With the 2014 World Cup now less than two weeks away, international soccer is reaching that one point every four years when it is front page news worldwide. The tournament will be in Brazil this year, and I am really looking forward to watching as much as I possibly can. As an American, I am not too confident about the chances of our country to make much noise at all, but in my estimation, the World Cup symbolizes more than simply cheering for your country.
Don't get me wrong, seeing Americans who have little or no interest at all in soccer 99% of the time dressed in red, white, and blue on the edge of their seat watching my favorite sport is surely something that makes me happy. However, during the one month period that the World Cup does take place, it is really a celebration of how a game can, at least temporarily, put the crises of the everyday world on the back burner. It may sound hyperbolic or zany, but during the World Cup, countries across the globe are united by one thing: soccer. Forget politics, religion, economics, and even missing airplanes. For the next month, let's just all focus on the beautiful game.
So, with that said, now what I really want to focus on is a World Cup that is still eight years away. In 2010, it was revealed that Qatar had been chosen as the host country for the 2022 World Cup. At first, I was stunned when I heard this. Qatar? I wasn't sure, but I didn't think Qatar had ever even qualified for a World Cup, and when I looked it up to be sure, I was correct. Why then, would a country with relatively zero history of international soccer be chosen to host the biggest tournament in international soccer? I just could not think of a reasonable answer.
However, after giving the subject some deeper thought, I realized that maybe FIFA and the soccer world were opening new doors in helping its game grow even larger. The 2010 World Cup was being held in South Africa. Until that time, no World Cup had ever been hosted by an African nation. In fact, only three times prior to that had a tournament ever been held outside of either Europe or South America. Mexico hosted the even in 1970 and 1986, the United States hosted in 1994, and South Korea and Japan co-hosted in 2002. So, with the tournament now moving to Africa for the first time, maybe then, was FIFA attempting to truly make the World Cup a global game? It seemed like that was entirely possible. My beliefs that this was actually true were only strengthened when South Africa did an admirable job of hosting a great tournament in 2010. The stadiums looked beautiful, the cities were abuzz, and there was a whole lot of great soccer. Maybe then, after all, countries that were not perennial international soccer powers should be given an opportunity to host the World Cup, because doing so can be a significant economic stimulant, and there are surely many countries throughout the world that could use something like that. However, now that international soccer is back in the news, I just have to say that there are too many suspicions I have about the World Cup in Qatar, and I am surely not the only one who feels that way.
For the sake of this piece, I will compare soccer in Qatar to soccer in South Africa a lot, but we need to remember that the World Cup is a truly global stage, and we also need to look at Qatar through the same lens as other host nations such as Brazil, France, Italy, the United States, and many others. Prior to 2010, South Africa had actually qualified for two World Cups. Though they did not make it past the group stage either time, they at least had some kind of history in the tournament. Qatar has never qualified for a World Cup. Their highest level of international success came in 2004 when they won the Gulf Cup of Nations. A quick look at the Gulf Cup of Nations pretty much says all you need to know about the significance, or lack thereof, of the tournament. It was actually held in Qatar in 2004, but the fact that the stadiums were "generally full" and the fact that other sports such as handball and basketball had to be added to bring in more fans does not come close to lending any sort of credence to a legitimate basis for Qatar hosting a World Cup. So, when it came to a history of success at the top international level, South Africa at least had some. Qatar has none at all.
Next, let's take a look at the logistics of what it takes for a country to host a World Cup. Because the tournament is condensed into about a month, there is a need for multiple venues to play the games. There will be 12 host cities in Brazil later this month. In South Africa, there were 10 host cities. Sure, some of the cities that were hosting games in South Africa were far from worldwide metropolitan hubs, South Africa still does have some cities of international significance such as Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Cape Town. When I considered what kind of cities would host games in Qatar, I didn't know where to start, and the main reason for that was that I could not name one city in the entire country. In fact, I had to look up a world map to even find where in Asia Qatar actually was. When I did find it (which, even looking at a map of Asia, is still pretty hard to do), my belief that the country was anywhere close to equipped to handle hosting a World Cup shrunk even more. Qatar is a miniscule peninsula of a country surrounded on three sides by the Persain Gulf, and on one side by Saudi Arabia. In totality, it is 4,468 square miles. To put that into perspective, that means Qatar is smaller than every U.S. state other than Rhode Island and Delaware. So far, not too good.
Next? How about the climate of the country hosting the tournament. Soccer games last 90 minutes, and therefore the athletes we watch take the field will all be highly conditioned. However, even the best training and conditioning has its limits. As I sit here in New York writing this, I must say I highly enjoyed the weather here today. It was about 75 degrees and sunny. A bit hot, but after a cold winter, I was not complaining. However, if I were to be out playing in a World Cup game in this weather, I would have to say that it would definitely be a struggle. However, like I said, these are highly conditioned athletes at the top of their games, so they would be able to deal with it.
