Whose failure are you supporting?

[BoyBrumby]

This is in no way a shot at Oz, but for mine 4 Asian teams (with the possibility of a fifth) is too many. Same with CONCACAF (sp?), the standard of the teams doesn't justify their representation either.

Africa & South America should have at least one more. I don't think (say) Iran or Costa Rica add as much to the occasion as (say) Cameroon or Chile would.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

This is in no way a shot at Oz, but for mine 4 Asian teams (with the possibility of a fifth) is too many. Same with CONCACAF (sp?), the standard of the teams doesn't justify their representation either.

Africa & South America should have at least one more. I don't think (say) Iran or Costa Rica add as much to the occasion as (say) Cameroon or Chile would.

I agree. CONCACAF and the AFC are clearly the weakest conferences (aside from Oceania, which doesn't get a place at all), and 4-5 is too many for both of them. I'd be happy to see both of them lose a spot and have them go to South America and Africa, with Oceania playing off with the 4th Asian side or the 6th South American one.

Mind you, with Saudi Arabia playing decently, the fare from Asia this time doesn't look too bad. Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran are all decent sides, but with the chance of a 5th side it's a bit too much I think, especially with Africa doing so well.

 

[marc71178]

Wouldn't a better option be that perhaps they play off with the next best side from those mentioned?

Say Concacaf vs South America and Asia vs Africa?

Of course that might leave South America's 6th side going through and 5th side out!

 

[Scaly piscine]

This is in no way a shot at Oz, but for mine 4 Asian teams (with the possibility of a fifth) is too many. Same with CONCACAF (sp?), the standard of the teams doesn't justify their representation either.

Africa & South America should have at least one more. I don't think (say) Iran or Costa Rica add as much to the occasion as (say) Cameroon or Chile would.

Haven't African teams lost every game so far bar one - where Tunisia got a late goal to draw against Saudi Arabia?

I fail to see how Africa would merit another place with that record.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Haven't African teams lost every game so far bar one - where Tunisia got a late goal to draw against Saudi Arabia?

I fail to see how Africa would merit another place with that record.

And that's got nowt to do with the group drawings, where the two decent sides to make it through qualifying have both been placed in groups with two of the top ten sides in the world? The fact that Senegal, quarter-finalists from four years ago, missed out, suggests that competition among the African teams is too tough and there needs to be expansion (a bit like Spain nearly missed out on this cup, then goes on to beat Ukraine 4-0). Anyway, if you look at the last 12 years or so, Africa's definitely the strongest of the four

Europe have enough places, it's shown by teams like Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Scotland, Serbia/Montenegro, Ukraine, Eire, Austria turning up at the World Cup at regular intervals.

Asia have enough places by far - the only reason they got more is because they hosted WC02 and somehow managed to scrap in a half-place in addition to the two hosts. Then they refused to give it away. Korea were awful against Togo and barely scraped a win, Iran = Angola, Saudis = Tunisia, and Japan < Australia. Luckily Australia gets in AFC now so there's a bit of competition for Japan and Korea, at least.

North America have been appalling all cup, with the exception of Trini & Tobago with their slight genius of a coach.

South America have the high-altitude teams who get through anyway on their home record (Bolivia 94, Ecuador 02 and 06), but Ecuador have actually done fairly well, and, importantly, football is religion down there. However, there's only so many places you can give to a continent with 10 teams without making the qualifiers pointless.

Oceania are crap without Australia.

No, the only continent to deserve more places is Africa - footballing talent, tough competition for places, and a massive amount of countries fighting for them - but, since there's no money in Africa, they'll be lucky to stay at five.

 

[marc71178]

One look at the African nations not here suggests the continent is far stronger than the number of places on offer.

 

[Sanz]

Even though I am a US Fan, I would rather have teams like Columbia, Cameroon, Chile play in the world cup.

 

[steds]

Europe have enough places, it's shown by teams like Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Scotland, Serbia/Montenegro, Ukraine, Eire, Austria turning up at the World Cup at regular intervals.

Ukraine's first time.
In each world cup Eire have qualified for they've reached at least the second round, proving they don't just go to make up numbers. Being a touch harsh on them aren't you?
Your point about Norway stands, though

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

The ideal solution might be taking the half Asia-half North America slot and moving it to Africa. That'd give CONCACAF 3 solid places (USA, Mexico and someone else, presumably), and Asia 4 solid places (for which Japan, SK, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and whoever else would compete). South America probably doesn't deserve a potential 6, since there's only 10 nations there, so that seems the fairest makeup.

That'd give Europe 13, Africa 6, South America 4.5, Asia 4, North/Central America 3 and Oceania 0.5, with one host. Oceania could also playoff against an African side, leaving 5 for South America.

 

[Blaze]

The rest of Oceania might as well merge with Asia...

