OFFICIAL thread. FIFA Confederations Cup, Brazil 15-30 June.

[Dancing Sock]

I do agree. Whilst they are absolutely shit, I personally think they deserve their place as things stand (although I'd rather Oceania was absorbed by the Asian federation). But Tahiti really do add nothing to the tournament.

That's why Australia left, the games were pointless (31-0 to American Samoa, 22-0 against Tonga) and many more stupid scorelines. NZ should follow too, though the fact they failed to win the OFC nations cup is DISGRACEFUL in my opinion, even their reserves should have beaten New Caledonia, no excuses.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Of course, Tahiti are only there, because of the stupid decision to allow Australia to choose their own Confederation, irrespective of GEOGRAPHY.

 

[Dancing Sock]

Of course, Tahiti are only there, because of the stupid decision to allow Australia to choose their own Confederation, irrespective of GEOGRAPHY.

It's a common thing though, Israel and Kazakhstan play in Europe in you could argue Azerbijan is in Asia, as well as Georgia.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

That's why Australia left, the games were pointless (31-0 to American Samoa, 22-0 against Tonga) and many more stupid scorelines. NZ should follow too, though the fact they failed to win the OFC nations cup is DISGRACEFUL in my opinion.

Would a better solution not have been to re-draw the boundaries of the Asia and Oceania groups, to move Indonesia, etc into Oceana? It would equalise them a bit both in terms of numbers, and (not so much) ability. Letting Australia choose their move, is to me, just as if we'd let Glasgow Rangers to choose to come and play in England, leaving the SPL bereft of competition, with NZ in the Celtic role. Australia's decision is a massively selfish one.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

It's a common thing though, Israel and Kazakhstan play in Europe in you could argue Azerbijan is in Asia, as well as Georgia.

None of these stemmed from fundamentally selfish, self-serving reasons like the Australia one though. And they didn't MOVE federations.

Israel is a one off - a purely political issue, and unavoidable, if we are going to let them play at all.

The others are former Soviet replublics. The USSR was part of UEFA, so stands to reason that the 'new' countries remained so.

 

[Dancing Sock]

Would a better solution not have been to re-draw the boundaries of the Asia and Oceania groups, to move Indonesia, etc into Oceana? It would equalise them a bit both in terms of numbers, and (not so much) ability. Letting Australia choose their move, is to me, just as if we'd let Glasgow Rangers to choose to come and play in England, leaving the SPL bereft of competition, with NZ in the Celtic role. Australia's decision is a massively selfish one.

Yeah, but you could understand where they were coming from though, winning every single game and scoring at least 10 goals unless if they were against NZ, in which case they would only score 3 or 4. It's harder to qualify too, even if you win the nations cup you still have beat a decent south amiercan side in order to get to the WC finals.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Yeah, but you could understand where they were coming from though, winning every single game and scoring at least 10 goals unless if they were against NZ, in which case they would only score 3 or 4. It's harder to qualify too, even if you win the nations cup you still have beat a decent south amiercan side in order to get to the final.

I fully understand their reasons for wanting to move. I just disagree that they should have been allowed to.

FIFA's mandate is to develop football around the world. Allowing the only decent team from one federation to simply up and move to suit their own individual agenda, flies completely in the face of that. If there was a problem with the competitiveness of the Oceana federation, then it was FIFA's job to resolve that, rather than Australia's to simply decide what was best for them alone.

Ironically, Australia could have had 3 or 4 of the 'competitive matches' they so craved, at the Confederations Cup, had they not walked.

 

[Dancing Sock]

I fully understand their reasons for wanting to move. I just disagree that they should have been allowed to.

FIFA's mandate is to develop football around the world. Allowing the only decent team from one federation to simply up and move to suit their own individual agenda, flies completely in the face of that. If there was a problem with the competitiveness of the Oceana federation, then it was FIFA's job to resolve that, rather than Australia's to simply decide what was best for them alone.

Ironically, Australia could have had 3 or 4 of the 'competitive matches' they so craved, at the Confederations Cup, had they not walked.

I see your where your coming from, perhaps FIFA thinks the OFC was a lost cause anyway?

