In the years leading up to the 1994 World Cup, the United States, a country NOTORIOUS for embracing negative attitudes towards unarguably the world's most popular sport (soccer, a.k.a. football) was awarded the right to host the tournament.
Many were skeptical of the decision to choose the USA. America's soccer history prior to 1994 was a punchline. The last time the United States qualified for a World Cup was in 1950 and when they finally did make their long awaited appearance in 1990, only four years before they were picked to host the big event, they bombed out unceremoniously, getting humiliated in their first game against Czechoslovakia 5-1 and then promptly lost to Italy and Austria. Others might have had issue with the venues, none of which were purely for soccer (most were converted American football stadiums like Rose Bowl and Soldier Field) and that attendance would be dismal considering the dislike Americans had for the "Beautiful Game." Others pointed at the state of the United States national team and probably thought that they would be the first host team not to make it past the group stages.
Well the 1994 World Cup went along and sure enough the USA landed in the Round of 16 and played eventual champions Brazil "competitively" (losing only 1-0 haha). Perhaps even more impressive, the 1994 World Cup broke the record for most total attendance at 3.6 million throughout the tournament. To this day, 1994 still holds that record despite subsequent tournaments in more soccer-friendly countries like France in 1998 and Germany in 2006.
So much for a World Cup that was expected to fail.
Why am I bringing this up now?
Well if you haven't heard the news, FIFA made the controversial decision to award the World Cups of 2018 and 2022 to Russia and Qatar respectively. Unsurprisingly, the choices were not met with much enthusiasm. The selection of Qatar was met with rather harsh criticism from the United States in particular. Even Obama, the supposed global statesman, was not supportive of a World Cup being held in the tiny Middle Eastern country.
And it's not just the USA. Accusations of "oil money" and bribery have been levied against both Russia and Qatar from all places: Spain, Japan, and of course, the envious English who honestly are acting as though hosting the World Cup is their God-given right, despite the fact that they've only won once and haven't reached the semis since 1990. Honestly, if any country has a God-given right to host the tournament, it's Brazil considering they've won the thing:
A lot of this talk stems just from sheer arrogance. England had the best technical bid and the best soccer history (well relatively speaking). That being said, that never made them a shoo-in to host 2018. The United States also had a strong bid as well, but they shouldn't have treated this 2022 bid like it was going to be handed to them on a silver platter. And honestly for Spain, it really doesn't help your cause when your bid says Spain/PORTUGAL 2018 and your bid head keeps forgetting to mention PORTUGAL in his stump speeches.
Perhaps worse than the English whining over "Russia's bribery," are the comments made by Americans concerning Qatar. I was a fan of Alexi Lalas as a player, but as a commentator he is just terrible. He's already predicting that the USA will be the immediate backup to Qatar if they fail. Um, first off Qatar has ridiculous amounts of oil money and 12 years to build all the stadiums so yeah barring some natural disaster, I don't think we'll have to worry about a "backup plan" anytime soon. And even if they did, why would it necessarily go to America? Australia's bid was impressive as well.
Others are playing the "Extremist, Backward Muslims" Card that's been used by the ignoramuses of the world since 9/11. They are going off on how beer will be banned and how women will be forced to wear niqabs, burkas, and hijabs.
C'mon son! Use your head people, when it comes to these greedy monarchies out there, MONEY TRUMPS GOD. The leaders of Qatar know that this:
and of course this
equals interest which of course equals money. As soon as they see the cash flowing from the beer and the half-naked unofficial cheerleaders, I'm pretty sure the al-Thanis will let it slide...
There are three main goals (no pun intended) of the World Cup: 1.) to determine the best national team in the world, 2.) to entertain and amaze the world with brilliant, thrilling, and beautiful displays of soccer for a month, 3.) to spread the popularity of the world's most popular sport as far as it can possibly go. As far as accomplishing the 3rd goal, FIFA could not have chosen better hosts than Russia and Qatar.
It's difficult to determine whether or not soccer is the most popular sport in Russia (most likely it is). Regardless, Russia, aside from a miracle run at Euro 2008, has underachieved at most international tournaments since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. There's no denying the popularity of soccer throughout the Middle East, but that doesn't change the fact that Qatar has not even come close to qualifying for the World Cup. To be quite frank, Qatar's national team will probably be embarrassed in the group stages of 2022. Let's keep several facts in mind however. South Africa was not a soccer powerhouse coming into the 2010 World Cup. Korea and Japan were not heavy kings of the sport when 2002 rolled around.
Look at the transformation of soccer in the United States since they were awarded the right to host in 1994. Major League Soccer was created only two years later and still exists to this day. While the level of play is nowhere close to their European counterparts, MLS has a strong fanbase and has produced good talent. Aside from a major hiccup in 1998, the United States national team evolved from laughingstock to a mid-tier threat. They have dominated CONCACAF, becoming competitive with historic regional powerhouse Mexico. The US has qualified for every World Cup since 1994 and made it past the group stages in 2002 and 2010. And finally in terms of the level of popularity, the 2010 World Cup drew crazy ratings all across the country.
I think it is safe to say that 1994 was a turning point for soccer in this country. The facts make me confident that 2018 and 2022 will be the same for Russia and Qatar.
But for that to happen, we just have to give them a chance...
Cheers,
DC
DC
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