Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
Call me selfish, but it’s not all that rare for an American to root for America. Also, as an aspiring sports journalist, the 2022 World Cup was the bull’s-eye for my long-term hopes and dreams.
The United States looked like the favorites to host the World Cup for the first time since 1994 — back when I still dreamed of becoming a soccer player, not writing about them.
However, the ruling Thursday announced the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 world competition, with first time hosts Russia and tiny Middle East nation Qatar being awarded host countries, the Federal International Football Association abides by their beliefs that broadening horizons is more important than their bank account.
Yeah, right.
A prominent reason why these two countries won the corrupt and colluded voting process is precisely because of the cash they have. Russia has made it clear that it will build immaculately designed stadiums to host the event, while oil-rich Qatar has acknowledged doing the same.
However, by not choosing either England for 2018 or the United States for 2022, FIFA is walking a fine line of trusting these broadened horizons. Counting the recently completed World Cup in South Africa — the first on the continent — followed by the 2014 event in economically booming, yet new-to-the-world-stage Brazil, followed by the first World Cup in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, respectively, FIFA is running the risk of failing on the biggest stage of them all.
Call me a pessimist, but I don’t see FIFA going four-for-four in successfully obtaining world peace through soccer.
South Africa proved a success, as will Rio de Janeiro, with the 2016 Summer Olympics following the World Cup in the South American country.
I’m also optimistic about the Russia World Cup, as they too have an Olympics invasion, the 2014 Winter Olympics. Surely, the winter games would be a good barometer as to whether the largest geographical nation can host the most popular world event.
The decision that really scares me is the one on Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup, and not for reasons that would stereotypically come from an American having fears of a Middle Eastern-hosted gathering.
On geographical terms alone, Qatar is nowhere near cut out to host an event the magnitude of the World Cup. This tiny desert nation is roughly the size of Connecticut, our third smallest state. The population of Qatar is about the same as San Francisco.
I always thought the traffic was bad when Orono was injected with 12,000 college kids. I can’t imagine Qatar with the influx of millions at once.
Another horrible characteristic of Qatar is the temperatures this hostile environment reaches during the summertime. Average temperature during the time that games would be played is 96 degrees, and can reach up to 120 degrees.
This next problem is a bit more social, yet certainly needs to be addressed. Booze is outlawed in Qatar. Public intoxication could result in deportation or incarceration — as could the wearing of short skirts.
Apparently Qatar officials have accepted that pints will be had in the FIFA Fan Zones, yet I’m still not satisfied with that. Just knowing that I’m one drunken stumble away from falling over the proverbial Fan Zone line and into a Qatar prison makes me want to give up the vice altogether.
A new look at the voting process needs to be talked about by the suits at FIFA, as the latest decisions, along with the corruption and trading of votes that was uprooted by The Times of London, indicates that whatever system is used is either broken or extremely flawed.
In a chance to spread the game and broaden the horizon, FIFA chose to gamble with their hosts instead of coming back to America where more Americans are interested in the beautiful game than ever before.
Another decade of having the ability to click through European games would have provided us with the knowledge to thoroughly enjoy the World Cup in 2022.
Bangor Daily News