Saturday, December 04, 2010

Fracas Over World Cup Hosting

This happens every time ... only now its worse than before. No matter who you select and whatever the process, no matter how transparent, the losers will always bitch and the winners always gloat.

Do I agree with Russia and Qatar being the hosts? No, absolutely not, but I am not part of the 22 who decided the final outcome. One thing for sure, we know who "controls" the English global media/medium - the American media only bitch a little and just went on their way, but the English media played up the conspiracy theories, mainly to sell papers. Pathetic, gutter press.

If you want to be cynical, was the whole thing predetermined, well I think so as everyone gets to lobby, I think the voters had made up their minds before hand. Was there bribery with some of the voters, maybe, but you couldn't possibly bribe every one of them.

2018 FIFA World Cup voting

  • Round 1: England 2 votes, Netherlands/Belgium 4 votes, Spain/Portugal 7 votes and Russia 9 votes (as no absolute majority was reached, the candidate with least amount of votes, England, was eliminated)
  • Round 2: Netherlands/Belgium 2 votes, Spain/Portugal 7 votes and Russia 13 votes (Russia obtained an absolute majority)
Look at the first round votes, England was doomed, its not nice to be the ugliest girl in the room. I mean c'mon, the first determinant has to be preference for those who have not hosted the World Cup - seriously, Spain/Portugal and Russia deserve to be final two. I would have preferred the former as the Spanish league has captivated global football fans, and needless to say, they also won the last World Cup.

Russia because for such a big country, they have not hosted it yet. Football is not just a game anymore, the World Cup has grander objective, it has to be inclusive. If we did not try the hardest to hold the World Cup in the US years back, I doubt the game would have developed so fast there. Its a global game, and if I was a voter I would want inclusiveness, not a clubby thing among the few strong performers.

I have more reasons for not including Russia owing to its absolute pathetic treatment of foreign companies operating there. The World Cup would never have been held in South Africa if apartheid was still rampant and legal. The World Cup has to reward open-ness and inclusiveness, respectful of the dignity and humanity of mankind. I think Russia still has ways to go.

2022 FIFA World Cup voting

  • Round 1: Australia 1 vote, Japan 3 votes, Korea Republic 4 votes, Qatar 11 votes, USA 3 votes (Australia eliminated)
  • Round 2: Japan 2 votes, Korea Republic 5 votes, Qatar 10 votes and USA 5 votes (Japan eliminated)
  • Round 3: Korea Republic 5 votes, Qatar 11 votes, USA 6 votes (Korea Republic eliminated)
  • Round 4: Qatar 14 votes and USA 8 votes (Qatar obtained an absolute majority)

This one should have gone to Australia. I am surprised they got kicked out so early. We already had it in Korea, Japan and USA in recent times. It should have been between Qatar and Australia.

Well, what do you know..., you do not need stadiums, infrastructure, fans and adequate things to do for tourists ... you just need to have a lot of cash. This decision is pathetic and misguided. Did anyone consider the weather???


5 comments:

Ooi Beng Hooi said...

Weather is not a problem if they have it during winter. During this season, the temperature there, including day time, is lower than Malaysia's

OwYang said...

don't worry, they will build the biggest air-cond in the world and the biggest power plant to power the air-cond.

for the first time in history, mankind controls the temperature.

Piqued said...

Australia promoted themselves as the first Oceania country to bid as host for the tournament. This after quitting the Oceania qualification group in favour of Asia as they figured their chances were better with Asia having 3 spots against the Oceania champions having to face a play-off with the South Americans.

On the hypocrisy score alone they rightfully deserved the early boot.

emacro said...

Will be interesting, Qatar will aircondition the whole stadium, including the pitches.

Maybe every match will be played artificial in 'rain'??

PEGGY Method said...

Australia during summer will be in winter. Nice weather, no snow.