Wednesday, July 31, 2013


FIFA move this world cup from Qatar 2022. The entire voting process of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were controversial, from England which thought it was the favorite (but they think they are the favorite for everything…) receiving only 2 votes in the 2018 voting.. to Qatar winning the 2022. After Qatar wins, it seems all of FIFA except his Holiness Sepp Blatter either quit, was suspected of taking bribes, expelled from English soccer. With CONCACAF losing its former corrupt headman Jack Warner, and his second in command Chuck Blazer turning whistleblower on his boss but eventually realizing he was unwanted and stepping down.. to the former Qatar head of Football and want to be president of FIFA candidate Mohamed bin Hammam also being accused of bribery and going away..

But yet the most recent reason for Qatar to not host the world cup came this weekend with Ecuador national team player and bright star, Christian Benitez died after playing his first game. While it is being reported today by some news sources like CNN that it was heart failure, how sure are we that the heat did not have an effect, this is a player who grew up at the high altitude of Quito, Ecuador and played hundreds of games there and in Mexico. Also it should be noted the quote was released from the Qatar club Al Jaish, and while not saying they are not being truthful, the fact they paid $10 million dollars just a few weeks ago for the transfer of the player, and insurance issues could have something to do with their determination.
We have seen many players in multiple sports who had congenital heart defects die or have heart attacks when playing both soccer(Marc Vivien Foe in 2003) and basketball (Reggie Lewis, Hank Gathers come to mind). I’m not a doctor, I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn last night but the fact that the game Sunday the temperature in Doha was over 100F (41C) from 9am to 5pm. In best case the players will have great doctors, cooling fans/machines, defibrillators available for them but what about the spectators, the vendors, the workers in the stadium will they be treated as well?

The new plan proposed by genius Sepp Blatter to host the world cup in the “winter” months of November. This will upset domestic leagues all over the world including the end of the MLS season, and the start of European leagues..

Its time just to move the world cup to a country (and I am all behind my home the USA getting it) that is not incredibly hot and does not have to build the infrastructure from scratch. Lets put this this way, Qatar basically has 2 cities, Doha with a population of 340,000 and Ar Rayyan with population of 270,000. These 2 cities are about 30 miles apart, so basically the whole of the country live in suburbs of the two main cities. What are the plans for locations of the 8 stadiums needed, where are people going to stay, how to get around.. Hosting the Asian games is one thing, the FIFA World Cup is to a whole another level in terms of fans traveling and games to be player. Yes plenty of time before 2022 and this is a country so rich with natural gas/oil that the financial cost will not really be a burden.. but its geography is what the problem is.. MOVE THE WORLD CUP!!

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