I'm as frustrated as many that Australia didnt get it but the main object now should be to win this thing.
It will be in our region. Australia has played in Qatar and will again in January. This should be an advantage for the Socceroos over most other countries.
Regardless of the side issues , if you take emotion out of it, there was a case for choosing Qatar on merit alone.
The Qatar bid was simply very inspiring!
It would have really appealed to FIFA's ever increasing importance of "Leaving a Legacy". Plus Qatar was the highest rated "Greenfield" Teritoy which also seems important now. (AFL doing same thing IE: Tasmania and NT screaming out and have case for an AFL team but instead AFL go for "Greenfields" of QLD & NSW)
But how good was Qatar in turning a negative (their climate) into the their biggest positive! In doing so they took away all possible objections from the delegates minds.
They sold the idea of leaving a legacy of the most modern, state of the art (not just climate controlled) stadiums ever to be built! Then amazingly, offer to dismantle them and GIVE the technology and the infrastructure to other less fortunate countries after the tournament! - That idea alone would have been difficult to ignore!
However, have they thought it through for the spectators? Can we handle the heat to and from the stadium? Well we handle over 40 degree weeks in Australia at times, I guess.
But who knows what Qatar will come up with by then... climate controlled streets? I wouldn't put it past them.
South Africa legacy was (according to FIFA) bringing the countries Blacks and White cultures together (not the horns)
I really dont think Australia (or any other country) put enough weight into the legacy part of it.
Undoubtedly we would have held a great world cup on and off the pitch but that wasn't to be this time.
I'm sure Qatar will host one the greatest World Cups ever! (Especially if Australia wins it!)
