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Former Dynamo star Brian Ching calls the FIFA scandal “disappointing” but is not surprised.
As the soccer world was rocked Wednesday with the arrests of several officials of the sport’s governing organization, former Dynamo and U.S. national team players Brian Ching and Stuart Holden were in California’s wine country for Holden’s bachelor party.
It would have been quite fitting if they had offered a toast for the folks eager to rid FIFA of corruption.
The U.S. Justice Department indicted 14 current and past FIFA officials — including the current and former leaders of CONCACAF, the region’s FIFA body — on charges that included money laundering conspiracy, wire fraud and racketeering.
“I think it’s disappointing,” said Ching, who was a member of the United States’ 2006 World Cup team. “But to be completely honest, I can’t say that too many people in the soccer world are surprised.”
In other words, most have long suspected FIFA of corruption.
It’s easier to believe every World Cup bid election was tarnished by corruption than to be convinced there was one bid process without corruption.
Millions in bribes
The 14 men who were indicted are accused of taking or giving $150 million in bribes over the past two decades during the selection of South Africa as the host of the 2010 World Cup, the 2011 FIFA presidential elections, and several sports-marketing deals.
It will likely take several years of legal wrangling to settle those charges. But the local youth soccer player who longs to be the next Brian Ching or Stuart Holden might benefit most from the investigation that Switzerland’s attorney general opened Wednesday into the bidding process that awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
FIFA chose Qatar for the 2022 World Cup over bids from the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia.
With NRG Stadium serving as the area’s anchor, Houston was one of the 18 cities the U.S. Soccer Federation submitted as part of the U.S. bid for the 2022 World Cup. Although the U.S. was free to bid on 2018 and 2022, it focused on 2022 because it was assumed the 2018 Cup would go to a European country. Russia edged England and joint bids from the Netherlands-Belgium and Portugal-Spain for the 2018 Cup.
Houston’s bid committee estimated the area would see an infusion of $400 million to $600 million if the 2022 World Cup bid had been secured.
More importantly, another World Cup in America would help the most popular sport on the planet further cement its place in the American sports landscape.
“Back in ’94, that World Cup kind of put soccer on the map in the U.S.,” said Holden, a member of the 2010 World Cup team. “Now where MLS is and the national team is, if they had another World Cup in Houston, I think it would propel soccer into the upper echelon of sports.
“It would be up with the NBA, NFL, and be one of the big sports in the U.S. I think it would just blow the numbers out of the water.”
With the infrastructure already in place, the U.S. could play host to a World Cup without having to build any new stadiums. A few years ago, a Brazilian Soccer Federation member toured NRG Stadium before a Gold Cup match and joked that he wished he had that stadium for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Ignore the millions of dollars a World Cup would bring to Houston and focus primarily on how such a tournament would introduce the beautiful game to some local sports fans who otherwise wouldn’t care about soccer.
The 1994 World Cup held in the United States opened many eyes and led to the creation of a domestic league. Because of Major League Soccer, Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Ching, Holden, Geoff Cameron and their national team teammates have made the U.S. the dominant soccer power in North America.
Nobody could have imagined the U.S. consistently leading CONCACAF in World Cup qualifying before the 1994 World Cup. Chance to thrive
Although FIFA says the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will go on as scheduled in Russia and Qatar, soccer would truly thrive in America if the bidding process were reopened and the 2022 World Cup were held in the United States.
“It’s disappointing we didn’t get the bid for 2022,” Ching said. “Having a World Cup in the United States would allow more fans to learn about the game. If you look at the impact of the last World Cup, it really launched MLS. If we have it in 2022, it would really help grow the game even more.”
The Justice Department handed out indictments, and the Swiss Attorney General opened a criminal investigation. Wednesday was a good day for folks who love soccer.