 

[Magrat Garlick]

The rest of Oceania might as well merge with Asia...

Travelling costs of the Nauru Football Federation would skyrocket, I think. Imagine playing away matches in Kyrgyzstan, Bahrain and North Korea.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Travelling costs of the Nauru Football Federation would skyrocket, I think. Imagine playing away matches in Kyrgyzstan, Bahrain and North Korea.

Isn't the AFC somewhat regionalised with qualifying groups and so on? If not, Oceania could certainly become a subsidiary of the AFC, where it had its own qualifying section which fed into the later stages (preventing unnecessary travel and such), not just for the World Cup, but also for the Asian Nations Cup and so on. I'm sure Nauru could get a team over to Bahrain to play in a major tournament, if they qualified.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I have to say that without Oz Oceania will be very happy with their half-spot. I don't know all that much about the strength of NZ, but judging by the qualifying results this time around they'll have a better chance of qualifying via a play-off with the fifth placed South American team than they would fighting thru the Asian qualifiers.

Mind you, the results this time kinda give lie to my assumption it'll be NZ in the play-off anyway!

 

[Smudge]

Travelling costs of the Nauru Football Federation would skyrocket, I think. Imagine playing away matches in Kyrgyzstan, Bahrain and North Korea.

I have a feeling Nauru wouldn't bother, in that case. The country is close to bankruptcy, its main sport is Aussie rules, and there's only about 10,000 on the island. In fact, I hardly remember them ever being at a Oceania qualifying tournament. Useless fact #45 - my family lived there for 18 months.

 

[Blaze]

I have to say that without Oz Oceania will be very happy with their half-spot. I don't know all that much about the strength of NZ, but judging by the qualifying results this time around they'll have a better chance of qualifying via a play-off with the fifth placed South American team than they would fighting thru the Asian qualifiers.

Mind you, the results this time kinda give lie to my assumption it'll be NZ in the play-off anyway!

Yeah we had a shocker in the qualifiers last time round, but have improved remarkably since then. They might as well rename Oceania New Zealand.

All Whites 2006 - Results

February 19 New Zealand 1 Malaysia 0
February 23 New Zealand 2 Malaysia 1
April 25 Chile 4 New Zealand 1
April 27 Chile 1 New Zealand 0
May 24 Hungary 2 New Zealand 0
May 27 Georgia 1 New Zealand 3
May 31 Estonia 1 New Zealand 1
June 4 Brazil 4 New Zealand 0

Not superb results, but our first ever draw and win in europe and without our two EPL players...

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Isn't the AFC somewhat regionalised with qualifying groups and so on? If not, Oceania could certainly become a subsidiary of the AFC, where it had its own qualifying section which fed into the later stages (preventing unnecessary travel and such), not just for the World Cup, but also for the Asian Nations Cup and so on. I'm sure Nauru could get a team over to Bahrain to play in a major tournament, if they qualified.

Yeah, that'd probably be best (a bit like the Caribbean works within CONCACAF at present). Of course, now Voltman has pointed out that they don't actually play (their one registered international is a 2-1 win over the Solomon Islands), so I'd better replace them with Samoa in my example.

Wouldn't be averse to merging CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, either - the two work together quite a lot (with USA and Mexico being invited to the Copa America regularly), time zones aren't really a problem. The only thing I can see is the South American home-and-away league being ditched.

 

[marc71178]

Isn't the AFC somewhat regionalised with qualifying groups and so on? If not, Oceania could certainly become a subsidiary of the AFC, where it had its own qualifying section which fed into the later stages (preventing unnecessary travel and such), not just for the World Cup, but also for the Asian Nations Cup and so on. I'm sure Nauru could get a team over to Bahrain to play in a major tournament, if they qualified.

That would be a logical extension of the current situation - IIRC Australia didn't play many games in qualifying did they - so could fit those into a shorter spell and have a final qualifying thing.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

That would be a logical extension of the current situation - IIRC Australia didn't play many games in qualifying did they - so could fit those into a shorter spell and have a final qualifying thing.

Yeah, very few games, and really only two against a seriously competitive side. That's one of the best things about moving to the AFC really - regular competitive international fixtures. Australia has already played Bahrain in an Asian Nations Cup qualifier, and they have three more of them coming up in August, something which simply didn't happen in Oceania.

Something will have to be done about Oceania now, because it's going to become even more pointless without Australia. New Zealand is now the only country in the region who will have a team of professionals representing them, as far as I'm aware.

 

[Sanz]

I want Italy out of the tournament. I hope Czech beats Italy and whoever wins between Ghana and USA, wins by a huge marging.

 

[luckyeddie]

I want Italy out of the tournament. I hope Czech beats Italy and whoever wins between Ghana and USA, wins by a huge marging.

Hear hear.

There's no place for assault and battery on a football field.