 

[joeinbrighton]

The main motivation behind Australia moving federations was they stood a better chance of qualifying for the World Cup. In Asian qualifying, there are 4 automatic qualifiers, whereas the Oceanic winners were (and I think still do) have to play a play-off against the 5th best team in South America. Australia knew they shouldn't have much problem being one of the best 4 teams in Asia, whereas a 2-legged play-off against a South American side is going to be tough whoever you get.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

The main motivation behind Australia moving federations was they stood a better chance of qualifying for the World Cup. In Asian qualifying, there are 4 automatic qualifiers, whereas the Oceanic winners were (and I think still do) have to play a play-off against the 5th best team in South America. Australia knew they shouldn't have much problem being one of the best 4 teams in Asia, whereas a 2-legged play-off against a South American side is going to be tough whoever you get.

It wasn't their 'main' motivation. It was their ONLY (selfish) motivation, and it shouldn't have been allowed.

 

[joeinbrighton]

It wasn't their 'main' motivation. It was their ONLY (selfish) motivation, and it shouldn't have been allowed.

It shouldn't have been, but then had the Oceanic winners been given automatic qualification rather than having to play off, then they wouldn't have made that manoeuvre in the first place.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

It shouldn't have been, but then had the Oceanic winners been given automatic qualification rather than having to play off, then they wouldn't have made that manoeuvre in the first place.

Well, obviously, yes.

They should have worked with FIFA, and continued to petition for a change in the qualifying. Moving federations should not have been an option open to them. FIFA should have simply said no.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

in reality australia shouldn't have been allowed to move...as HKFC says, it was selfish.

Now they might as well have oceana and asia merge (possibly with regional pre-qualifiers to avoid, say, lebanon vs new caledonia on a tuesday night) and combine both of the regions 'half' world cup places into one full place...meaning asia/oceana gets 5 spots

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

The others are former Soviet replublics. The USSR was part of UEFA, so stands to reason that the 'new' countries remained so.

some of them play in asia though (uzbekistan for example). To be honest i have no idea why kazakhstan chose europe, they'd have a much better chance of qualifying for stuff in asia.

 

[Dancing Sock]

some of them play in asia though (uzbekistan for example). To be honest i have no idea why kazakhstan chose europe, they'd have a much better chance of qualifying for stuff in asia.

T'was thinking this, Uzbekistan in with a shout of qualifying for WC2014 aren't they?

Long way to go too, for let's say, Iceland!

 

[hans kraay fan club]

in reality australia shouldn't have been allowed to move...as HKFC says, it was selfish.

Now they might as well have oceana and asia merge (possibly with regional pre-qualifiers to avoid, say, lebanon vs new caledonia on a tuesday night) and combine both of the regions 'half' world cup places into one full place...meaning asia/oceana gets 5 spots

I'd rather FIFA left Oceana separate tbh, and used some of their vast wealth and power to actively develop football in that part of the world.

As for the qualifying, there are THIRTY TWO places at the World Cup. There should always be room for a minimum of ONE guaranteed place for a nation from every region. Its not a WORLD cup otherwise. Personally I'd give Oceana a secure spot, and make the third team in CONCACAF play that play-off against the 5th placed S.American team. 3 places for CONCACAF has always looked disproportionate anyway - who have they really got, beyond USA and Mexico?

Alternatively, I wouldn't care if it was Europe that had to give up half a spot. I understand that there are LOADS of 'decent' football nations in Europe, but frankly, I'd rather have New Zealand there with 12 European sides, than guarantee 13 European places. I don't really care if NORWAY or SWITZERLAND make it, to be honest.

I'd actually LOVE it if FIFA guaranteed an Oceana spot for 2018, and then told Australia to get fcked, when they cry to be let back in.

 

[Mellotron]

I'd rather FIFA left Oceana separate tbh, and used some of their vast wealth and power to actively develop football in that part of the world.

As for the qualifying, there are THIRTY TWO places at the World Cup. There should always be room for a minimum of ONE guaranteed place for a nation from every region. Its not a WORLD cup otherwise. Personally I'd give Oceana a secure spot, and make the third team in CONCACAF play that play-off against the 5th placed S.American team. 3 places for CONCACAF has always looked disproportionate anyway - who have they really got, beyond USA and Mexico?

Alternatively, I wouldn't care if it was Europe that had to give up half a spot. I understand that there are LOADS of 'decent' football nations in Europe, but frankly, I'd rather have New Zealand there with 12 European sides, than guarantee 13 European places. I don't really care if NORWAY or SWITZERLAND make it, to be honest.

