The dream for Washington D.C. to be a host city for the 2022 World Cup is dead. After a delay of over 30 minutes, FIFA officials announced that Qatar, not the United States, will host the 2022 event.
Qatar may seem like an unlikely choice, but they put together a convincing presentation, and reports trickled out that they had won long before the announcement was made official. Qatar becomes the smallest country to host a World Cup, topping Uruguay and Chile.
The United States was among the early favorites, but their odds kept slipping as the day went along. Both Qatar and Australia had lapped them by the end of the day, according to oddsmakers.
Russian has won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup, in an announcement that also took place this morning. England was the early favorite, but was reportedly knocked out in the first round, much like its soccer team often is (zing!). Spain-Portugal was the other favorite that lost out.
Washington D.C. was one of 18 possible host cities should the United States have won the bid. The others were Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle and Tampa. The Washington D.C. delegation hosted a free event at the Newseum this morning, featuring appearances by new D.C. United coach Ben Olsen and several others.
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