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Australia move to asia - Changing groups
Posted:
Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:08 pmby 84-1106852058
It looks as though Australia,after many years of trying are going to be allowed to leave the Oceana group.They are expecting to be told they will be able to play in the Asia group for future World Cup qualifiers.
As it stands now the group winners from Oceana,have to play off with runners up from another group.In the past they have had to play the likes of Argentina and Uruguay.
Australia have been arguing for years over this.Last time around Australia won ther group without losing a game but still didnt qualify for the finals.In effect there whole campaign rested on a 2 legged tie with Iran as opposed to the league system used in other groups.
This decision comes as a suprise as the other countries in the Asia group have always been opposed to Australias inclusion,
and undoubtly puts extra pressure on the likes of S Korea.
Japan and China when it comes to qualifying.
This has still to be rubber stamped by FIFA but it should be interesting to see what happens.
Posted:
Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:12 pmby zarababe
.. I think that's disgusting.. how can Australia now be classed as "Asian" 
Just cos they don't qaulify.. there are 100s of nations who make-up the numbers and yet never qualify.. so .. f*ckin stinks .. 
Posted:
Sat Mar 26, 2005 12:19 amby the return of HAS
Have too agree with Zara. But I do think that maybe 1 automactic place shoud be given to the Oceana group.
Posted:
Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:37 amby Fowler_E7
the FIFA rules are very harsh on Australia as they dont get an automatic world cup spot even though they top their world cup qualifying group every time. FIFA should change the rules so that the oceana group gets an automatic place just like the other continents.
Australia have some good players and would be a good addition to a world cup, i reckon they would be a lot better competition than many off the asian teams, who get up to three automatic qualifying positions i think.
Posted:
Tue Apr 26, 2005 11:21 pmby Cool Hand Luke
Australia seem to be doing well at most sports, probarbly down to the sport crazy primeminsiter.
Anyway they have a lot of players playing in the Premership, it would be good to see them in the World Cup.
Posted:
Sun May 01, 2005 6:36 amby Starbridge42
Every world cup australia's (well officially oceania's but we all no that it really means australia) whole qualifying campaign is two games against the fifth placed south american team. 4 years of football and only two games have any significance whatsoever.
In fact in 1997 when australia played off against Iran they didnt lose a single game all tournament andi n the playoff they drew both games but were knockedo out on away goals despite the fact they had topped their group by a large margin.
In the 2001 Confederations cup australia reached the final
Australia has beaten in the last 5 years Brazil, France, Argentina, Japan, England and drawn with Italy and Norway away.
South Africa is nearly 50 places above us in the world rankings yet we beat them 1-0 at home and drew 1-1 away.
despite what most europeans think australians can actually play football and we have simply been penalised for our geography. hardly fair at all.
and dont forget, Israel was entered into UEFA despite being in teh middle east, so zara you say how can australia be asian? how can israel be european? in fact if you think about it how can Iceland, or England be considered European when you even talk about 'english' sides v 'continental' sides???
Finally australia being in the asian football confederation will only serve to strengthen football in asia and in australia. Don't forget Australia joining doesnt give Asia any extra qualifying places and Asia accepted australia's request for entry so they arent to concerned about it.
Posted:
Fri May 06, 2005 7:21 pmby yckatbjywtbiastkamb
Starbridge42 wrote:Every world cup australia's (well officially oceania's but we all no that it really means australia) whole qualifying campaign is two games against the fifth placed south american team. 4 years of football and only two games have any significance whatsoever.
In fact in 1997 when australia played off against Iran they didnt lose a single game all tournament andi n the playoff they drew both games but were knockedo out on away goals despite the fact they had topped their group by a large margin.
In the 2001 Confederations cup australia reached the final
Australia has beaten in the last 5 years Brazil, France, Argentina, Japan, England and drawn with Italy and Norway away.
South Africa is nearly 50 places above us in the world rankings yet we beat them 1-0 at home and drew 1-1 away.
despite what most europeans think australians can actually play football and we have simply been penalised for our geography. hardly fair at all.
and dont forget, Israel was entered into UEFA despite being in teh middle east, so zara you say how can australia be asian? how can israel be european? in fact if you think about it how can Iceland, or England be considered European when you even talk about 'english' sides v 'continental' sides???
Finally australia being in the asian football confederation will only serve to strengthen football in asia and in australia. Don't forget Australia joining doesnt give Asia any extra qualifying places and Asia accepted australia's request for entry so they arent to concerned about it.
at the end of the day mate the aussie`s are shifting the goalposts, they know by joining asia they`ll dodge the south american play off scenario.come on you`ve got to play someone half decent to qualify, you cant expect to play the solomon islands and fiji and expect to walk into a world cup slot. european teams have it rough with world cup qualification because there`s always a few decent teams that dont make it but you dont see them wanting to join the qualifying group with the likes of puerto rico and jamaica do you.
i`m surprised at the aussie`s who you tend to think play sports with a straight bat and dont go in for cheap tricks and tactics.
Posted:
Wed May 11, 2005 8:38 pmby Leonmc0708
What the funk is that about ?
Posted:
Thu May 12, 2005 10:50 amby laza
Difficult one as there is no way the Oceania winner should have automatic qualification as the group is far too weak. Though play off finals against 5th ranked South American side is too harsh.
