Qatar has been chosen to host the 2022 World Cup. The middle Eastern nation beat out the United States among others for the bid.
My early take on this decision? FIFA can't be serious can it? Qatar was favored for some time by bookmakers and it's clear they knew something. The USA bid for 2022 was the most viable and made the most sense, but FIFA voters went with the highest risk bid.
It's thoroughly devastating news for American soccer because a 2022 World Cup in the United States would have meant a tremendous boost for the game in this country. Perhaps it is even tougher to take considering Qatar seemed like the weakest of the bids.
What do you think of the news? Devastated? Going to boycott 2022? Getting your sun screen ready?
Share your thoughts below.
+1
Can’t even describe how sick I feel. Probably worse than the losses to Ghana.
Make the voting results public. Identify the individual voters and their votes in each round. Then the press can make them justify and explain their decisions.
in case you guys havent realized, you can’t stage a tournament in simply the ‘best’ places all the time. would be much more boring to see the tournament rotate between england, usa, spain, germany every 4 years. It’s not our turn, wait til 2026 when its a lock for us.
Won’t at least a part of Qatar be underwater due to global warming by 2022 anyway?
There video presentation is beautiful. Honestly and before I get trashed I’m a hardcore US Fan but I didn’t want the US to get the WC. Why? No passion we call this sport soccer. That’s where it starts. And if you believe Qatar is restricted so is the US. Trust me I’ve been to WC 06 and it was so much fun in Germany in comparison to here in WC 94 where after the game there was no party. Being Hispanic I have read news south of the Border (and no not just Mexico because there are more than 20 countries by the way) and they said the US presentation was arrogant. What a surprise. Congratulations to Qatar, there is no doubt their stadiums make the NJ Stadium and Cowboy Stadium like second rate.
I hope Qatar 2022 is a disaster. I hope they can’t deliver on their promises and FIFA comes crawling back to the USA for a last minute change, but we tell them, “nope, sorry, I’m busy that day, chief.”
The 2022 World Cup will most likely be the worst World Cup ever.
Qatar only has 841,000 people. We would have sold 5,000,000 tickets!
The only good thing is that this 2022 decision made my travel plans easy….there’s NO WAY IN HELL I’m going to fvcking Qatar. F That. I would easily go to Russia, but Qatar? Are they serious? Did they see what happened at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India this year?
That being said, I Hope the USMNT draws them for their group that year. Talk about an easy group.
Let’s say:
Qatar
USA
Peru
New Zealand
Qatar smaller than Brooklyn, so at least we can walk from stadium to stadium, or maybe they’ll just build one covered stadium with 12 fields..
Gulati and team proved once again that he lacks the vision and strategic campaign planning ability with this result coupled with lack of Klinsi signing. Terrible effort to sell the USA bid from top to bottom.
You’re assuming FIFA won’t change it’s rules. Remember how the rotation policy was scrapped midway through the 2018/2022 bid campaigns?
If FIFA wants to give it to China, you better believe they will.
Dan….. Phoenix is something like the 5th largest city in America.. hardly “small” and Tucson’s metropolitan population is a million… but yeah, I hear where your coming from.. Phoenix wouldn’t even back an MLS team because of the heat..
what he said..
According to Wikipedia:
The average daily high for Qatar in June is 101F
The average daily low for Qatar in June is 81F
The average daily high for Qatar in July is 115F
The average daily low for Qatar in July is 84F
HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?!?! Players’ health would be endangered!!!! F*** FIFA!
Maybe we can put WikiLeaks onto FIFA?
Will the scantily clad Brazilian girls still be able to parade around in Qatar? Blatter…you’re a fool!
Will the scantily clad Brazilian girls still be able to parade around in Qatar? Blatter…you’re a fool!
who the hell want’s to go there???
Gee, just figured out in 2036 I’ll only be 79. Think I can last that long (today’s my mom’s 85 birthday, so it looks good).
Actually, the best thing would for a ton a people to show up and overwhelem the event. I think Fifa, especially after South Africa, isn’t worried about unfilled stadia or fewer fans actually making the trip; however, a huge amount of fans could screw the Cup up far worse.
Yeah, I don’t really care about the US not getting chosen, there were other good choices, like Australia, but Qatar? It’s teeny.
Aso, the whole donating stadia thing is a joke. By all means, give a state of the art stadium to a developing nation that cannot afford to maintain it instead of, you know, a hospital, school, or something useful.
I would have even supported Iran before Qatar, at least its a real country, not just a city with a bunch of desert.
