LONDON — Before the host for the 2006 World Cup were decided the general feeling was that South Africa, FIFA president Sepp Blatter's preference, was nailed on. A one-horse race.
But the four Asian members on the executive committee were unhappy with their confederation's quota of representatives at the World Cup finals. They wanted more and blamed Blatter. Their revenge was to switch their vote from South Africa to Germany, which against the odds beat its rivals by one vote. Mission accomplished.
That is how the right to stage the World Cup can be decided. Not who has the best bid, but other reasons. England's defeat for the right to stage the 2018 World Cup was not because its bid or presentation was poor. It was because FIFA does not like a free, investigative media unveiling corruption within its organization.