Would have been better to have play off against an Asia or African team
Posted:
Tue May 17, 2005 1:12 pmby Starbridge42
yckatbjywtbiastkamb wrote:Starbridge42 wrote:Every world cup australia's (well officially oceania's but we all no that it really means australia) whole qualifying campaign is two games against the fifth placed south american team. 4 years of football and only two games have any significance whatsoever.
In fact in 1997 when australia played off against Iran they didnt lose a single game all tournament andi n the playoff they drew both games but were knockedo out on away goals despite the fact they had topped their group by a large margin.
In the 2001 Confederations cup australia reached the final
Australia has beaten in the last 5 years Brazil, France, Argentina, Japan, England and drawn with Italy and Norway away.
South Africa is nearly 50 places above us in the world rankings yet we beat them 1-0 at home and drew 1-1 away.
despite what most europeans think australians can actually play football and we have simply been penalised for our geography. hardly fair at all.
and dont forget, Israel was entered into UEFA despite being in teh middle east, so zara you say how can australia be asian? how can israel be european? in fact if you think about it how can Iceland, or England be considered European when you even talk about 'english' sides v 'continental' sides???
Finally australia being in the asian football confederation will only serve to strengthen football in asia and in australia. Don't forget Australia joining doesnt give Asia any extra qualifying places and Asia accepted australia's request for entry so they arent to concerned about it.
at the end of the day mate the aussie`s are shifting the goalposts, they know by joining asia they`ll dodge the south american play off scenario.come on you`ve got to play someone half decent to qualify, you cant expect to play the solomon islands and fiji and expect to walk into a world cup slot. european teams have it rough with world cup qualification because there`s always a few decent teams that dont make it but you dont see them wanting to join the qualifying group with the likes of puerto rico and jamaica do you.
i`m surprised at the aussie`s who you tend to think play sports with a straight bat and dont go in for cheap tricks and tactics.
European teams have the benefit of playing against quality opposition, you say you cant expect to beat Fiji and the Solomon islands and expect to get into the world cup thats true. But how can you expect to improve when your only competitve games are against those teams who could be beaten by your U17 sides?? You can't, we have 2 decent competitive matches every 4 years. European sides get many. If you play against quality opposition you get bettter, by joining asia australia will get better, and considering that Sepp Blatter wants Oceania to have 1 direct qualification spot we would actually be taking the harder route by joining asia.
We're not dodging anything, we are looking for a fairer system.
Posted:
Tue May 17, 2005 6:42 pmby yckatbjywtbiastkamb
Starbridge42 wrote:yckatbjywtbiastkamb wrote:Starbridge42 wrote:Every world cup australia's (well officially oceania's but we all no that it really means australia) whole qualifying campaign is two games against the fifth placed south american team. 4 years of football and only two games have any significance whatsoever.
In fact in 1997 when australia played off against Iran they didnt lose a single game all tournament andi n the playoff they drew both games but were knockedo out on away goals despite the fact they had topped their group by a large margin.
In the 2001 Confederations cup australia reached the final
Australia has beaten in the last 5 years Brazil, France, Argentina, Japan, England and drawn with Italy and Norway away.
South Africa is nearly 50 places above us in the world rankings yet we beat them 1-0 at home and drew 1-1 away.
despite what most europeans think australians can actually play football and we have simply been penalised for our geography. hardly fair at all.
and dont forget, Israel was entered into UEFA despite being in teh middle east, so zara you say how can australia be asian? how can israel be european? in fact if you think about it how can Iceland, or England be considered European when you even talk about 'english' sides v 'continental' sides???
Finally australia being in the asian football confederation will only serve to strengthen football in asia and in australia. Don't forget Australia joining doesnt give Asia any extra qualifying places and Asia accepted australia's request for entry so they arent to concerned about it.
at the end of the day mate the aussie`s are shifting the goalposts, they know by joining asia they`ll dodge the south american play off scenario.come on you`ve got to play someone half decent to qualify, you cant expect to play the solomon islands and fiji and expect to walk into a world cup slot. european teams have it rough with world cup qualification because there`s always a few decent teams that dont make it but you dont see them wanting to join the qualifying group with the likes of puerto rico and jamaica do you.
i`m surprised at the aussie`s who you tend to think play sports with a straight bat and dont go in for cheap tricks and tactics.
European teams have the benefit of playing against quality opposition, you say you cant expect to beat Fiji and the Solomon islands and expect to get into the world cup thats true. But how can you expect to improve when your only competitve games are against those teams who could be beaten by your U17 sides?? You can't, we have 2 decent competitive matches every 4 years. European sides get many. If you play against quality opposition you get bettter, by joining asia australia will get better, and considering that Sepp Blatter wants Oceania to have 1 direct qualification spot we would actually be taking the harder route by joining asia.
We're not dodging anything, we are looking for a fairer system.
come off it, you could still play friendlies against quality opposition to lift your game, and most of your players play in decent league`s anyway. its got more to do with the fact that sporting mad australia doesn`t like being left on the sidelines whilst the rest of the planet contest probably along with the olympics the biggest sporting event in the world.
why should australia be allowed to move in order to get better opposition, doesnt that leave the other nations like new zealand in the same boat. its moving the goalposts mate.
Posted:
Tue May 17, 2005 7:46 pmby zarababe
.. this is a totally out of sinct move..