Forget the heat, the alcohol, the lack of things to do, the infrastructure, the antipathy toward gays and Jews, how is a country with less than 2 million people going to be able to handle the influx of fans?
FIFA no interested in overall profits, just the $$ that went to the ex board.
Think I’ll be too old by the time the US get the WC to be able to get around 🙁
Look at this photo on Fifa:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/russia2018/news/newsid=1344698/index.html
I want to punch all of these guys so bad.
Death to FIFA!!! A more scurrilous bunch of bandits has never been known!
Maybe we will get drawn into Qatar’s group.
I’d be surprised if the USA gets another World Cup in my lifetime. Seems as if the rest of the world ie FIFA Board have no interest in the games development in the US. Qatar? I mean yea they have the sexy futuristic stadiums but what do they offer Tourists when the games are not playing? FIFA is a joke and now they are ruining the WC for the future. Its sad really because the game was starting to pick up here in the States and now its come to this crap decision by FIFA. good riddance to them. I hope theres a major war in the Middle East in 2022 around time of the Tournament…and see how FIFA reacts. ha!
Russia 2018 is very good. Quatar 2022 is very bad. China should have got 2022.
I live in a New York suburb. Does that count? Lol.
You are totally right. We invented PR glitz, why didn’t we use it?
Great response.
One thing to consider: the size of Qatar is essentially irrelevant. I have seen many people here and elsewhere talk about how small Qatar is. If size were the determining factor (population or land mass, take your pick), the World Cup would go to China, India, or Russia. China makes far more sense from an economic standpoint.
Has anyone considered that England may have been hurt by the fact that they were chosen to host the Olympics?
I have no doubt that FIFA believes that holding the World Cup in Qatar will prove transformative. Will anyone go? Hard to say. I will not simply because they cannot air-condition the entire country.
Those of you who refuse to see this as political, consider that the US had two presidents speaking on its behalf. Putin’s refusal to travel to Zurich was a major story.
England was robbed, no doubt. And I think we were the better choice, but did you see our presentation versus Qatar? They killed it, and we have nobody to blame but the USSF. Ours was defensive and small minded, Qatar’s was about changing the world.
Anyone who hasn’t watched the BBC Panorama report yet really should
Yeah, because radical Muslims never attack other Muslims. #iraq
Money in terms of bribes, not profits. Duh.
This is going to be the worst World Cup of the modern era.
It is about money… but that money is going to Blatter, Warner, et al. Those scumbags will never have to pay for a hooker in Russia or Qatar for the rest of their lives
There’s never been a World Cup in the Mid East before. Is there anyone else out there who think it might be interesting? I’m disappointed, but I think it could be cool to see all of the images coming out of Qatar. I was in Berlin for the 2006 World Cup and loved seeing all the different fans coming to the city (one day Swedes, a few days later a lot of Japanese, etc.). It wasn’t out of the ordinary for a city like Berlin, but for Doha — that’s going to be an interesting scene. Right? Or is everyone hoping it’s a disaster?
Wait a sec… silver lining is we could use the failure to secure the bid as grounds for a regime change at US Soccer? Sunil out!
Disappointed the US was not selected. However, if you look into the details of Qatar’s bid, they were by no means “high risk”. Their funding sources are willing and available.
+1
Most corrupt organization on Earth. Choosing Qatar makes no sense. The only reasonable explanation is that they bought off the right guys…and a whole bunch of them too
Well, I will be the fabled “threescore and ten” for the ’22 Cup and will be in no mood to take myself or my family to a corner of the world noted for certain intolerances. A terrible disappointment and one that will do nothing to further the excitement of the game to the generations of Americans who will take my place.
I was impressed with the US bid until they showed Obama and finish with Clinton
You honestly think Qatar is going to be able to build those extravagant stadiums?? What are you 17? Grow up kid, FIFA bids are like running for class president, you say whatever will get you elected. Qatar paid the voters, and FIFA love enforcing their political views on the world. It was a match made in corrupt FIFA heaven.
Well said
I think we always knew it; now they aren’t even trying to hide it.
Comparing the USA in 94 to Dubai in 2022 is a LONG stretch.
Haha this is such bull sh!t it’s hard to not laugh. FIFAs’ corruption knows no bounds. I hope the voters are happy with the amount of money they received, and I hope they spend it on their wife and kids instead of drugs and prostitutes (which seems more likely considering these are piece of **** human beings).
After watching the Qatari presentation all I have to say is dayyumm. I would have voted for Qatar. As for the heat, none of you chumps complaining would survive in Southern Cali.
just make that doc public, don’t have to share all your docs!