Etc...

There wasn't enough interest

Back in 2002, amid all the excitement of the World Cup championship game between Brazil and Germany, 15,000 enthusiastic fans gathered to watch two other teams clash at the opposite end of the scale. Bhutan routed Montserrat 4-0 that day, although the one-sided score probably had something to do with the fact that they played at altitude in the Himalayas. (Bhutan's – ahem – booters had a distinct advantage since they were used to the 8,000-foot elevation.) At the time, the governing body of soccer, FIFA, ranked Bhutan's team 202nd in the world and Montserrat's 203rd (and last). Still, as a special promotion, the game was a success. By all accounts, everyone involved enjoyed the experience, which was videotaped for a documentary. Afterward, the athletes gathered to watch the Brazil-Germany championship game on TV from Yokohama, Japan. Now, fast-forward to this year, when the bottom-feeders of soccer have been replaced in the rankings by American Samoa and the Turks & Caicos islands. So, in which of their tropical settings will the anti-World Cup final be played? Alas, neither. No one planned such a contest, and, said a FIFA spokes-man, "It's a shame because it was a great occasion."