I feel bad for England, the FA is more responsible for the popularity of the game than any other entity outside of FIFA itself.
Qatar over the US, that is pure comedy. A state with 1.6 million people beats out the world’s most powerful nation. Blame Obama (or Morgan Freeman). :roflmao:
Both should be interesting, Russia for the follies that will undoubtedly ensue (charges of corruption and future lack of preparedness), and Qatar for how they will deal with the heat and the white elephants that will be left behind in the desert.
Sepp Blatter did nothing to change the image of him being a fat corrupt piece of shit.
Sepp Blatter is a joke, and has his own business interests and FIFA’S at heart … he wants to rejuvenate country’s economies by lining the pockets of the rich and exploiting labor to build new stadiums that won’t serve any purpose after the world cup has finished.
I’m English, and I honestly believe that not getting the World Cup was actually a good thing. The English are struggling with the Olympics in 2012 which will cost 10 billion+ pounds, if they can and host a World Cup it will leave the country completely skint. Anyway I don’t really take much of interest in football, so this doesn’t really bother me!
Since the UK will already have the infrastructure for the Olympics, the World Cup will have cost far less and probably help recoup some of the costs of the Olympics. I would have preferred anybody other than Russia.
Qatar is odd, but Arabs do like football, I’m surprised that it wasn’t a joint bid better Qatar, the UAE and Saudi
Doha is a fairly modern city (from what I’m told by an expat friend who lives there) and Oatar is a reasonably liberal Muslim nation, but I don’t understand how or why in God’s name they expect to be playing football in 46 degree Celsius heat. That’s pure madness. Did I miss something in the announcement? Perhaps the games will be held “virtually” in Qatar? Maybe they intend to build a dozen indoor stadiums? I dunno. If anyone can pull that off, it’s the Arabs (oh, and the Chinese).
Russia, on the other hand, well, um, I’ve never been there so who am I to criticize? I just can’t imagine them getting it right.
Another World Cup in the U.S.? Would sure like to see it, but I suspect I’m in the minority on that.
[quote=“super_lucky”]Doha is a fairly modern city (from what I’m told by an expat friend who lives there) and Oatar is a reasonably liberal Muslim nation, but I don’t understand how or why in God’s name they expect to be playing football in 46 degree Celsius heat. That’s pure madness. Did I miss something in the announcement? Perhaps the games will be held “virtually” in Qatar? Maybe they intend to build a dozen indoor stadiums? I dunno. If anyone can pull that off, it’s the Arabs (oh, and the Chinese).
Russia, on the other hand, well, um, I’ve never been there so who am I to criticize? I just can’t imagine them getting it right.
Another World Cup in the U.S.? Would sure like to see it, but I suspect I’m in the minority on that.[/quote]
Yes, you might have actually missed that in the announcement. Qatar will build stadiums where they can keep the temperatures at about 27 degrees Celsius. Seems really stupid to me to stage the games in a country with up to 50 degrees and then build air-conditioned stadiums.
I think they do intend to build half a dozen indoor stadiums. They reckon with good cooling systems they can get the temps down to mid 20s. And then the stadiums are going to be dismantled post-event and shipped elsewhere (??? so i heard). But still… a nation of 1.6 million people whose team has never made it through the WC Qualifiers . Surely it would’ve been better to get Qatar, Bahrain, UAE etc. all in on the same bid?
Athletics stadia are totally unsuited for football. The very wide running track keeps spectators too far away from the action. Not that it matters much - most games wouldn’tt have been in London and London has plenty of stadia which can host world-class football already (eg Wembley, Loftus Road).
Qatar, eh? According to the US State Department (source Wikileaks) it is the “worst in the region for counterterrorism efforts”. I suppose there’s hope that by 2022 the world will have changed.
Anyway, I’m pretty glad England doesn’t have to deal with another poison chalice.
[quote=“swisskogame”][quote=“super_lucky”]Doha is a fairly modern city (from what I’m told by an expat friend who lives there) and Oatar is a reasonably liberal Muslim nation, but I don’t understand how or why in God’s name they expect to be playing football in 46 degree Celsius heat. That’s pure madness. Did I miss something in the announcement? Perhaps the games will be held “virtually” in Qatar? Maybe they intend to build a dozen indoor stadiums? I dunno. If anyone can pull that off, it’s the Arabs (oh, and the Chinese).
Russia, on the other hand, well, um, I’ve never been there so who am I to criticize? I just can’t imagine them getting it right.
Another World Cup in the U.S.? Would sure like to see it, but I suspect I’m in the minority on that.[/quote]
Yes, you might have actually missed that in the announcement. Qatar will build stadiums where they can keep the temperatures at about 27 degrees Celsius. Seems really stupid to me to stage the games in a country with up to 50 degrees and then build air-conditioned stadiums.[/quote]
Can you imagine the carbon footprint of all that? I wonder if they’re going to try alternative energy stadiums similar to the one built in Kaohsiung for the World Games…
