Its such a catch 22 situation here,

When we were in the OFC were qualified for almost every youth World Cup but we didnt qualify for the senior World Cup.

In the AFC were qualified for every senior world cup but has been a struggle to qualify for youth World Cups and olympics
(2013 last time we qualified for u20s)
(qualified for the last u17s in 2019)
(Qualified for the Olympics first time since 2008)

The women aren't better if not worse at youth level so its clearly alot more challenging to get into these tournaments through football first countries whom have thrown resources which we dream to have and ironically being in the OFC it formed the nucleus of the golden generation 2006 from previous experiences so we are disadvantaged here.
These days we have not replicated the golden generation side probably due to the lack of international exposure as mentioned but also an argument the quality hasnt been there too which is fair.

I guess its an open ended debate about the merits of being in Asia, our players have benefited with more financial incentives which it didnt bring in the OFC days when players had to go to Europe to get a decent career but its changed with the coin on offer with the plus 1 AFC quota.

To conclude we probably worse off in terms of international exposure in helping the national team with less numbers in the big leagues of Europe and more looking at Asia but benefiting in terms of financial side which we probably didn't get in the past through players, AFC Champions League and AFC Cup.

The question is will we ever see another golden generation like the 2006 team again under the current conditions being in Asia? This is hard to answer as we dont know if the conditions being in the AFC prevent it happening or not.

Did it? 

Obviously we want to qualify for every possible tournament but are youth world cups all they are cracked up to be? We are talking about 3 games every four years, assuming we don't get out of the group stages. 

Meanwhile, in the 4 years in between we had New Zealand as the solitary meaningful opponent in a competitive fixture.

It’s not the only factor but it was a crucial factor that happened to the GG.

During the 90s they made 2 semi finals at u20 level and a final at u17 level, overall it helped our reputation with European clubs in getting euro moves from that era.
You can make an argument it started in the late 80s when Australia beat Yugaslavia at the Olympics too.

Possibly it helped with exposure, but we are talking about a completely different era.  Obviously scouting networks are more advanced now, especially with the internet, cheaper air travel etc.  

Either way, it's not like young Australian players aren't getting moves to European clubs though. That is clearly not an issue we have. The problem is the lack of game time. If the players we are producing are good enough they should getting game time. That's totally on us and has nothing to do with joining Asia. 

BUMP.

It sure helps which is why it's so annoying when blokes go 'oh we didn't make XYZ tournament but that doesn't matter'. 100% it matters. You can see from last nights match that the talent is there but the opportunities in Europe would not come knocking that often. Is an Italian club going to sign an Australian when he has literally dozens of young guns coming through their academy? All things considered it'd be far easier to sign a local which is why we need to be at these tournaments.

Aged poorly didn't it :)

You don't understand, playing in region international youth competions against competent opponents is important because we become contenders.
That win last night along with NZs means people will be scouting the aleagues, to put kids in their academies, looking for the next lump of coal.
To turn up to a tournament and get trounced because of a lack of match time, would do nothing but throw the above ideas out the window for another 10 years 

This is incorrect we made plenty of tournaments at all levels and did quite well - ie confeds cup, U17, U20s and Olympics 

If anything you're ignoring the fact that we make WC now but get played off the park (more or less) 

Im not saying it is all due to us joining the AFC but the fact is joining the AFC was not the 'promise land' everyone thought it would be. I accept there as been benefits (of course) but i think we also need to accept there has been some BIG negatives. 

This is spot on - the major benefits have been $$$ for players but in terms of on the park the benefits have not been what we thought they would be. We have to be honest with ourselves and i have found most football fans lack the ability to do that.

The fact that it is even a 'debate' shows we made the wrong decision - when we 1st moved to Asia EVERYONE (I included) thought it would be the best thing for football - I think around 8-9 years into the change i realised how under-whelming it has been for us. 

Ill add i dont think we will ever go back to the OFC ...but i think we should