Let me start by saying that I kind of guessed that both England AND USA would not get chosen to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. I just couldn't see FIFA giving consecutive World Cups to predominantly white and English speaking countries.
I didn't really know too much about England's bid, but I thought they stood a good chance based on what I was reading from the England camp. And when you consider that USA voluntarily pulled out bidding for the 2018 World Cup to focus solely on the 2022 World Cup, then I had that figured to be that they had made a deal with England to not compete with them or that they thought England would beat them for votes for the 2018 World Cup.
So, although it wasn't a big shock that England didn't with the vote for the 2018 World Cup, it was a shock that they only got one vote and were eliminated in the first round of voting. Then to make things worse, all the talk the following day was that England never had a chance and were arrogant with their entire presentation, kind of expecting to win.
This is typical of England...arrogant when they have no reason to be. Apparently, they thought they were a shoe-in based on, bringing the game of football back home. Others saw this as arrogance, especially when taking into account how poorly the national team has done over the past few years.
So, once England had lost out in their bid, I was pretty confident that USA would win the bid for the 2022. Maybe I've been in the USA too long and have fallen under the line of thinking that we are bigger and better than anyone else and deserve it based on that. If not that, I just thought that they would generate more money for FIFA than any other country could and that would be the trump card. I figured FIFA couldn't turn down the bid that would generate them the most profit.
So imagine my surprise when Qatar beat out USA and will host the 2022 World Cup. I was shocked to say the least, and on a few different levels.
I can't see a country like Qatar generating the profit that USA could, but then I started thinking. Maybe I was looking at the money trail from the wrong angle. FIFA is well known for being corrupt and it's quite possible that Qatar gave FIFA, its representatives, and those who would vote, money to buy their votes. In other words, they bought the election.
Let's put it this way, I don't buy the line from FIFA that they want to host the World Cup in different parts of the world to grow the game. Yes, I'm sure they do, but no, I don't believe that is the reason that Qatar won the right to host the 2022 World Cup.
So with all the negatives involved in having the World Cup in Qatar, like the incredible heat, small size of Qatar, problems in that part of the world, etc., I can only come up with the fact that Qatar most likely bought the election and it was a done deal prior to the voting.
Having said all that, it does make things interesting and gives us something new to look forward to. Don't know how it will go, but with two new hosts, Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, it will at least be interesting.
