Dear Editor:
In his op-ed (sorry, old habits die hard) "Why the World Cup Belongs in the Middle East", Abdullah Al-Arian mentions just some of the (valid) reasons given for why the World Cup doesn't belong in Qatar. I expected him to then try to debunk them, but he didn't, instead just going off on a tangent about football (called soccer in the United States) in the Middle East.
Just as the games were about to begin, we saw another reason why the World Cup doesn't belong in Qatar: it pressured FIFA to renege on its commitment to a company that paid $75 million to be a main sponsor of the World Cup ... and, in the despicable tradition of Avery Brundage, FIFA caved.
Personally, I think we might all be better off if beer wasn't sold at sporting events, but Budweiser has effectively gotten cheated out of the money it paid in good faith and that's not right.
There is one country in the Middle East that is a real democracy, keeps its commitments and is filled with football fanatics, making it far more deserving to host the World Cup: Israel. But Qatar? Let's hope FIFA has learned a lesson.
Sincerely,
Alan Stein