By now you have likely heard that the United States lost its bid to host the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, a country with a population smaller than Latvia but who promised FIFA a truly revolutionary and peace-bringing World Cup.
What you may not know is the vote was not even remotely close. The United States stood at the precipice of losing in every round:
Round 1: Qatar 11, South Korea/Japan/U.S. 3 each, Australia 1
Round 2: Qatar 10, U.S./South Korea 5, Japan 2
Round 3: Qatar 11, U.S. 6, South Korea 5
Round 4: Qatar 14, U.S. 8
So after all the talk of our infrastructure, money, promise, and government support, we were closer to being eliminated every round than to winning the World Cup. There will be analysis and reaction on MLS Talk I suspect for the next few days, but for now sound off: what do you think of the U.S. losing the 2022 World Cup to Qatar?
P.S. It could have been worse, we could have suffered England’s fate.