I'd actually LOVE it if FIFA guaranteed an Oceana spot for 2018, and then told Australia to get fcked, when they cry to be let back in.

Agreed - a WC Group is far more exciting if it's say:

1> European Team
2> South American Team
3> African Team
4> Asian Team

 

[Simster]

As for the qualifying, there are THIRTY TWO places at the World Cup. There should always be room for a minimum of ONE guaranteed place for a nation from every region. Its not a WORLD cup otherwise. Personally I'd give Oceana a secure spot, and make the third team in CONCACAF play that play-off against the 5th placed S.American team. 3 places for CONCACAF has always looked disproportionate anyway - who have they really got, beyond USA and Mexico?

I think that's a bit harsh. CONMEBOL gets 4.5 places from only 10 members. Who have they really got apart from Brazil and Argentina? Uruguay got to a semi recently and were a power 60 years ago, but that's pretty much it.

CONCACAF has 40 member associations, has hosted three world cups, at which two members have reached the quarter final stage of a World Cup in the past couple of tournaments. Yes, the region is dominated by Mexico and USA (where the sport is growing quickly), but the sport is also growing rapidly in Canada and there are other relatively well populated nations like Cuba and Jamaica that are also represented by the region. If Asia gets 4.5 spots then I'd say 3 was about right for CONCACAF.

Alternatively, I wouldn't care if it was Europe that had to give up half a spot. I understand that there are LOADS of 'decent' football nations in Europe, but frankly, I'd rather have New Zealand there with 12 European sides, than guarantee 13 European places. I don't really care if NORWAY or SWITZERLAND make it, to be honest.

Yep, agreed.

I'd actually LOVE it if FIFA guaranteed an Oceana spot for 2018, and then told Australia to get fcked, when they cry to be let back in.

An easier world cup spot wasn't Australia's sole intention for moving. They also wanted to play against higher quality opposition regularly. They now get that, in the Asian Confederation's Cup competition. Australia campaigned for years to have a guaranteed spot for Oceania and were told to nick off time and time again, and it held back development of the sport for 30 years. That's why they switched strategy and angled for a move to Asia. If England were in the same position, I'd want the same.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I think that's a bit harsh. CONMEBOL gets 4.5 places from only 10 members. Who have they really got apart from Brazil and Argentina? Uruguay got to a semi recently and were a power 60 years ago, but that's pretty much it.

Not just Uruguay, but Chile, Colombia, Paraguay - all reasonable teams. I'm not arguing though - 4 places would be plenty adequate.

CONCACAF has 40 member associations, has hosted three world cups, at which two members have reached the quarter final stage of a World Cup in the past couple of tournaments. Yes, the region is dominated by Mexico and USA (where the sport is growing quickly), but the sport is also growing rapidly in Canada and there are other relatively well populated nations like Cuba and Jamaica that are also represented by the region. If Asia gets 4.5 spots then I'd say 3 was about right for CONCACAF.

I'd love CUBA to get there. that would be flair. I'll let them keep their third spot if they PROMISE to give it to CUBA.

An easier world cup spot wasn't Australia's sole intention for moving. .

I think it was, to be honest.

 

[Simster]

Not just Uruguay, but Chile, Colombia, Paraguay - all reasonable teams. I'm not arguing though - 4 places would be plenty adequate.

When was the last tame any one of them (or Venezuela, Ecuador or Peru) got to a WC quarter final? I don't recall any of them doing it.

I'd give them 3.5 places in a year when a South American team are hosting it. And I don't really understand why the nations on South America's north coast are in Concacaf, beyond ancient political reasons.

I'd love CUBA to get there. that would be flair. I'll let them keep their third spot if they PROMISE to give it to CUBA.

Yes, that would ROCK.

I think it was, to be honest.

No, no it wasn't. It was the BIGGEST reason, but not the ONLY reason. I'm fairly sure they weren't interested in seeing if they could beat the Solomon Islands thirty TWO-nil this time round, and flying many of their players half the way round the world to do it.

From the FFA web site:

In 2011, FFA was awarded the right to host the AFC Asian Cup in 2015. The AFC Asian Cup 2015 will be the first ever senior men’s football tournament staged in Australia and is expected to attract a cumulative global television audience of over 1 billion people.

That's a pretty big reason to be in the AFC right there.