The most important battle in football this fall is not between Norway and Portugal or Barcelona and Real Madrid. It is the battle between the great powers that seek to host the World Cup in 2018 and 2022.

Last Sunday Ali Karimi - aka Asia's Maradona – was fired from the Tehran team Steel Azin FC for not fasting during Ramadan. Karimi is no ‘nobody’ in Iran. He is the second most merited on the national team, third on the top scorer list and was voted Asia's best player in Iran in 2004.

In the buildup to the Vancouver Olympics, Canadians were shocked to learn that the IOC could legally discriminate against female ski jumpers because their contract with VANOC resided in Switzerland, and gave the IOC carte blanche in terms of deciding what sports and events would be in the Games.

The disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has left its clear mark on David Cameron's visit to Washington. The biggest oil disaster of our time overshadows the war in Afghanistan and the financial crisis that the two countries are battling with. In the U.S., BP has become a term of abuse like "french fries" was that after France's protest against U.S. warfare in Iraq.

The World Cup is undoubtedly over. It is time for reflection. I want to speculate on the future of the football World Cup based on this year's tournament. Will the World Cup be destroyed by political disputes?

There were many who believed – and hoped – that the U.S. would do well in this year's FIFA World Cup. The U.S. has good results to show for the last couple of years (finals in the Gold Cup and the Confederations Cup) and it is the third best team in the Americas (14th in FIFA rankings).

Words fail when describing the performance and behavior of the French players during the World Cup. It is not sufficient to blame the coach - who was voted the worst coach since King Louis XVI of France. The players behaved like medieval fools. Now I suggest they go to Gaza to get rid of their reputation as national fools and contribute to the solution of a tense, international conflict.

Declan Hill comments on FIFA's promises to fight down match-fixing in this year's World Cup and remarks on possible match-fixing activities in the vulnerable last matches of the group-stage games.