Well at least one person out there thinks this can happen based on the FIFA presidential fight. One may think that the US would be a pretty viable alternative to Qatar, yes?
No, says this article stating ... and you'll love this:
As the second-placed bid behind Qatar, the United States was the logical option, but talks with the USSF “were not able to progress beyond a preliminary level.” It is understood that political considerations were key: given the current tension between the US and the Arab world, the country could ill afford to be seen to be taking a World Cup from a Middle Eastern nation.If true, I don't know which part make me angrier, the fact that we didn't even consider trying to grab success from the jaws of epic defeat, or the folks in Chicago are making geopolitical decisions passing judgment on the big bad US (my sarcastic words) "taking" something else from "a Middle Eastern nation." Come on folks, at times US Soccer seems to have difficulty managing itself, ceding much of its perceived authority to the individual state associations, and (again if the story is true) is tying to play state department and casting judgment about what is going on over in the Middle East and translating it into not trying for the World Cup ... please. Why did we even try in the first place then knowing we were bidding against Qatar?
Australia seems to have no such hangups and with their support of Blatter, may indeed see that tournament in 2022.
We will see how much the story is fact or fiction in the days ahead, but it sounds like at FIFA it is politics as usual, and US Soccer is all to happy to sit on the sidelines.
I guess there is always 2026 ... what's 15 years, right?
For those who are not paying attention at US Soccer ... it is a lifetime.
See the full story, Australia to get 2022 World Cup, FIFA descends into chaos courtesy of The Roar.
April fools =)
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