After denying that soccer had even the slightest resemblance to hockey just a few weeks ago to one of my friends, I have now attended two Chicago Fire soccer games.  I've watched soccer in the past, and actually get excited for say the World Cup. But to say a couple weeks ago that I liked soccer would be wrong.  With the privilege to go to a few games, mostly to learn and get to understand the game better, soccer has grown on me a bit.  And the comparison to hockey (a sport that I love and know a ton about), well, there is some truth to it. Soccer isn't played on ice, will never be mistaken for physical, nor will it ever be as fast-paced, but there are some similarities. 

There are two goals, each on opposite ends of the field where each team tries to score on their opponent. The team with the most goals wins. That's easy- we all know that. Not as obvious, however, is the way both soccer and hockey limit the amount of interruptions during the game. Different than basketball, for example, where play is stopped frequently and teams are allowed up to six timeouts throughout the game, soccer has running time, and hockey, teams are only allowed only one timeout each, which allows the game to maintain flow and rhythm (I am a proponent of this).

NEW YORK (October 15, 2010) –The USA Bid Committee announced today that it has withdrawn from the 2018 FIFA World Cup bid and will exclusively focus on the 2022 campaign.

The decision comes after several months of careful deliberation with FIFA, UEFA and members of the USA Bid Board of Directors. Four European candidates now remain in the race for 2018 (Belgium/Netherlands, England, Russia and Spain/Portugal). Since the FIFA Statutes indicate that the competition cannot be held on the same continent on two successive occasions, the 2022 campaign will now be between Australia, Japan, Korea Republic, Qatar and the United States.

“For some time we have been in conversations with FIFA and UEFA about the possibility of focusing only on the 2022 bidding process, an option we have made reference to many times,” said Sunil Gulati, Chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of U.S. Soccer. “We are confident this is in the best interests of the USA Bid.”

“We have had an open and constructive dialogue with the USA Bid for some time now, after it became apparent that there was a growing movement to stage the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Europe,” said FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke. “The announcement today by the USA Bid to focus solely on the 2022 FIFA World Cup is therefore a welcome gesture which is much appreciated by FIFA.”

The FIFA Executive Committee will gather in Zurich on October 28 and 29 to discuss a number of items, including the final voting process for the selection of the host nations for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups.

“We wanted to make the announcement now – still 48 days before the final decision – in order to make our intentions clear during the last part of our campaign,” added Gulati. “This also enables FIFA to finalize the selection procedures during its upcoming Executive Committee meeting.”