It's a given, excluding some of the hosts would cost them money. With 3 CONCACAF countries qualifying, taking away the 3 hosts, and betting that Costa Rica & Honduras remain strong, then chances are one of Panama, Trinidad or Jamaica will be the big loser through this win, because they'll be basically conceding their spot to Canada.
Don't forget about the playoff tournament. CONCACAF will get two of the six spots. It at least gives the Jamaica and T&Ts a extra chance. Beating the #7 South American team won't be easy, but it's not impossible over 90 minutes.
Told you guys, from the start. The Morocco bid was there only to up the bribes. Morocco didn't have the infrastructure, and all the stadiums they'd have to build or augment made it a losing proposition: outside Raja Casablanca their league has very poor attendance numbers (8,000 or less, some clubs getting under 1,000), although they're still decent for CAF. Also, unlike Qatar or Russia, they don't have the mafia money to go around buying votes. Heck, we probably had more dirty money to spend. That will probably never be known, anyway.
Info in this article on Brazil's vote choice. Their fed chief voted for Morocco because... 1) "they have never been to a World Cup". (Ok maybe a pass there on translation, perhaps he meant hosted) 2) he states he did not know votes would be made public after. They've got themselves a real keeper in this guy. http://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-wor...-world-cup-bid-more-than-helped-germany-chief
One of them gets to play the #2 OFC team in the first round which is basically a bye. If they can't beat Tahiti or the Solomon Islands then they don't deserve anything. EDIT: Unless they play each other. Either way it still pretty much guarantees a CONCACAF team in the playoff final.
Good point. The 6 team tournament will have: #7 from CONMEBOL (someone like Paraguay, Ecuador, or Peru) #9 from AFC (someone like Iraq, China or the Emirates) #10 from CAF (someone like Gabon, Zambia or DR Congo) #2 from OFC (someone like the Solomon, Papua or Tahiti) #7 & #8 from CONCACAF (two from Trinidad, Jamaica, Panama, etc.) Two qualify, so the C-CAF teams have a shot. What I want y'all to consider is that the regional qualifiers have to be played in such a way that a clear #7 from C-BOL, #9 from AFC, etc. can be determined. That is going to be a big consideration, adding dates for any necessary play-offs.
Trump has spent time in Europe and among his closest associates there he has several soccer-mad types. His son Barron had to get the love for soccer from somewhere. I bet Trump likes the beautiful game. Otherwise, I doubt he influenced the votes. He was lucky FIFA didn't make a point of his declarations being "state interference" though. Had there been other viable bids, I'm sure they'd have.
CONCACAF and CONMEBOL will be easy since they'll likely both have one group at the end. Africa could be really tricky to get one playoff team from.
In theory. Have you ever paid even the slightest attention to American politics? This post would suggest "no".
yeah but that’s exactly what Fifa was looking for in the past. They wanted countries like that to “grow the sport.” Of course, that was all just a ploy to line Sepp’s pockets.
It’s considerably possible that this vote had extra eyes on it than votes in the past. Everyone knows the votes in the past were completely rigged, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he and all of the confederations knew that this would be investigated. I can’t help but think that that influenced the way this played out.
You can pass amendments if 35 of the state legislatures call for a Constitutional Convention, and the proposed amendments in such convention are ratified by 3/4ths of the states (38). However, the ratification process does not have to be done in the state legislatures: Congress can allow the states to ratify the amendment using ex professo assemblies convened for such purpose. That was done to ratify the 21st amendment. Right now the Republican Party has majority in 32 state legislatures. Three more and they could call for a Constitutional Convention, and pass through Congress (through simple majority) the resolution that such amendments be approved by state conventions. The procedure to call such conventions is open enough to allow a party not in control of the legislature to achieve majority of representatives in the assembly, and varies by state. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_ratifying_conventions In short, we're a lot closer than people think to the Republican Party having enough control to add (or revoke, or modify) amendments to the US Constitution. I dislike including politics in a soccer board, otherwise, so this is it.
They can even be utterly disregarded. We do have a fine tradition in the last 30 years of our institutions doing exactly that, openly and not so openly. But to overthrow the amendment of a President being limited to two terms? That's big, man. Hard to keep that one in the dark. Nope, that one would take the sort of Fundamental Transformation that only a man who dreams of being President unbounded by such plebeian limitations would have the audacity to hope for.
I bet you he doesn't. Since well before his political involvement, Trump has been very, very interested in sports and buying a sports team. But almost all those efforts were in baseball and football (gridiron, not association rules), from his efforts to set up a rival baseball league to MLB, to his most recent bid in 2014 for the Buffalo Bills. It's definite those are his two real sports interests. He did fund the "Tour de Trump" for a couple years, but his interest was only as investor - the event was conceived and run by another group. (He's also invested heavily in golf courses, but he's a land developer - of course he did). That said, he did apparently make a bid some years ago to buy a soccer club in Colombia, for some reason. It was kind of random and it took everyone by surprise at the time - and I'm certain it was his partner in the bid - an Italian real estate guy - who was actually interested, and Trump was just the money.
I may be in the minority here, but I don’t even think Trump will be alive in 2026. He’s big, overweight, and has no interest in changing his lifestyle. Time isn’t usually friendly to people like that
No one is considering such an amendment, from what I know. The three being considered are one to make it impossible for corporate donors or "volunteer organizations" to finance political campaigns beyond limits set by each state; one to set term limits for senators, representatives, and other elected officials; and one to make it the law of the land for proof of identity and residence to be required at the moment of voting. The first one seems mainly supported by Democrats, the third one by Republicans, while the second one is supported by people on both sides.
Wealthy people are good at divorcing their preferences from their investments, though. I'd go as far as to say most of the ones I know are quite good at separating even their affections from them.
Or : 3) their federation ass is still sore from having their FA administrators charged for fraud by US. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/04/fbi-corruption-charges-brazil-reform
Study of Brazilian culture will reveal an inferiority complex and envious contempt for established power. Indeed, Lula - one can understand his desire for an independent foreign policy - sought a strategic alliance with Libya, Syria, Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela. Even his own people told him, "Da um tempo." When Rio was named host of the 2012 Olympics, its committee chairman, in his subsequent speech, referred to gun violence in the US and supposed targeting of Hispanics at a U20 WC by the Metro Toronto Police. Most people would have been magnanimous, but the carioca couldn't help being bitter and small.
Conmebol wont have any problems with the current system. Concacaf can keep the same system for 2026 as they will have 3 qualify from the hex with two going to playoffs. AFC could keep the same and have their existing internal playoff between 5th placed teams, although it would be better to have three final round groups with the worst 3rd placed team going to the playoff. OFC can keep the same system. CAF can keep the same system with the worst second placed team going to the playoffs.
I'm really happy the United bid won, am truly am. However, are posts like these necessary? You won, who cares who didn't vote for you. It's celebration time