Comments on: World Cup 2018 Candidates: 2. China

By: World Cup Usa 94

World Cup Usa 94 — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:51:10 +0000

There is not much I can say regarding Italys match against Spain; other then I saw it in Bar Napoli and in the company of those who had been there for Italys previous match other then the already known fact that we won 2-1. Naturally as with any quarterfinal match, this one was not without its great moments which saw cheers from us; Italys ever faithful tifossi. The first of which coming at the 25 minute mark when a long range effort from Dino Baggio found the back of the Spanish net and put us ahead 1-0, which was also the score that ended the opening half.

By: Ian B

Ian B — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:45:48 +0000

dunno about the pollution thing. Nobody ever complains about playing football in Mexico City and it’s on a par with some Chinese cities. If they complain, it’s usually about altitude.

There are interconnections between the big international sports bodies. It has been suggested in various places that the hispanosphere’s support for France 98 was a quid pro quo for la francophonie’s support for Barcelona 92. I would say a recent Olympics helps as long as the two events aren’t *too* close together. 10 years apart for China is about the minimum. 6 years apart for the UK is sheer lunacy – politically it’s just not on and the FA is wasting its time. 2022 or 2026 is a better bet for them.

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Sorry to put you right, but world cups and Olympics have been held concurrenty. 1968 Olympics, Mexico City, 1970 World cup, Mexico; 1972 Olympics, Munich, 1974 World cup West Germany; 1994 World Cup, USA, 1996 Olympics Atlanta. Even winter Olympics (1992 Albertville , France, 1998 World cup France, 1998 Nagano, Japan) have been held close to World cups (2002 Korea-Japan), so the 2012 Olympics and the 2018 World cup are not too close together to cancel each other out. England can more than cope with staging the World cup now, in fact England were the standby host if anything went wrong for the 2002 World cup,

By: Pitch Invasion · A Look Back at 2007 and Forward to 2008

Pitch Invasion · A Look Back at 2007 and Forward to 2008 — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 16:27:43 +0000

[...] Antonio Gramsci (Gramsci’s Kingdom) considered China’s World Cup bid [...]

By: WK2018 to the dutch

WK2018 to the dutch — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:34:23 +0000

Maybe as Guus Hiddink is gonna be the coach of the chinese team they will end up in de finals?!

By: Antonio G

Antonio G — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:44:25 +0000

Not to mention assistance from referees.

By: Thomas Dunmore

Thomas Dunmore — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:57:46 +0000

But on the other hand, how good were the Japanese or South Korean leagues and players when they were awarded the World Cup? It’s amazing what a bit of dedication and home turf can do for a team.

By: Antonio G

Antonio G — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:15:07 +0000

Given that there are virtually no Chinese playing abroad and that top Super League sides are roughly equal in quality to good MLS teams, I’d say the description “tough ride” is generous.

By: Thomas Dunmore

Thomas Dunmore — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 01:00:42 +0000

It might also be worth mentioning that it’s now a lot harder to escape the group stage — remember, when the U.S. hosted it, only 24 nations qualified so it was known the U.S. could qualify third in a (not very strong) group of four. Which is exactly what they did.

China would have a tougher ride of it, having to finish in the top two of a group of four.

By: alex

alex — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:02:06 +0000

I might be wrong here, but in the history of the World Cup, and the “modern” group stage era of the European Championships, no host nation has ever failed to escape the group.

So perhaps it would be a consideration, but football fans are less parochial these days, and the need for the home nation to do well for the tournement to be a success is less of an issue that it has been in the past. Some of us may remember the horrible attendences at non-England games at Euro ‘96, for example.

By: Thomas Dunmore

Thomas Dunmore — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 22:05:55 +0000

Interesting analysis as ever, ursus. What’s fascinating (and why we’re running this series now) is that even though the vote isn’t til 2011, the jockeying has very much begun due to the number of candidates, and the desire of FIFA for the contest to be whittled down to one from each continent (or at most two).

That makes the Olympics even more crucial next year, as they will surely be directly compared to Australia’s vastly successful 2000 extravaganza, since that country seems to be the main “Asian” competitor.

Alex, good point. I would hope at least that if Austria embarrass themselves in Euro 2008, it might lead to FIFA/UEFA both rethinking automatically seeding the host nations. And not having that seeding actually might make a graceful first round exit more “acceptable”, even if it would cut the odds of China or whoever actually making it into knockout play. But if that is vastly unlikely anyway, it might not be the worst thing if they lose to top ranked teams from a PR perspective.