Home ground advantage historically has favored Europeans and Sth Americans.  If more tournaments are played outside of those confederations, the gap would narrow.

The best striker in the SPL is Kyogo.

Hatate would be a shout for the best attacking mid/playmaker.

Neither are deemed good enough for the Japan NT.

Interesting graph on Australia's FIFA world rankings in a footballing world that's getting more competitive and tougher by the year:

Don't agree when Japan, South Korea and Australia is concerned. IMO, they would clean up on at least 50 - 60% of these countries and be odds on favorites to qualify in a European group.

Pot 1 Team Rank  Belgium 1  France 2  England 4  Portugal 5  Spain 6  Italy 10  Croatia 11  Denmark 12  Germany 13  Netherlands 14	Pot 2 Team Rank  Switzerland 16  Wales 18  Poland 19  Sweden 20  Austria 23  Ukraine 24  Serbia 30  Turkey 32  Slovakia 33  Romania 37	Pot 3 Team Rank  Russia 39  Hungary 40  Republic of Ireland 42  Czech Republic 43  Norway 44  Northern Ireland 45  Iceland 46  Scotland 48  Greece 53  Finland 54
Pot 4 Team Rank  Bosnia and Herzegovina 55  Slovenia 62  Montenegro 63  North Macedonia 65  Albania 66  Bulgaria 68  Israel 87  Belarus 88  Georgia 89  Luxembourg 98	Pot 5 Team Rank  Armenia 99  Cyprus 100  Faroe Islands 107  Azerbaijan 109  Estonia 109  Kosovo 117  Kazakhstan 122  Lithuania 129  Latvia 136  Andorra 151	Pot 6 Team Rank  Malta 176  Moldova 177  Liechtenstein 181  Gibraltar 195  San Marino 210

True, except Qatar didn't qualify for their own WC.

3 out of 5 Asian teams who qualified for Qatar made the last 16, equating to 60%.

We are also discussing this last WC played in Asia, not previous WCs played in Europe. We might be  better at playing in unfamiliar continents that some UEFA teams. The empirical evidence from the last WC in Qatar is that Asia may have improved as a football confederation.

 Our tougher qualifying campaign as only the 5th best Asian team in WCQs might have stood us in good stead for the Finals in Qatar.

@Decentric 2 - Asia had 3/6 make the round of 16 = 50% Europe was 8/13 = 62%,

But over many World Cups Europe's numbers are far superior to other confederations whereas Asia has its ups and downs.

Clearly if the goal was to have the 32 best teams qualify there would be more European teams qualifying for World Cups at the expense of other confederations and with the expansion to 48 Europe will be even worse off relative to the strength of its middle tier teams.

As individual club players in the UK, and as individuals at international level in Europe, they could arguably be better, individually, than our players.

However, as  battle hardened international players playing  across the globe, in different countries and different cultures, and, playing in big international comp final tournaments, like Asian Cups and World Cups, they might not be as good as their Socceroo counterparts?

Also, as  part of an effective team unit, greater than the sum of the team's parts, they might also not be as good as their Socceroos counterparts. 

Denmark easily beat Scotland in UEFA WCQs for Qatar.

That we drew with  Denmark in Russia WC 2018, and beat them in Qatar 2022, bodes well for us accounting for Scotland playing them in neutral territory like Qatar.

I'm enjoying seeing more posters on this forum who are becoming  not only proud of Aussie achievements, but also other Asian Confed  national team achievements! There is one football forum, based in Australia, where the vast majority of forum members rejoice every time  the Socceroos lose a game!

Sage point about Saudi beating Argentina in Qatar, BT.

After the two successive  defeats to  Saudi and Japan, with Arnie absent, who would have thought a few days after those  games, we would not only have qualified for  Qatar a few months later, in two sudden death fixtures, but finished 11th in Qatar, and then beaten Ecuador at home on aggregate 4-3 over a two match series ?

