\u0022It\u0027s a country that\u0027s too small,\u0022 Blatter said of Qatar, the smallest host by size since the 1954 tournament in Switzerland.
The 32 teams will play 64 games in eight stadiums in and around the city of Doha which has been transformed since 2010 by massive construction projects to prepare for the World Cup.
It became part of FIFA lore that an expected U.S. victory swung toward Qatar at a meeting Sarkozy hosted in Paris in the week before the Dec. 2, 2010 vote by FIFA’s executive committee. “Thanks to the four votes of Platini and his team, the World Cup went to Qatar rather than the United States. It’s the truth,” Blatter said of the 14-8 voting result.
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