What country should score the 2022 World Cup?

The U.S. is on a shortlist to host the world's biggest soccer tournament. What nation should get the event—and all the money it will bring in?

Bill Clinton, chatting with some soccer fans in Harlem, NY, is the honorary chairman of the USA bid Committee to host the FIFIA World Cup in 2018 or 2022.
(Image credit: Corbis)

American soccer fans are on edge as FIFA prepares to announce on Thursday which country will host the 2022 World Cup. The U.S. is considered a strong contender, and most agree the country could do a fine job, having successfully hosted the tournament in 1994. But the favorite is the small Middle Eastern emirate of Qatar. Australia, South Korea, and Japan are also in the running. Who deserves the Cup most? (Watch the Arsenal coach push for England)

A victory for the U.S. would be a victory for soccer: Qatar's bid is strong, says Jeff Rusnak in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, given the "nine new, air-conditioned stadiums" it has promised to build. But giving hosting duties to the U.S. would mean a brighter, more lucrative future for soccer, thanks to big-money TV and sponsorship deals. "The U.S. has long been soccer's last frontier." Hosting another World Cup "might close the deal."

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