I wonder how that could have happened…

Theories aside, I did a little light reading. Apparently fifa moved up the time-table unexpectedly and the only other country (Australia) lost its support and co-host (Indonesia) to Saudia Arabia. Overall it looks like most of the AFC is supporting SA’s bid because other countries within the federation want to submit their own bids for later WCs.

Sort of makes sense, united effort and support so that down the line they can count on or secure votes ahead of time. I don’t know if that’s good or bad for the process in general, I would need to read more to find out. Seems a bit like gaming the system to me.