...
is there ANY doubt the committee was bribed? if we can prove it in the next 12 years, will they move it? the list of reasons why qatar shouldn’t have the cup is LONG, while the ONLY reason to give it to them is to mix it up. stupid stupid stupid. russia shouldn’t get it either. why are is the committee awarding nations with egregious human rights violations? any country where journalists are routinely murdered (russia) and where gays are outlawed (qatar) doesn’t deserve to host a global event like this.
by michaeljspinelli on Dec 2, 2010 11:24 PM EST reply actions
You're all forgetting someting:
The US has already hosted a World Cup and it was a great success. This is probably the main reason why FIFA now believes that it’s mission is to bring soccer to previously ignored areas.
Captain, there are doubt's...
Element's from the past and the future combining to form something not quite as good as either.
Right.
That’s why australia got one vote from anyone and japan and korea were ahead in the voting of australia and US in 1st round.
Becauase fifa cares about bringing soccer to new areas.
A successful WC in the Middle East would have a much greater impact
than one in Australia. No country in that region has ever staged anything like this.
Captain, there are doubt's...
Element's from the past and the future combining to form something not quite as good as either.
Right, thats why they picked cutter to support the people of the middle east. Fuck turkey, egypt, algeria, iran, morocco. Having the rich elite sheiks watch live soccer games and add to their prestige means so much to the people of the middle east.
Turkey is in Europe and 3 of the rest are African.
The CAF had the Cup this past summer.
FIFA is doing what they’ve always said they wanted to do. Bring the Cup and soccer to new areas.
Captain, there are doubt's...
Element's from the past and the future combining to form something not quite as good as either.
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1st Cup in Eastern Europe, 1st Cup in the Middle East
FIFA rejects the 2 bids (USA and England) that would have brought in the most money and everyone complains that this decision was all about money.
What am I missing here?
Captain, there are doubt's...
Element's from the past and the future combining to form something not quite as good as either.
Who gets the money?
What you are missing is where the money is going. Fifa’s revenues from each World Cup support all of the organizations work around the world to bring futbal to “new” places. England and the US would have been massively successful financially to support all of these programs.
Russia and Qatar, could the money have gone into the pockets of the Executive Committee members? Individuals benefitting themselves instead of those in need, using their power to increase their bank accounts.
"Massively successful financially"
So you’re saying that England and USA would have brought in so much MORE money than Russia and Qatar that the only reason they could have been rejected was because voters were paid to support Russia and Qatar?
I disagree.
The money these things generate comes from TV rights and other advertising rights. The Cups could be held in a landfill and they’d make money. Thus, since every option you have generates a lot of money, this no longer becomes the deciding factor. Now you can look at other things like emerging markets: NAmerica94, Asia02, SAfrica10, EEurope18, MEast22, etc.
Why would FIFA want to expand into 2 advertising and sport saturated markets like England and the US? What could they possibly gain other than a slightly larger check?
Captain, there are doubt's...
Element's from the past and the future combining to form something not quite as good as either.
Having the cup on US soil would have driven up the bidding for TV rights here
It will still be a huge fee, but not near the same level as if it were on American soil. Same thing goes for sponsorship opportunities. There will be plenty of companies who want to to be the official world cup “x” no matter what, but the bidding for that kind of thing goes through the roof if it is on US soil. That doesn’t even factor in things like attendance…which the last US world cup still holds the record for (even though there were less total matches than they have now).
FIFA’s own “technical assesment” of the bids rated the US bid higher in terms of profitability. In fact in FIFA’s own assesment Qatar was the sole “high risk” bid. Russia was “medium risk”.
I would be fine with the emerging market concept if I thought for one second that was the case and it didn’t have to do with bribes, and backroom deals to keep certain people in charge. Besides I’m not sure that Qatar, with a population smaller than my hometown, is an emerging market. If the whole region embraces it, maybe, but we’ll have to wait and see if that happens.
"Well, at least our players kept their helmets on, so that showed some intelligence"-Bob McNair
Meh, you're too cynical.
FIFA did something far more interesting and with more potential benefit then just giving it to whoever has the loudest cash register. The last time they did that was when they gave the US the Cup (ironic, huh?).
Cups in England and the US benefit no one, they gain nothing. Espn, Rick Reilly and all the other soccer-is-lame “journalists” will forever remain twatheads and we don’t need another Cup to prove them wrong or us right.
This is not the Olympics where there only only a handful of cities capable of staging this kind of event either. It could be a while before a Cup comes available again. If the attitude is that bribery is the only possible reason a voter would reject us, we will continue to be perceived as entitled outsiders who can be ignored.
Captain, there are doubt's...
Element's from the past and the future combining to form something not quite as good as either.
There's a long history of corruption in FIFA
…and there seems to be plenty of smoke this go around too, so I don’t view it as cynical. Besides you have moved the goal post from you implying that a cup hosted in Qatar would be just as profitable as one anywhere else to a discussion about my attitude towards FIFA.
I don’t hide the fact that I wanted the cup in the US again for purely selfish reasons. That doesn’t change the fact that there is at least the appearance of corruption. Blatter’s “move along, nothing to see here” attitude doesn’t help.
The one decent point you made was that FIFA doesn’t grow the game more by going into the ad saturated US and England markets…but that isn’t really a bonus point for Qatar because the population is so small. If the entire middle east embraces 2022 as their own it could lead to some growth of the game. I am skeptical of that happening, and thought the whole idea about South Africa being “Africa’s Cup” was really overblown.
"Well, at least our players kept their helmets on, so that showed some intelligence"-Bob McNair
To top it off
FIFA has now awarded a World Cup whose human rights violations are comparable to apartheid-era South Africa.
The whole process reeked to high heaven. And the result is excrement on top.
Agree
The press should ask Qatar what they will do when the first two WC 2022 fans to arrive in country (and maybe the only two?) are two shirtless homosexuals from Israel holding hands and swigging beers. Agree fully that the WC never should have gone to such a human rights disaster. And Russia isn’t exactly peaches and light… What will FIFA do if Russia is a full-on dictatorship by 2018?
Qatar over USA for the 2022 World Cup is a joke
My only reason for this is that those who voted got some money on the side. I mean there have been people who were bribed before.
Floyd Little: HOF Class of 2010.
2009-10 back-to-back NBA Champions L.A Lakers
2009-10 NBA Finals MVP Kobe Bryant
This story just keeps getting worse
FIFA is in real danger of doing immense damage to the international game.
If this is true Chuck Blazer should be kicked in the nuts by every American
"Well, at least our players kept their helmets on, so that showed some intelligence"-Bob McNair
All I can say is wow to Chuck Blazer.
Are you freaking kidding me? This guy needs to be fired and exported to Qatar. If that Enland bribe story is true then FIFA is really behind the eight ball.
Floyd Little: HOF Class of 2010.
2009-10 back-to-back NBA Champions L.A Lakers
2009-10 NBA Finals MVP Kobe Bryant
