Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Qatar 2022 - this is getting out of hand - more calls for Winter World Cup

Wow, I cannot believe this, but another voice to play the World Cup in the winter, this time from the player's union. This circus has spun completely out of control. Based on the article, Qatar's own citizens try to leave during the summer for cooler climates. Tourists are advised NOT to travel to the Middle East nation during the summer. Um, why were none of these issues raised during the bidding process? I know that Houston can get a little toasty in the summer, but you can still have some footie games there. Australia...is in the southern hemisphere so no real concern over heat during the summer! This continues to baffle me.

So the talk is to move the World Cup to the winter...and this will not disrupt clubs and country how? A couple of points. All domestic leagues have a winter break, other than the EPL. Of course those breaks tend to be 2 weeks...not 2 months. Second, most nations that participate in the World Cup actually need the time between end of qualifiers and the actual start of the World Cup to play friendlies, train and get ready for the tournament. This process, alone, tends to take at least 4 to 6 weeks. That time falls at the end of domestic seasons, not smack dab in the middle of league play. Speaking of qualifiers, those end in November...oh yeah. Look at how disruptive the African Cup of Nations is to clubs and now multiply that by 10! Clubs already grudging allow their players to participate in that tournament...will clubs release their players for a World Cup???

The farce that is the 2022 World Cup continues. One can only hope that in the very near future someone comes to their senses and finds some loophole in the Qatar bid and awards it to one of the other bidders who is more deserving and does not pose the myriad of problems that the Middle Eastern nation poses. Let us hope.

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