So, if 75 and sunny is a good indication of what the weather is like here during the time the World Cup is about to take place, then I think the soccer world would be just fine with that. Now, how about the climate in Qatar? Right now, it is just past 3:00 AM in the capital of Qatar, a city named Doha. At 3:00 AM in Doha, it is 88 degrees. The forecast for tomorrow after the sun rises is 111 degrees. The "lowest" forecasted temperature for the next 10 days in Doha is 82 degrees, and it is almost a guarantee that the temperature will rise above 100 each day, and the chance for any sort of precipitation is very, very low. I read a story today about an Australian reporter who visited Qatar saying that simply walking down the street was almost unbearable because of the heat. If players will be hard-pressed to maintain their stamina for 90 minutes when the temperatures reach into the 80's in Brazil this month, how would they react when the temperature is at least 30 degrees higher? I don't know, but the human body can only take so much, and 90 minutes of soccer at the highest level in temperatures approaching 120 is most likely too much. So again, Qatar looks really bad here.
I could certainly just stop there and I think my point of why Qatar has no business hosting the World Cup would be well proven, but I am on a roll, so why stop now? Next up, let's take a look at the politics and policies of the country. Qatar is considered a "constitutional monarchy," and it has been led by the same family since gaining independence in 1971. The leader of the country is known as the Emir, and the Emir pretty much has the final say on any and all political matters in Qatar. Obscene gestures and "indecent phrases" by the citizens of Qatar are sometimes punishable by a jail sentence of up to six months. The citizens are continuously warned that clothing should cover everything from the shoulders down to the knees, despite the fact that the temperature is above 100 degrees pretty much all the time. How in the world would that policy ever be enforced if soccer fans from around the world came to the country in the dead of summer? It literally would not be possible. And although soccer is known as the "beautiful game," sometimes soccer fans do not exactly embody the definition of beautiful. So obscene gestures and indecent phrases? Yes, I think there might be more than a few.
Again, I could stop, but since technically this is the internet and anyone has access to what I write, you never know, Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA might come across this piece and want to read about why considering holding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is a joke, so let me throw a few more logs on to the fire.
It is surely bad enough to read about Qatar mistreating its own citizens, but it only gets worse when you find out about some of their foreign policies. One of the most well-known terrorist groups of its time is a Palestinian group known as "Hamas." Hamas is highly involved in governing the Gaza Strip, and has allied itself with Iran, one of the most antagonistic nations in the entire world. Apparently, Hamas has some support in Qatar as well, as in 2006, Qatar helped support Hamas by giving the group of gift of $50 million. Qatar's government also has aligned itself with government opposition groups in Libya and Syria, both supporting the groups financially, as well as helping arm them. This is not even about sports anymore. This is just a general assault on the country of Qatar as a whole.
The fact that FIFA would even consider allowing Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, let alone actually confirm it is just downright preposterous. There has been talk of bribery on the part of Qatar, or some kind of hidden agenda on the part of the governing body of FIFA being some of the reasons that Qatar won the bid for the 2022 World Cup. I don't care what the reason or reasons were. FIFA needs to do us all a favor though, and move the 2022 World Cup to another location, and the non-existent history of soccer in Qatar should be the last reason for which they do so. The World Cup is an international showcase of the best soccer players and teams in the world, and FIFA is kidding itself by thinking that Qatar is up to the challenge of hosting such an event. I don't need a reason or an explanation from FIFA, I just need the 2022 World Cup to be moved. There is still eight years left to decide a new site, so it is not like this is going to be a last minute decision either. Just get it done, for the sake of the best sporting event in the world.
Daily Rangers Update: Well, it doesn't get much bigger than this. Game One will be in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, and the greatest piece of championship hardware in American sports will be on the line. The Rangers and the Kings for the Stanley Cup. That's really all that needs to be said.
Daily Diamondbacks Update: A loss yesterday dropped the DBacks to 15 games behind the San Francisco Giants in the division, and we haven't even played 60 games yet. Obviously, that means there is still plenty of baseball left to be played, but most hope of competing for a playoff spot is out the window. Chase Anderson takes the mound tomorrow night in Colorado after an off-day today.
Daily Giants Update: The Giants released safety Will Hill today after he failed another drug test and was facing a six-game suspension to begin the year. Hill has been serviceable when he has played, and was forecasted to have a bigger role on the defense this year, but he was just not worth the trouble he was causing, so I cannot say that I'm surprised by the move. Eli Manning is far ahead of schedule in his return from ankle surgery, so that is good news. However, it is still far too early in the offseason to get a real concrete feel for how this team will look going into the 2014-2015 season.
