Congrats Canada/Mexico/USA - we won. Since the bid is "no longer in jeopardy", figure it's time to open up a new thread to cover general N&A and discussion until the real fun starts in 7 years or so . . . Cheers!
Going to be more expensive driving to a game at the Rose Bowl from my house in La Quinta than it is for me to fly to Lithuania and then take the train to see England v. Belgium in a couple weeks. But not having to qualify will be nice.
Is this the right thread to talk about sanctions against the countries that had the temerity to vote against our bid?
Lineup predictions? Why the hell not! Sargent Pulisic———Carleton———-Pynadath Mckennie———Someone we don’t even know exists today Bello———-Miazga———EPB——-Scally Las
My pick: Howard; Johnson, Cameron, Besler, Beasley; Beckerman, Jones, Bedoya, Bradley; Dempsey, Altidore A true winning XI
I suppose ultimately, the corruption of FIFA and the profit it earns for few is mightier than what is best for the masses they 'serve.'
And the coach will be Bob Bradley, why the hell not. But not before Arena had a chance to redeem himself in the 2022 WC.
I believe the technical report said the United bid would earn $14 billion more than Morocco, which tabs out at around $50 million more per FA. Qatar only had to bribe half (or less) of a 24 member board. Morocco would have had to bribe 50-60 FA's with enough cash to make up the difference and then some. Billions they did not have or want to spend.
Surprised at the number of African nations the United bid got. Also surprised Brazil broke CONMEBOL ranks.
Atlanta Wins the World Cup Bid? https://www.dirtysouthsoccer.com/20...as-front-and-center-of-the-2026-world-cup-bid Oh good god, they are going to be impossible to live with now...
This thread has a chance to be active for 8 years, so let's wait and see what percentage you got correct by the time United 2026 comes around! My vote for most-likely is the guy you have starting next to McKennie.
So us, Canada, and Mexico all automatically qualify... What does that mean for the other teams in CONCACAF? Or are those three spots distributed internationally (i.e. Europe, Asia, and South America all get one less team)?
No spots will be distributed to other nations. CONCACAF gets 6.5 spots and the 3 direct and 1 playoff position will be decided through qualifying. That is if FIFA approves all three as auto qualifiers. Having the three qualify would be no different percentage wise than Japan and South Korea auto qualifying in 2002.
I'm still extremely skeptical about the idea of 16 groups with three teams each in a 48-team World Cup, instead of 12x4. It's obviously way more reasonable and doable in terms of logistics, but fairness-wise, it's very likely to result in a host of controversial last-round matches. With only three matches played in each group instead of six, and the final match being played while a 3rd team sits out and hopes for the result of that final game to go its way, it's VERY likely that we'll see plenty of toothless 3rd matches where the two teams that only need a draw play out the most farsical, passive, pact-of-non-aggression game imaginable. Not saying that teams will directly collude with one another in order to knock out another team, but psychologically, it's going to be hard for two teams that only need a draw to go all-out and try to win, should defeat for either result in elimination.