[SwissGCZ]

Ryan Nelson: Asia switch would have long-term benefits

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs....711149919/1023

[glennaldo_sf]

Originally Posted by SwissGCZ

Ryan Nelson: Asia switch would have long-term benefits

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs....711149919/1023

LOL If NZ + Australia switch then Bahrain really will have no excuses next time.. mind you with their luck they could play Tahiti for 180 minutes and still not score...

... anyhoo... just wanted to say congratulations to all All Whites fans out there. Eventhough I was rooting for Bahrain - good job New Zealand and enjoy the world cup... we'll now have the trinations rugby teams @ the WC... a real first... but great for the southern hemisphere...

... on that note.. I sure hope we draw U!!!!

[AllWhitebeliever]

Originally Posted by glennaldo_sf

LOL If NZ + Australia switch then Bahrain really will have no excuses next time.. mind you with their luck they could play Tahiti for 180 minutes and still not score...

... anyhoo... just wanted to say congratulations to all All Whites fans out there. Eventhough I was rooting for Bahrain - good job New Zealand and enjoy the world cup... we'll now have the trinations rugby teams @ the WC... a real first... but great for the southern hemisphere...

... on that note.. I sure hope we draw U!!!!

Thanks for the shout out.

To be honest, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tahiti and Vanuatu have great ball skills better than most of ours but they are very weak in team organsation and bit weak on the physical and aerial. But with the right coach, they can be world beaters. So if OFC does join up to AFC, they can easily be a surprise packet with the right resource available.

[Adiaga Two]

Originally Posted by AllWhitebeliever

To be honest, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tahiti and Vanuatu have great ball skills better than most of ours but they are very weak in team organsation and bit weak on the physical and aerial. But with the right coach, they can be world beaters.

I doubt Guus Hiddink or Roy Hodgson would see the Solomon Islands gig as a very worthwhile endeavor. They might be able to get Bora, though.

[Caesar]

I'm not saying they'd ever be worldbeaters, but teams like Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands have the talent to be a lot better than they are.

The OFC countries' main problem is money. They are too small and too far away from anywhere for non-OFC countries to be interested in playing friendlies against them. And they are all too poor to arrange regular friendlies against each other. In recent cycles they even have taken to combining their continental championship with their World Cup qualifying into one two week tournament to reduce costs.

Their grassroots football isn't bad, despite having to compete against rugby. The main problem is a lack of development pathways at the elite level. If the national team never plays, the country is too small to sustain its own professional league, and the national federation can't afford to hire quality international coaches, development stalls.

Hopefully as the A-League and NZFC grow, they will scout the island nations more and there will be more professional opportunities available to talented Oceanic players.

EDIT: I'm going to split off the posts relating to OFC football to that forum - we have a good discussion developing here.

[Celtigo]

Originally Posted by AllWhitebeliever

Thanks for the shout out.

To be honest, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tahiti and Vanuatu have great ball skills better than most of ours but they are very weak in team organsation and bit weak on the physical and aerial. But with the right coach, they can be world beaters. So if OFC does join up to AFC, they can easily be a surprise packet with the right resource available.

Come on man. "Worldbeaters"? If you want to look at the upside for OFC soccer, the best equivalent is probably the Caribbean region of CONCACAF. Theres only so much a coach can overcome. Ultimately if New Zealand goes every remaining country in OFC would be poor and with a population under 1 million people (save PNG). There is only so much you can do with that. Even other small countries that have punched above their weight have benefited from playing in Confederations with larger neighbors that have helped drive football infrastructure and development. Would T&T be where it is without the ability to play the US,Mexico, Canada, Jamaica, and the Central American teams?

[Adiaga Two]

Originally Posted by Caesar

I'm not saying they'd ever be worldbeaters, but teams like Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands have the talent to be a lot better than they are.

The OFC countries' main problem is money. They are too small and too far away from anywhere for non-OFC countries to be interested in playing friendlies against them. And they are all too poor to arrange regular friendlies against each other. In recent cycles they even have taken to combining their continental championship with their World Cup qualifying into one two week tournament to reduce costs.

Their grassroots football isn't bad, despite having to compete against rugby. The main problem is a lack of development pathways at the elite level. If the national team never plays, the country is too small to sustain its own professional league, and the national federation can't afford to hire quality international coaches, development stalls.

Hopefully as the A-League and NZFC grow, they will scout the island nations more and there will be more professional opportunities available to talented Oceanic players.

