The African Arab states that hoped to host the World Cup in 2010 were upset when FIFA chose South Africa to do so. Hosting the most popular international sport event every four years is the dream of many countries because of the huge economic and social benefits.
Apart from the game itself and the match results, fans, slogans and profits and losses, the angry reaction on the part of the African Arab states is a reflection of the emotional attitude that failed to take into consideration what, in these special circumstances, makes a winner and what makes a loser.
The problem with the Arab countries is simple; they must be able to guarantee their ability to host the event and fulfill the requirements set by the world football body. It has nothing to do with FIFA favoring this or that country.
We Arabs tend to blame others for our problems and instead of looking for why we lose, we rush to blame others and accuse them of bias against us. Remember the Arabic proverb: The camel cannot see its own hump.
Instead of wailing and making accusations here and there, those Arab countries that hoped to host the World Cup should thoroughly investigate the reasons that made South Africa win and them lose. Perhaps if they indulged in some honest and painful self-criticism they would arrive at the reasons for their failure. They would discover that many things need to be remedied: political, economic, legal, social, intellectual, sports, media — for a start.
It is only after carrying out the required reforms, putting their own house in order and working hard to meet the standards set for such international events that they will really be able to compete for hosting the World Cup after 2010.
If, on the other hand, they opt for attacking FIFA and accusing it of favoring South Africa, they can forget about achieving anything at all.
South Africa deserved to win and for objective reasons. These have nothing to do with emotions and sentiments. It is the country that produced Nelson Mandela, the country whose people worked hard to build an advanced, democratic, open and tolerant nation, one that boasts an infrastructure qualifying it to host any international event. Let us look carefully at it so that we can learn and benefit from its experience.
