What did England do to you?

Photo courtesy of BBC.com

That's what I want to ask FIFA VP Jack Warner. Warner went on record earlier in the week and stated that he would try and block any move by England to bid for the 2018 World Cup. Warner, who is the president of the CONCACAF region of FIFA, wants to see the cup in his region of the world. That would mean that we could see the first cup on American soil since 1994. This could do well for American football if the FIFA committee rules to give it to America.

England invented the sport but in recent years, the mother country of this wonderful sport has not seen any great strides. You could argue that England might be laying its hopes with the young Rhain Davis, the recent signing for Manchester United. Most of the English team, at present, will be pushing their last cup when 2018 rolls around. That, coupled with their current lack of success in Euro '08 qualifying, might be the reasoning behind Warner's decision to not back England's bid.

The interesting thing about this situation is that there is talk of the rotation of the hosts being lifted after the 2014 cup, which is slated for Brazil. Even if they didn't lift the rotation cycle, it would be logical for Asia to get the 2018 cup, and not the CONCACAF region. It would seem that Warner is just simply upset that his region hasn't seen the cup in ages. He should stand in line though. South America hasn't hosted the cup since 1978. While that is almost forty normal years, it's eight world cups. CONCACAF held the cup in 1994 with America. By the time 2018 rolls around, that is just five cups, not the eight that South America has had to wait.

So, at the end of the day, what does FIFA do? I think that England should have a fair crack at it and according to the BBC, so does Franz Beckenbauer. Beckenbauer thinks that England would be a wonderful host for the cup. It certainly has enough pitches to be able to do so. Hell, you could host friendlies on pitches across town from a major match with the devotion that England has put into its football. On another note, I wouldn't mind seeing China hold the cup. They would have the space seeing that they are holding the Olympics rather soon. It could also be a force to bring China and Taiwan back together. Because if there is anything that the World Cup has taught us, it's that nations forget their problems and a ball becomes a weapon of nationalism instead of a gun. And that right there is what makes football such a beautiful game.