England's star power flop in Zurich

LONDON: FIFA's 22 executive committee members in a secret ballot picked Russia and Qatar as World Cup hosts for 2018 and 2022 respectively. Qatar bagged the 2022 event, holding off Australia, US, Japan and South Korea, even though it has never qualified for the World Cup finals.
"You'll be proud of us, you'll be proud of the Middle East," Qatar's representative promised.French soccer star Zinedine Zidane had backed the bid.
Year-long hectic campaigning by the contenders culminated at Zurich's Exhibition Centre, where Sepp Blatter, who has been Fifa president since 1998, declared the winners live to an international television audience.
In the run up to the much awaited decision, two out of Fifa's 24 executive committee members, Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti were suspended for informing the Sunday Times of London in a sting operation that they were willing to sell their vote. They were, in effect, barred from voting.
England fielded a trio of heavy hitters in the United Kingdom's prime minister, David Cameron, Prince William, second in succession to the British throne, and David Beckham, former England captain and still one of the world's best known footballers.
Cameron pleaded: "Think of any nationality, any religion, any background and I bet you we have that community in England. So we can provide a home crowd for every team." But his was to no avail.
Portugal's prime minister, Jose Socrates, and Spain's president, Jose Luis Zapatero were among the presenters for their countries, while footballing legend Ruud Gullit was the president for combined Netherlands-Belgium bid.