It also happened that England was snowbound on the day it lost its bid to host the World Cup in 2018. The idiom "under the weather" is indeed apt.
Despite their strong presence in Zurich, Prime Minister David Cameron, Prince William and former football captain David Beckham did not fire up enthusiasm among the 22 members of the FIFA governing body, which gave England only two votes.
On the other hand, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin canceled initial plans to be there before the secret voting. Despite his absence, Russia won the bid, reason for him to fly to Zurich to receive the award. "If you don't take risks, you don't drink champagne," he's reported to have quoted this Russian saying.
Football fans may expect Russia to build stadiums in 13 host cities from Kaliningrad in the west to Yekaterinburg in the east at a cost estimated at around $10 billion.
Beckham could only cry for England's bitter disappointment. The other losers were Holland-Belgium and Spain-Portugal.
US President Obama, on the other hand, accused FIFA for making a "wrong decision" when the hosting of World Cup 2022 went to Qatar. The US, Australia, South Korea and Japan bid for the site.
"We go to new lands" was how FIFA president Sepp Blatter explained the choices.
Qatar is an interesting issue. It has never qualified for the World Cup finals. It's in the Middle East, and there's the risk from desert heat. FIFA must have strongly believed that Qatar can deliver its "commitment to
to spend $42.9 billion on infrastructure upgrades and $4 billion to build nine stadiums and renovate three others [and all of them] will have a state-of-the art cooling system that will keep temperatures at about 27 degrees Celsius (81 F)."
Recommended reading on the operational risk assessment and selection of Russia and Qatar as hosts: "FIFA overlooks risks in picking Russia and Qatar" (04 December 2010) by Stephen Wilson, AP Sports Writer, accessible from My Star online at http://football.thestar.com.my/story.asp?file=/2010/12/4/football_latest/20101204072455&sec=football_latest
We found this front page cartoon, which came out before the FIFA selection event, very amusing. It derives its humor from the Wikileaks, insinuating that Julian Assange could possibly do some mining in the rich field of intrigues, accusations and suspicions in international sports organizations, and in this instance, the FIFA. Who knows if there were also "unclassified", "classified" and "secret" cables that were exchanged in the selection of Olympic, World Cup and other international sports events?
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