英国申办世界杯失利 给赢家俄罗斯冷脸

England’s humiliating defeat in the race to host the 2018 World Cup sparked a bitter new ‘Cold War’ with Russia last night.

The £15million bid –spearheaded by David ­Cameron, Prince William and David Beckham – didn’t even get past the first round.

It secured just two of the 22 votes by committee members of football’s world governing body Fifa in a secret ballot – one of which was cast by England’s own FA chairman Geoff Thompson.

Amid strong suspicions of shady backroom deals, the tournament went to Russia.

Last night Downing Street did little to hide its anger and said Mr Cameron had no plans to congratulate the Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin personally ‘at the present time’.

Shortly after Fifa president Sepp Blatter declared Russia the winner for 2018, he announced that Qatar, a tiny desert country which has never even qualified to play in the World Cup, would host the 2022 tournament, beating bids from Australia, the United States and a joint bid from Japan and South Korea.

Fifa’s controversial decisions reinforced suspicions that the voting process was corrupt and that the sport’s world governing body had been seduced by the energy-rich countries’ billions, meaning that England’s bid never stood a chance.

A ‘bitterly disappointed’ and visibly furious Mr Cameron said England had the best technical bid and what he believed was the strongest commercial bid, adding: ‘It turns out that’s not enough.’

Asked what more England could have done to secure the tournament, the Prime Minister replied: ‘I think that’s for others to say.’

When Mr Cameron met Russian president Dmitry Medvedev he had challenged him to a ‘good clean fight’ but last night the Prime Minister’s official spokesman refused to say the voting process was either good or clean.

Number 10 aides were furious with the outcome after Mr Cameron had made two flying visits to Zurich where the vote was held and been up into the small hours yesterday frantically lobbying for crucial votes.

So committed was the Government to win the bid that Mr Blatter was even allowed to hold Mr Cameron’s baby daughter Florence when he visited Downing Street recently.

But despite three days of intense lobbying in Zurich by the Three Lions, the England bid team feared they had been damaged by a backlash against corruption investigations into Fifa members by BBC’s Panorama and the Sunday Times.

2018年世界杯主办国昨晚揭晓，英格兰的耻辱性惨败使其对赢家俄罗斯的态度如同新一轮“冷战”。

英格兰此次申办耗资1500万英镑，由英国首相大卫•卡梅伦、威廉王子和大卫•贝克汉姆打先锋，但首轮投票便惨遭淘汰。

在世界足坛主管机构国际足联举行的22名委员无记名投票中，英格兰仅收获两票，其中一票还来自自家人、英国足协主席杰夫•汤普森。

在有关非法幕后交易的强烈质疑声中，2018年世界杯主办权花落俄罗斯。

唐宁街昨晚并未掩饰自己的愤怒，表示“在这个时候”卡梅伦个人并不打算向俄总理弗拉基米尔•普京道贺。

国际足联主席塞普•布拉特昨晚先后宣布俄罗斯、卡塔尔分获2018年、2022年世界杯主办权。沙漠小国卡塔尔从未打进过世界杯决赛圈，澳大利亚、美国、联合申办国日韩纷纷落败。

国际足联富有争议的决定让人更加怀疑投票过程存在腐败行为，以及该全球足坛主管机构收受了某些能源富有国家的巨额贿赂，这些都意味着英格兰根本没有机会胜出。

“心寒”而且显然很恼怒的卡梅伦表示，英格兰申办的技术条件和经济支持都是最好的。但他补充说：“原来，这还不够。”

在被问及英格兰还需要在哪些方面努力才能胜出时，他回答道：“这你得问别人了。”

卡梅伦会晤俄罗斯总统德米特里•梅德韦杰夫时，曾表示要和他在这场“高水平的公平竞争”中比比看，但昨晚卡梅伦的官方发言人拒绝评价投票过程是否是“高水平”或者“公平的”。

卡梅伦的助手们对投票结果非常愤怒。卡梅伦曾两次飞抵投票地苏黎世，为了向握有关键选票的委员游说，昨天一直熬到凌晨。

英国政府方面为了申办成功也非常努力，甚至在布拉特最近到访英国的时侯，还让他抱了抱卡梅伦刚出世不久的女儿佛罗伦斯。

尽管“三狮军团”在苏黎世铆足劲拉了三天票，英国申办团还是担心他们的努力被英国广播公司的《全景》栏目和《星期日泰晤士报》给毁了。上述两家媒体报道了针对国际足联委员展开的腐败调查。

Vocabulary:

spearhead:to lead or initiate an attack, a campaign, etc.（充当先锋，带头做）

stand a chance: show, to have a chance or possibility, esp. of winning or surviving（有可能，有机会）

small hours: hours after midnight; early morning hours（午夜以后，凌晨）

Three Lions: 三狮军团，英格兰足球队的别称