Australia withdraw 2018 World Cup bid

About time. Australia can't host a World Cup--can you imagine getting up at 6 in the morning (or waiting until 11 at night) to watch games? Simply out of the question. Sorry, Aussies. Read the news here.

The pool of candidates now is down to England (wow, first the Olympics, now this... they're on a roll); USA (not again... please, not again...); Spain/Portugal (interesting indeed!); Belgium/Holland (didn't we just have a horrible European Cup here?); and Russia (my favorite, for no other reason they haven't hosted a significant international football event yet).

But of course, it's far too early to tell. Meanwhile, a reminder: Brazil 2014 will be the best World Cup ever, and if it isn't, I renounce football!