So instead of doubling travel distance, you want triple it. Genius. Fuck being indonesia and having to travel all the way to Jamaica for a WC qualfier.

Fuck being Uzbekistan and having to travel all the way to South Africa for a WC qualifier.

The Oceania countries have an equal vote with Oceania just like NZ, so if NZ wants to up and leave it then they will have a fight on its hands. Oceania wants to remain autonomous. At least Australaia left the joint diplomatically.

it's already irrelevant now, and was when we were in it too... like what do you do with them

You would think after Australia's performance at the last Asian Cup that we would be a little bit more humble in our assesment of Asia. A lot of West Asia nations are developing, Countries like Oman and Bahrain are fast improving. These countries players are technically better than our own, though they tend to lack the cutting edge needed to compete at the next level. I think with the kinds of money and expertise that is being put into development it is only a matter of time that we will see change.
If you are refering to the Qatari league only drawing in old-time stars as a bad thing, think about the kinds of people young players in Qatar will play with and against, It can only be good for their development. Secondly, who are we to judge the A-league brought Robbie Fowler, Andy Todd..etc
I think countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia are as good if not better than countries like Costa Rica and El Salvado. Outside America and Mexico most of the teams are equally mediocre in concacaf.

If they do go, what will happen to Oceania? It will become largely irrelevant methinks.

Hey bro, I get what you're saying, but it's easier said than done. Politics bro, politics.

Of those two I like the second best, that would make the half point Oceaina have effectivly given to asia, 2 teams from oceania would get a chance to play for the World Cup and it doesn't come down to a home and away match, they would need to play 4 oppenents homme and away to qualify. much fairer.

Africa, Concacaf, AFC and OFC currently have 14.5 places between them. Any reassignment would not see the quotas go down. There are plenty of dodgy European teams flopping like wet fish in this tournament. Serbia - bottom of their group. Slovenia - utter crap. Denmark - thrashed by Japan. Italy - about as good as New Zealand. On your logic, we should be stripping spots away from UEFA as well.

8 WC places each are u mad? Africa have one team that made it out of the group stage the rest finished bottem of there groups.

As for Asia outside of Australia, South Korea and Japan who is any good?

West Asia are no good at football they jus have lots of money even though no one in there prime would waste there career there.

If anyone is so going to get place it will be North, Central America and Caribbean were 2 out of 3 teams made it out of the group stage. Not to mention there middle level teams like Costa Rica, El salvado are pretty good.

Mexico make it out of he group stage almost every WC. Australia just got pumped 4-0 against germany and N.Korea 7-0 againts Portugal what are u smoking mate?

You do realise that India is currently in the West Asia region. There isn't going to be a massive split between East and West Asia.

Would Bahrain have preferred the two game play-off or to have met them in the final group stage?

You presume this is a democracy. If the East Asian countries decide to do something as a bloc, there is not much that the West Asian countries can do about it. FIFA ain't going to sanction 30% of the world's population because the West Asian's don't like their plans.

I think i wrote a whole essay on that a few months back leading into the World Cup on the merits of it and how the qualification would work... but West Asia would block it because they know the revenue streams of Japan, S Korea and China

I like it, but dont think the AFC would support it, because at a NT level Africa a lot stronger than most West Asian nations, and although East Asia is stronger in a footballing sense, West Asia seems to hold a lot of the political cards in the AFC.


Actually, on further tought, if the likes of Iran/Saudi Arabia can grap 2 of those 8 spots, then that is 2 spots better than they have done ths time......

Edited by villaboy: 29/6/2010 11:16:48 AM

Even better: West Asia joins African confed. East Asia, Oceania and Concacaf merge into a Pacific confed. 8 WC places each. Each is a much better geopolitical outcome with massive commercial opportunities for both. The Pacific confed would rival UEFA within 20 years at both club and WC level.

Just take a spot of europe and make Oceania's spot a full one and let South America have 5 full ones.

very generous but I'm a nice guy.

Most of the PI nations do it in Rugby, because of sponsorship dollars, why not in football??


I dont see the split in East and West Asia. Maybe at the beggining of qualifying, but not in the final stage. The 4 AFC qualifiers at this WC are all East Asian. I am sure the west Asian wouold be thilled as it would mean 2 WC spots for them, but 2 WC spots between us, Japan, Sth Korea, Nth Korea, China (who may be crap now, but have good youngsters coming through), and the possibility of NZ, aint gonna happen.

East Asia.

West Asia.

Simple.

I think you will find that NZ will be at 50-55 in the rankings which is higher all Asian nations except Australia,Japan & South Korea. That should mean that should the qualifying system change to allow us into the group stage in Asia we would possibly be the 4 ranked team.

Edited by Teza: 29/6/2010 08:58:57 AM

You can't expect nations like American Samoa to travl all the way to somewhere like Myanmar for a game that they don't really give a flying fuck about. There simply isn't the money in the sport in Oceania to substantiate this kind of a move. Oceania only exists for New Zealand at this point in time. Small nations can't justify travelling half way across the world for a sport that they scarcely invest my annual salary in.

The only way OFC can join the AFC is if the latter splits into West and East Confederations. It is too big as is , let alone adding the Pacific also.

They'll probably keep the status quo then of the 2-legged play-off. I would make them back to back games though, and not a month in between. Keeps the tie interesting and the build-up intense.

Aussies go in third round, because of their rank, Kiwis would have to start from the first or second round.

If the Kiwi's want in they have to go the whole way and not just chime in at the end. Australia had to play China, Iraq and Qatar in the first phase of qualifying which is a damn sight tougher than the island nations the Kiwi's would have to beat to reach the final stage. Pretty sure the Asians wont want to give up a spot in final stage to let them in.

Unless AFC absorbs OFC I wouldn't see the final round robin participation flying. It would take away a spot for one of the 10 teams that currently play in thosetwo groups, ie Making it only 9 AFC teams that have a chance at the finals.

The option of playing a home & away play-off means that 10 teams had a chance within their respective group, and finishing in 3rd of 5 place gets them a second chance via the confed play-off, and lastly one team gets a chance in the play-off.

As I have said before, why not just dissolve Oceania all together. The above model will only really benefit NZ, so dont really know why Oceania is behind this. By dissolving the confederation all together it will give the PI nations a great opportunity to play against the smaler Asian nations, which will give them a bigger number of competitive games, and exposure in different countries which will lead to sponsorships. Nations like the Phillipines, Bhutan, Myanmar, all compete in the AFC Challenge Cup (a step below Asian Cup), and I dont think the likes of the Solomans or Fiji would be out of theor depth agaimst these guys.

go you Kiwi's!