Tampa one of 18 cities included in U.S. World Cup bid

Tampa has been selected as one of the 18 cities that will make up the United States’ bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup when the list was announced on Tuesday afternoon in New York.

The bid committee, led by former Tampa Bay Rowdies standout Farrukh Quraishi, made its final presentation for the US Bid committed in December along with the other 26 cities vying for a place in the bid.

Nine cities were eliminated from the process today. Should the U.S. be awarded the competition for either year, another six cities would be eliminated, leaving 12 official host cities for the tournament.

Also included in the bid were Miami and Atlanta, with the biggest surprise being the omission of Chicago from the list of 18.

The bid, should it succeed, would likely be the largest in the World Cup’s history. U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said the stadiums available to the bid would allow for an average capacity of 78,000 seats, allowing for over 5 million tickets to be available for the tournament as a whole.

College: Spartans ranked No.3 in preseason poll

The University of Tampa has been ranked No.3 in the nation in the opening National Soccer Coaches Association of America Men's Division II poll.

The ranking is the same that the Spartans ended last season with. In fact, in an amazing display of unoriginality from the NSCAA voters, this season's preseason rankings are exactly the same as the final rankings from 2008.

http://www.nscaa.com/seniorRes.php?it=963

That isn't the case in the preseason women's poll, with UT being ranked No.24, up a spot from its No.25 final ranking in 2008. However, it is apparent that Saint Leo's Sunshine State Conference title a season ago, and being named the favorite to repeat by SSC coaches and SID's this week, didn't register with the NSCAA voters, since the Lions do not even appear in the 'also receiving votes' section of the poll.

http://www.nscaa.com/seniorRes.php?it=966