Like a lofty shot off the crossbar, the United States' bid to host the 2022 World Cup missed the mark in heart-breaking fashion Thursday morning, when FIFA announced that Qatar would host the tournament.
The news shocked soccer pundits worldwide who were still startled by
FIFA's announcement a few minutes earlier that underdog Russia had
secured the 2018 Cup.
With Kansas City on the shortlist of cities that would host 2022
matches, the news left soccer fans and city officials gathered for a
watch party at the 810 Sports Zone grappling with emotions ranging from
congratulatory to anger.
"I'm happy for Qatar. They haven't had it yet," 19-year-old fan Josh
Freeman said as the dozens of TV screens showed Qatar's bid team
celebrating their surprise triumph.
Mayor Mark Funkhouser wanted the city to be pleased with the city's work to be a host location, rather than focus on the loss of the tournament.
"It was a tremendous effort by the city," he said. "On one hand, of
course I'm disappointed. But on the other hand, I'm so proud of the
city."
But, when asked what
the Cup would have meant to city, Funkhouser let his disappointment
show.
Mark Funkhouser said he was bummed but proud of KC's effort in the bid.
Mayor
"This was going to be a huge thing for Kansas City. This is the largest
event in the world," he said. "We would have had tens and tens of
thousands of visitors, but billions of people would have seen us on
television. And we would have looked good."
Now Kansas City and the U.S. won't have the chance to look good on international TV
until at least 2026 or 2030.
Sporting Kansas City president Robb Heineman took the snub hard.
Looking thoroughly dejected, Heineman put his feelings into a single word:
"Devastated."
Kansas City president Robb Heineman said FIFA's decision was a mistake.
"For so many months the momentum around our bid has been very positive,Sporting
and just here in the last 12 hours, really, it started kind of
unraveling," he said. "FIFA responded very differently than what
we thought they would."
Heineman
also brought up concerns about FIFA's decision making, considering the vast differences between America's bid and Qatar's. The U.S. wouldn't
need new stadiums, would flood FIFA with cash and be
spread across the nation. Qatar, a small Arab nation of about 1.7 million,
will now have to build several stadiums, and iron thorny political
issues like alcohol consumption and the possibility of allowing athletes from Israel, which Qatar refuses to recognize, into the country.
"FIFA's got different motives than just growing the game, obviously," Heineman said before. "Qatar? I'm not going to Qatar. I think it's a mistake.
The motives behind it can be questioned for sure. I think it's a bad
decision."
like
dislike
