Thursday, December 2, 2010

Qatar... Huh?



First posting for this team, and maybe I think I'll show some more love to them as time goes on, because obviously the FIFA voting committee didn't give any love to the USA or US Men's National Team.

A few hours again it was announced that the small, small, very hot, very hot country of Qatar will host the 2022 World Cup (Russia beat out England to host the 2018 WC).  And I believe the reaction around the entire country is... WHAT?!?! HUH?!?!?! REALLY?!?!?! BULLSH*T?!?!?!?

Look, I totally understand if Australia would have upset the US and won the rights to host the 2022 World Cup.  They've held International events previously, have an up and coming league, and the people there are generally nice.  Plus, I would have loved a reason to go to Australia in 12 years.

But Qatar?  Come on man...

The country is smaller than Connecticut, games will be played in the summer so all matches will be over 100 degrees, 10 of the 12 stadiums will be within 20 miles of each other, it's in the Middle East, it's a waste of money, there are so many potential political issues that can come up over the next 4,230 days.

FIFA had to deal with the stress of South Africa almost not being ready this past World Cup and now that country is dealing with the fact that all the new stadiums built for the tournament are going unused; waste of money.  For the next three years, FIFA will be stressing that Brazil (our hosts in 2014) is going to struggle to get ready on time.

You would think that the governing body of soccer would want some stability and the least amount of stress possible leading up to their largest event.  Hosting the World Cup in the USA would allow that.  Think about it.  We already have oodles of stadiums built, we have the strongest economic footing of all the other bidders, we have fans of every county that would participate so you know that all the stadiums would be full, for every match.  We have the best and biggest hotels and airports in the world, so travel would be a breeze (maybe not in NYC, but it's better than the Middle East!).

So now we wait... and deal with the head to head battle with England for the 2026 World Cup.

Qatar, really?!?!

No comments: