US Simplifies World Cup Bid, Now Up Against Four Asian Nations for 2022

Filed under: FIFA World Cup, US Soccer

In a press release that will make FIFA suits feel good but which has zero practical effect, the United States World Cup bid committee announced its intention to concentrate its efforts only on the 2022 tournament, officially leaving the 2018 competition for Europe.

"We are confident this is in the best interests of the USA bid," committee chairman and U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati said.

The move (first reported by Steven Goff of The Washington Post) doesn't change anything in the real world, of course.

By 2018, soccer's most powerful confederation will have gone a record 12 years without hosting the sport's biggest event. With the European bids concentrated on that year, there was always a 100% chance that FIFA's executive committee would award the 2018 World Cup to one of the four European contenders (England, Russia, Spain/Portugal, Netherlands/Belgium).

 

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