Not many.

its pretty difficult to compare reasons why a NT like Scotland haven't made it through to the WC for so long for as we know so many variables can be.
The draw, injuries to key players depending the game, they lost the 2nd place play off this last one.
Some NT's just can't put it together when it matters ie Italy missing last 2 WC's.
Scotland have some players better than ours no doubt about it - backs Robbo/Tierney, mids McGregor/McTominay/McGinn, Adams up front.
Thats 6 top flighters right there, same applies for Italy but more, just meant to be for some.
We've taken the 2 longest routes to qualify last 2 WC's, skin of our teeth, qualifying is bloody fantastic and I think we are used to being journeyman compared to the mention of Euro NT's not performing to their standards capable depending the climate rings true.
Asian NT's coming from warmer climates in general adapt better but does it mean they are better on the park when all things are equal, depends on the day.
and saying on the day thats football right - we jagged 2 important goals.

As for the SFC Hoops game, never easy climatising for the visiting team, key players not in, ressies get more of a run, SFC full strength, more of a point to prove against known visitors and gunning start of the season, infact I think its the best football they have played this season, things just clicked as they do.
I don't think they would beat the full strength Hoops team imo, not that thats much for I don't rate the SPL period.
How the SPL is ranked 17th is damming to other leagues around them, Argentina Primeria is 18th, JL 20th you'd think more technical players are there.
Last I saw Ecuador in '22 was ranked 41st ! I see another '23 ranking they are 85th !!!   

There is always those unexpected winning games us beating Denmark but its doing it regularly that we are not there.
Something like what Morrocco is outstanding more than us but kudos to our boys, we done far beyound our expectations, the cards fell our way and we took it, love that about football.

Also Saudi Arabia BEAT Argentina in WCUP! 

It was a friendly, but it is rare for a 'big name' UEFA club to lose to an AL team, particularly SFC who have not had a great season.

Celtic is probably a 'bigger name' than they are a 'performer'. I think I saw them and Rangers ranked about 40 - 48 in world club rankings.

Celtic win away because it is a relatively weak league. 

It is axiomatic amongst  the Aus football coaching community, that outside Rangers and Celtic,  the Scottish top league is no better than the AL.  

With due respect, after not qualifying for the World Cup since 1998, it is difficult to argue that Scotland is currently better than Australia.  Denmark topped the UEFA WCQ group that Scotland was a member of in the campaign for WC 2022.

Australia beat Denmark in the Qatar WC and drew with them in the Russian WC in 2018. Australia is a better international  team unit than the sum of its parts.

Just because  Scotland have a few EPL players, as a team unit, they have consistently failed to qualify for the WC in 6 successive WC campaigns. The excuse that Europe is a tough qualifying group, can't really be extrapolated to the international sphere, because many  UEFA teams don't play particularly well outside Europe.

 Germany (not this time), France, maybe England, Portugal, Croatia, Netherlands and Switzerland, have had qualified success outside Europe over a sustained period? Belgium and Denmark certainly  haven't.

 Asia had the same  percentage of teams who qualified  for the round of 16 in Qatar as UEFA, or rather 60% to 61%. If we look at East Asia exclusively, 100% of East Asian teams qualified for the last 16 in Qatar.


Also, Denmark were ranked 10th in the world when Aus beat them in Qatar.  Hence, Aus beat a top 10 team in world rankings in a WC.

I don't think direct comparisons between the SPL and AL is that constructive. I think actually what we've seen is that both leagues have a lot to offer and have really helped the NT. Whether the move is the right one or not will depend on the individual. I'm sure Irvine is grateful for his time in the SPL, whereas, Atkinson may be wondering (early days). I'm sure Goodwin/O'Neill are grateful for their time in the AL, whereas, someone like Volpato has been critical. 

It's only been recently that the SPL started targeting transfers from the AL, with young guys going over more frequently. It'll be interesting to watch how they develop and if it's helpful for them. I think that's too early to judge, it's a mixed bag atm. 

After celtic lost to Sydney fc, James Forrest said in interview that the travel was ‘no excuse for the loss’.
interesting and rare for a famous international club to play an AL or AL All stars side and lose.
If Scotland NT have improved enough to beat Spain then they should make a better impression at next Euros 

Pish.

