Are you genuinely surprised that a bunch of Americans are upset that their country didn't win this bid? You, of all people here, should know about national pride.
NOPE NOPE AND NOPE! FIFA members don't give a f^ck about liquidity issues in bidding countries. They also don't give a f^ck about presentations or best actual bids. That's been known for a while. They care that 1) You don't embarrass or try to embarrass them 2) Palms-money-grease
Its a developing country. The country didn't even have roads or a proper airport in the 70's. If you are comparing the Football History, then the world cup should simply be held in South America and Europe.
Not surprised, no. Who told you I was surprised? I knew you'd cry foul as soon as someone else got something you wanted. That's not a surprise. Why is it so tough to accept "defeat" on something you have NO POWER over? WIN THAT CUP.
If 500k hooligans show up, everyone is going to have problems. The US doesn't even have jail space to keep the criminals we have now.
Nobody comes to Dubai in the summer. That being said, Qatar was a brave choice that will pay off. All the stadiums will be climate controlled as will the transportation. This country is filthy rich (huge gas deposits found 10 years ago) and has the time, money and imported skill base to make something grand out of it. I also expect the strict drinking laws in the Middle East to loosen up over the next decade and there will be a variety of portable drinking places during the WC. Also, the people that go to '18 and '22 are going to see some pure beauties. So pure, striking, and symmetrical, something only the regions of Eastern Europe, Lebanon, Turkey and the Middle East can produce. There's going to be a huge culture shift by that time that is conducive to the obnoxious partying scene.
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Hey man, you caught the Kubler-Ross model in real time. They're on stage 2 at the moment. Let them grieve.
can we talk about how losing hurts houston? i like to believe we had a shot to be the host city had the US actually won the bid, while cities like LA, NY, or dallas probably would have eventually been given the honors. the longer it takes for the US to host, the worse it becomes for our city. certainly, we will have a better mass transit system in place 16 years from now, what about our stadium and convention center though? reliant opened in '02, and will be 20+ years old at the earliest, making it a dated stadium at best. the GRB will be 40+ years old. that doesn't bode well when compared to rival cities with newer stadiums and convention centers.
Most of you missed it, but Swoly-D is trying to push the idiotic argument that North America and South America are generally considered one continent, therefore North America is hosting it in 2014 This argument is entirely true, if by "generally considered" you are talking about a lone nutjob poster with a penchant for overuse of smilies, bad jokes, and inane observations. Swoly, che, you've been spanked badly on this enough before, please stop embarrassing the rest of Mexico.
There would have been multiple host cities, and Houston probably would have been one of them. They weren't in consideration for the opening or closing games though.
Oh yeah? Let's see some stats to back that up. It's absolutely desolate in the summer, indoors and outdoors. Winter time is definitely when things are packed and buzzing.
Which federation do they play in, genius? Again, I'm talking about the FIFA federations. England (UEFA) won't be allowed to even bid for 2026 after hosting in 2018. It's a traveshamockery that the homeland of Association Football will go almost 70 years in between hosting when other countries (not even federations) will have hosted twice.
rereading this article, i guess you're correct. which city would have held the opening and closing? http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/7315021.html
Why wouldn't England be able to bid for 2026? I know they had to drop their bid for 2022 since only European countries were bidding for 2018, but I don't see how they wouldn't be allowed to bid for 2026. Personally, I think having to rotate federations is dumb, the country with the best bid should win, regardless of what continent they are on.
