Gulati says dual-host process may have hurt US
Bill Clinton and Sunil Gulati upon hearing the announcement that the US had lost out.
NEW YORK – US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati expressed
his disappointment at losing out to Qatar as host of the 2022 World Cup on Thursday, and indicated
that the fact that two World Cup hosts were awarded at the same time likely
hurt the US chances of landing the 2022 event.
“It’s clear and has been widely reported over the last
several months that there was the possibility of some alliances, and the numbers
[voting] would seem to bear that out,” Gulati said in a media teleconference
call a few hours after FIFA’s decision to grant Qatar the 2022 World Cup.
“It’s also clear that in the first, second and maybe even
the third round [of voting], and certainly in our case, there was some tactical voting, groups using a vote or two to
make sure that someone else wasn’t eliminated in order to get some help later on, which explains some of the odd
vote patterns in our case.”
Gulati said he expected FIFA to review the process used
to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cup and pointed to comments by FIFA General
Secretary Sepp Blatter that, “In retrospect, maybe it wasn’t the best thing to
hold these things [2018 and 2022] together.”
[inline_node:324331]The fact that the US bid was one of the most highly rated did not help the American bid, and similarly failed to boost England's chances in 2018. But the USSF president admitted that he had not yet spoken to
FIFA Executive Committee members to understand the rationale or motivation of
their votes.
“We said all along that it’s not just about the technical
reports,” Gulati said. “It’s an election and there are lots of things that go
into it.”
Since February’s African National Congress held in Angola,
Gulati said he realized that Qatar would be the biggest competitor for the
2022 bid.
It was that event, which was sponsored by Qatar’s bid
committee, where Gulati said he saw his rivals’ proposal go from fantasy to a
dream and a “dream that can happen.”
Gulati said he needed more time to evaluate whether the US would
throw its hat in the ring for the 2026 tournament, but felt that the fact that an Asian Confederation member won the right to host the 2022 tournament would work in
favor of a future CONCACAF bid.
“It is the one rule within the World Cup decision making
that hasn’t changed,” Gulati said. “That has been cast in stone for quite a
long time. To go to Asia, I can’t imagine COCNACAF is going to accept a Chinese
application before CONCACAF or something like that. I don’t see that changing.”
The US Bid Committee had envisioned hosting the World Cup as
akin to “putting your foot on the accelerator and taking a big jump,” according
to Gulati.
It was the pitch made to FIFA that did not resonate with
executive committee members, at least until the next World Cup is up for grabs.
“The trend lines are positive for the sport [in the US],”
Gulati said. “Do I think we’re going to get where we want to get eventually? Yes.
It’s going to take longer and take a little more work. The World Cup is a big
event and this is a big disappointment.”
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