In the last class my group presentation was on Qatar and how they were chosen to host the 2022 W.C. My group showed a power point comparing the USA and Qatar and yes I know were all Americans, but it seems as if were all on the same page, and that is that the United States should have been awarded the bid.
http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/worldcup/story/usa-world-cup-2022-bid2-the-world-cup-seeks-a-new-home
There is a website in which fox sports writes about each countries chances of winning the '22 bid. They came up with 80% odds that the Americans would not have to travel too far, as the W.C. would be in the states. However, Qatar did not have the lowest odds of the countries competing. Japan and South Korea actually had single digit chances of hosting the greatest world wide sporting event in history. Notice, this article was written before the announcement of the bid.
Apparently FIFA believes that Qatar will be able to provide air-conditioning in every stadium and the average temperature of 95 degrees will not be a problem. But how can you pass up on the large stadiums here in America?
Maybe, as mentioned in class Qatar will be able to land soccer in the country. After the '94 W.C. in the states, the MLS was created two years later. Hopefully, with this World Cup taking place in 12 years Qatar is able to strike up a team that can be competitive because the host country is given an automatic bid.
It will be very interesting to see if Qatar can get a competitive team going in the 12 years between now and their World Cup. I will say this, I'm disappointed that the World Cup isn't coming to the US, because I feel like this would have been a great opportunity to help grow the game in the US, but at the same time, FIFA was looking to expand to markets that had yet to experience the World Cup, like Russia and Qatar. With the current instability in the region, it will be very interesting to see how many foreigners from areas like England and the US will show up at the 2022 World Cup, knowing the feelings of the region towards those regions. Hopefully Qatar will be successful in their running of the World Cup.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I wanted the U.S. to get the bid, I think it's very smart on FIFA's part to give the game a chance to grow in another country where it has yet to really take off. The only concern I have is whether or not Qatar has the economic development to have the country ready for the 2022 World Cup. Then again, they DO have 12 years to get ready.
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