After the all the presentations were made, the secret voting tallied up, and the final word from FIFA President Sepp Batter, it was announced that Russia would hold the 2018 World Cup and that Qatar had beaten the United States for the 2022 World Cup.
In the historic vote, Russia becomes the first Eastern European nation to hold the World Cup and Qatar becomes the first Middle Eastern country to host the prestigious event.
As for the United States, many across the nation were disappointed with the decision of FIFA, but none were more disappointed than U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati, the main contributor of the bid.
“Obviously, we are very disappointed with the outcome,” Gulati said on a conference call Thursday. “It was a long process over the past couple of years. We submitted what we thought was technically a very good bid, rated very highly on the revenue side. We thought we made a compelling argument.”
“Obviously not compelling enough to beat out Qatar,” he said. Qatar and the U.S. made it to the final round of voting as Qatar beat the US 14-8, winning with the absolute majority needed.
The USA Bid Committee ran a campaign called “The Game Is In US” as they attempted to host the first World Cup on North American soil since the U.S. held the event in 1994.
“We are thankful that we had the support of so many. We are disappointed, just as everyone else involved with the game, professional teams, the government support that we had, and everyone else. We are disappointed for them as well as us.”
The U.S. did bring the celebrity big guns to the party including USMNT forward Landon Donovan, actor Morgan Freeman, and President Bill Clinton. Donovan’s presentation was the most compelling, telling about his passion for the game that was fueled by the ’94 World Cup.
“I was sitting with President Clinton and he was disappointed,” Gulati said. “He has been fantastic for us, but he was disappointed, like the rest of us. We worked very hard at this. Everyone is disappointed, that’s the best word I can use.” Be sure to check out “The Case for Qatar” on our blog for further commentary on the subject.
