Sometimes, and I stress sometimes, FIFA president Sepp Blatter says some reasonable things especially about combating racism. However, most of the time Blatter just spews idiocy, or a utterly senseless or foolish words, out of his mouth.
This week Blatter spoke more nonsense. He said it is not too late to move the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from the summer to the winter.
My first response to Blatter was ‘say what’, and I thought he was kidding. However, he is not and wants to move the 2022 World Cup from summer to winter. The rationale behind his idea is because of the dangerously high summer temperatures in Qatar that peak around 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Blatter says the World Cup is about the fans enjoying it and that can’t happen in this hot weather.
“The FIFA World Cup must be a festival of the people. But for it to be such a festival, you can’t play football in the summer.
“You can cool down the stadiums, but you can’t cool down the whole country – and you can’t simply cool down the ambiance of a World Cup. The players must be able to play in the best conditions to play a good World Cup.”
My question for you, Blatter, is why in the first place would FIFA allow Qatar’s bid to even advance. Back in 2010, major concerns were brought up over the dangerous heat and it being a safety issue for players, fans, coaches, etc.
Personally, Qatar shouldn’t have beaten out the United States, South Korea, and others for the 2022 World Cup. Secondly, Qatar shouldn’t have been allowed to proceed in the process because of the heat.
Now back to Blatter’s comments. His proposal to move the World Cup to the winter would cause much pain for soccer leagues around the world. Many leagues that play during the winter months will be opposed to this. Secondly, the Winter Olympics will occur in 2022, and conflicting schedules between the World Cup and the Winter Olympics would be counter-productive. I understand that it is cooler during Qatar’s winter, but Blatter is spewing more foolish fodder out of his mouth.
Blatter, listen up. The 2022 Wold Cup will not move to the winter, but I know what should happen. FIFA should move the World Cup out of Qatar and keep it in the summer. They messed up giving the bid to Qatar and should fix their poor judgement by giving it to a country that can safely and effectively host the World Cup.
Phil Naegely is a sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Like him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter @pnaegelyRS and add him to your circles on Google.