EDIT: I'm going to split off the posts relating to OFC football to that forum - we have a good discussion developing here.

It's really the last frontier of countries that are completely isolated from high-level football. But even once they do get proper coaching and infrastructure, the countries are so small, it's hard to see them making any mark.

But at the same time, look at the disproportionate amount of Polynesians in American football. Despite their size and isolation, the culture of many of these places (emphasis on discipline, physical fitness/competition, homogenous gene pool and diet) produces incredible athletes. NFL and College coaches who scout Polynesians say that they are on a whole other level physically from Americans. The Samoas and Tonga have a combined population of something like 100,000 people, but there's probably around 100 of their citizens in the NFL at any given time.

Now, the attributes most suitable for soccer and American football are obviously quite different. But perhaps I can see a trend of Samoan centerbacks in the Premiership somewhere down the line. They probably already have guys who could do better jobs than Titus Bramble.

[Caesar]

Originally Posted by Adiaga Two

But at the same time, look at the disproportionate amount of Polynesians in American football. Despite their size and isolation, the culture of many of these places (emphasis on discipline, physical fitness/competition, homogenous gene pool and diet) produces incredible athletes. NFL and College coaches who scout Polynesians say that they are on a whole other level physically from Americans. The Samoas and Tonga have a combined population of something like 100,000 people, but there's probably around 100 of their citizens in the NFL at any given time.

It's even more remarkable when you also take into account the number playing top-flight professional rugby league and rugby union in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

Even without any proper development pathways, the Pacific nations have produced quite a few decent footballers over the years. Proud New Caledonian and World Cup winner Christian Karembeu is probably the best known, but even in recent years there have been others like Tahitians Marama Vahirua (who has been a successful goalscoring midfielder for many years in Ligue 1) and his older cousin Pascal (who played for France at Euro '92).

There's also quite a few good players around the world who are of Pacific Islander descent. Everton and Australia's Tim Cahill, for example, has a Samoan mother and represented them at youth level.

With better opportunities I think they'd surprise a lot of people.

[scotch17]

Originally Posted by Caesar

I'm not saying they'd ever be worldbeaters, but teams like Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands have the talent to be a lot better than they are.

The OFC countries' main problem is money. They are too small and too far away from anywhere for non-OFC countries to be interested in playing friendlies against them. And they are all too poor to arrange regular friendlies against each other. In recent cycles they even have taken to combining their continental championship with their World Cup qualifying into one two week tournament to reduce costs.

Their grassroots football isn't bad, despite having to compete against rugby. The main problem is a lack of development pathways at the elite level. If the national team never plays, the country is too small to sustain its own professional league, and the national federation can't afford to hire quality international coaches, development stalls.

Hopefully as the A-League and NZFC grow, they will scout the island nations more and there will be more professional opportunities available to talented Oceanic players.

EDIT: I'm going to split off the posts relating to OFC football to that forum - we have a good discussion developing here.

Would you say there's a danger OFC countries would have to give up international football if they were put in a position of having to play qualifiers all across AFC. Could they even handle Challenge Cup fixtures?

Originally Posted by Caesar

It's even more remarkable when you also take into account the number playing top-flight professional rugby league and rugby union in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

Even without any proper development pathways, the Pacific nations have produced quite a few decent footballers over the years. Proud New Caledonian and World Cup winner Christian Karembeu is probably the best known, but even in recent years there have been others like Tahitians Marama Vahirua (who has been a successful goalscoring midfielder for many years in Ligue 1) and his older cousin Pascal (who played for France at Euro '92).

There's also quite a few good players around the world who are of Pacific Islander descent. Everton and Australia's Tim Cahill, for example, has a Samoan mother and represented them at youth level.

With better opportunities I think they'd surprise a lot of people.

This reminds me a lot of Hawaiians in American football. I don't know how many play at NFL level, but they have very good representation at college level (which is a very serious level in that sport -- unlike say college "soccer".)

[Caesar]

Originally Posted by scotch17

Would you say there's a danger OFC countries would have to give up international football if they were put in a position of having to play qualifiers all across AFC. Could they even handle Challenge Cup fixtures?

The bigger ones (Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, etc) could do it, the issue is with the small ones like American Samoa.

I think AFC qualifying for small nations would have to be restructured anyway if the OFC came in. It wouldn't just be because of the Oceania nations - travelling to the Pacific for qualifiers would put similar strains on teams like Palestine.