Well the last one clearly wasn't, as it hasn't happened yet. I'm sure you know that people mean that it's being played during the European winter, Croydon. It's about the disruption to various football leagues, which will include the vast majority of the players involved in the tournament, in order to host it in a country that clearly didn't win the bid on merit. It's also wildly unsuitable for a wide variety of reasons, both sporting and non.
No, I'm sure that people crowing about a winter World Cup hope nobody noticed that it's hardly unprecedented - the very first one was played in winter, after all. Also, for that matter, there are numerous leagues where fixtures are played in June-July, including Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Russia, Croatia and Japan, and they have been disrupted by a June-July World Cup for decades. But nobody pays attention to that, either.
It's not about it being in winter. I'm sure I've already pointed that out. The vast majority of the players at the tournament will be playing in leagues that wouldn't be disrupted by the traditional timing, including most of the countries that you've named.
Apart from the players who ply their trades in: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Croatia, Ecuador, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, Uruguay or USA. That affects more teams than you'd think - the majority of Chile's squad is based in South America, most of Mexico's team are home-based, all of Russia's players are home-based, several of Croatia's players are based in Croatia or Ukraine, and there's various African players dotted around the Russian league. Why FIFA dictate a World Cup based solely on what is convenient for clubs in western Europe does undermine their talk of a footballing family somewhat.
Russia's season will be disrupted in either case, as it starts in July now. 3 of the last Argentina squad play in either their home country or Mexico. 2 of the last Brazilian squad play in their home country and one plays in the Ukraine. Roughly half of the Chile squad was picked from leagues that us the standard European format and 16 of the Uruguayan squad were. I'm not going to go through every single side, but it's clear that the vast majority of players involved come from teams that will have their seasons disrupted by this tournament.
Except the vast majority of players based in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Croatia, Ecuador, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, Uruguay or USA. Here's a list of notable players who play in those leagues: Argentina: Fernando Gago, Maxi Rodriguez Brazil: Alexandre Pato, Leandro Daimao, Fred, Ronaldinho, Diego Forlan Croatia: Josip Simunic, Alen Halilovic Mexico: Gerardo Torrado, Carlos Salcido Russia: Mark Gonzalez, Victor Obinna, Hulk, Axel Witsel, Yann M'Vila, Felipse Caicedo Ukraine: Darijo Srna, Ognen Vukojevic, Eduardo, Jermaine Jens, Miguel Veloso USA: Landon Donovan, Obafami Martins That's the list of players people will have heard of. That's not considering squad players for Chile or Uruguay playing in Brazil, Argentina, or based at home. They're the ones being inconvenienced by a World Cup in the middle of their season this summer - or, as it is to those in the southern hemisphere, their winter
Because the Qatar bid, which they voted for, included ways to cool down the stadiums and surrounding areas in the heat of the summer and made no mention of the possiblity of hosting it in the winter. It's inexcusable that Fifa have let Qatar off the hook so easily with this. Qatar essentially filled their bid with nonsense about creating lots of clouds to block some of the Sun's heat and air conditioning stadiums and the immediate areas outside yet the officials that voted for it are neither embarrassed for believing the hair brained schemes nor angry at Qatar for failing to deliver anything like the World Cup they promised. It's nothing to do with the arrogance of Europe expecting the World Cup to be timed to suit European leagues rather than any other's, like FIFA have tried to insinuate. It's going to be a terrible tournament when it comes around and I hope at somepoint FIFA are held accountable for their incompetence(seeing as the corruption's being overlooked). As far as gay footballers are concerned, it's a non-issue for me, as it is for most people but credit to Hitzelsperger for coming out, it must be a tough decision to make and a tough thing to keep quiet in the first place.
There's quite a few that should have the courage to "come out" on this site. I'm not going to name any names, but Ozzie and Robbie know what I'm talking about...
I really don't want to get started on this subject again. The idiocy of the original decision to hold a World Cup in a giant sandpit where temperatures hit 50c+. The blatant corruption involved. The number of needless deaths that have already occurred, and probably continue to occur. The whole shambolic farce stinks to high heaven!...An utter disgrace that no one, least of all slippery Sepp, will accept any responsibility for. Rant over....
Onanism rights campaigners have been quick to leap to the defence of Howard Webb after he publicly admitted to being an onanist, hoping that the crowds would not make any negative chants about his lifestyle choices.
In that case Webb should pull out as soon as possible otherwise he risks spreading seeds of discontent.