They were at full strength.

ha ha ha :-)

Celtic did not bring their World Cup stars to Australia. But, despite that they were on holiday. I would suggest that the A-League is upper Scottish championship level at best.

In Scotland, Celtic win away as much as they win at home (and they have only lost one game this season). But is is only just over a 3 hours drive by car from Glasgow to Dingwall (which is the longest trip). As there are no stops in the team bus it would take about the same time. I know you meant Europe but lets see what happens next year.

Remember Sevco lost the Europa Cup final last year on penalties and Celtic have all but wrapped up this years SPL being 9 points clear with a vastly superior goal difference.

No one is saying that the Socceroos are not a decent side. They are. But at the moment Scotland is stronger with the majority of their players involved in the EPL.

My mistake about it being a Friendly. Well done to Scotland.
but come on - Sydney fc beating Celtic means Melb City, Wsw and Mariners would have beaten them that day too. What does that say about celtic playing away?! (Their nothing special)

Anybody that thinks the Socceroos are NOT a decent football side is an idiot. 

And the grass was too long apparently :P

From my observation with the Scottish league, outside of Celtic and Rangers who are of course strong I cant the same with rest of the league with confidence because I don't think the standard of football is good when comparing to our league here.
I think most a-league teams especially the best ones try to play football through all thirds of the pitch and do it well quite well and often we see improved in players for that reason we just need to play more games as Arnie has conversantly said but also we need promotion and relegation which will raise the level alot more especially the bottom teams and push the higher teams to get better as well.

Its true they play more games and have pro-rel but I haven't seen the evidence from the players that have there to have improved as players, and questions me the logic in playing for those teams if they dont progress to higher level league in Europe. (No offence to the Scottish league when I say this by the way) it's a physical and intense league and have plenty of passionate fans in tough places which is ok when playing more games than here but i dont see much the improvement as players on a technical and tactical level.

Prime example was Devlin to O'Neill, when watching the game closely you wouldn't tell that O'Neill has played in overseas in recent times given how impressive he has been for Melb City, he was showing for the ball alot more even under pressure from Ecuador's physical press and was one of our best players in that series, whilst contrast to Devlin who is combative and brave as he usually is but he didnt show enough for the ball with the same consistently and struggled to impose himself into the game.

My point is you cant estimate what good coaching can do to a player, we have got good coaches here that have helped improved the standard of play but the players have to be careful when moving to different leagues in Europe particularly if the standard is questionable because the end goal has to be improvement as players and therefore raise the standard for the national team.

What Scotland beat was Spain's B team, that wasn't their best lineup.

Decentric has learnt a new word:- "Assiduously". Hope I spelt it correctly.

No.

Scotland beat Spain in their European qualifier. It was as far from a friendly.

Spain is ranked 10th in the World. Denmark is ranked 18th.When is the last time Australia beat, in a competitive match, any nation in the top 10?

You can't take anything from Celtics loss to Sydney. It was on a goodwill tour and a friendly. To suggest Sydney are anywhere close to SPL standard is delusional.

European WCup qualifiying is harder but the gap is getting smaller. Roos beating Peru to make Qatar and reaching 2nd round proved that. Scotland beat Spain in a friendly- Roos beat Denmark in the actual WCup! 

So you haven't watched Celtic lately to see how Anges's coaching style may have evolved? If you had you would have seen a fast, skillful, physical and highly technical team playing attractive football on pitches which are usually of good quality.

I suggest you should take a step back and base your opinions on what you see rather than blindly rely on someone else's opinion which may or may not be correct.

Yes, Scottish football is physical. overly physical? No. With VAR there would be red cards in every match if it was.

Qualification for World Cups is much harder in Europe than Asia. We live in the present not the past. You do realise that Scotland beat and outplayed Spain 2 0 last week? They lead their European qualifier group.

I would suggest that the requirement that SPL managers hold European licences ensures they are well trained.

In professional leagues, coaches are judged by results nothing else. If they fail to get results they get sacked.