Ben's Sports Take: Will the World Cup make its way down yonder? NOPE! (Updated)

Sometime later this morning, the executive committee for the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) will hand down its decision on which country will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

With soccer-hungry, hooligan-ridden countries like England, Russia, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Portugal in the running, you may be asking yourself why this vote is relevant to the United States, and more specifically, the city of Atlanta.

Of course, many of you already know the reason why this vote is of the utmost importance to those residing here in the ATL —based on your defense of what I considered to be an underwhelming turnout at the Aaron's International Soccer Challenge back in July.

But for those of you who are unaware of the United States' involvement in all of this—which is most likely a large majority—Atlanta is one of 18 U.S. cities that will be vying for one of 12 host locations if the USA is ultimately awarded the 2022 World Cup.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has been politicking for Atlanta's inclusion in the World Cup for awhile, but he, and the rest of the city, will have to wait a few more hours to find out if the world's most captivating sporting event (arguably) will make its way to the ATL.

The United States is considered by many to be the front-runner for the 2022 Cup, and the fact that the U.S. pulled its name out of the running for the 2018 Cup back in October could be a positive indication that the U.S. will be awarded the 2022 version.

The competition for the 2022 Cup isn't all that stiff either. Australia, Japan/South Korea and Qatar don't have the richest soccer histories—kind of like the U.S.—and don't have the infrastructure of large, available stadiums necessary to host a global event such as the World Cup.

It also doesn't hurt that former President Bill Clinton, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, USA soccer superstar Landon Donovan and the always persuasive Morgan Freeman were all on-hand in Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday to state the States' claim to the 2022 World Cup in front of FIFA executives.

So, what would it mean for the city of Atlanta to host a World Cup? I'll let you know in a few hours (or I'll just bitch about why the U.S. wasn't chosen to host).

(More details to come after the announcement...)