Oceania gets one and Asia gets 4.5. http://www.iransportspress.com/cgi-bin/news/fullnews.cgi?newsid1040134009,45972,
Thanks, Dark Knight. I was about to start looking for this. You saved me the effort. I guess half a loaf is better than none. I do think CONMEBOL and CONCACAF are getting the shaft, as well as UEFA.
How is COMNEBOL getting the shaft? They sent five, only two made the Round of 16 and only one made the final 8. If CONCACAF should get rewarded for getting 2 of 3 to the Round of 16 and having no chance for both to get to the round of 8, then why should COMNEBOL get rewarded for not delivering in the knockout stag? The other teams should not be rewarded for Brazil's success. UEFA probably has room to complain because I have no clue how Africa still merits five spaces based on this last competition. And let's hope the US doesn't need that home and home.
CONMEBOL teams have won 9 World Cups, more than any other Confederation. Two out of 4.5 teams advanced last time, one won the Cup and the other lost to the second-place team in a very close match. Giving 11 spots to Africa, Oceania and Asia while giving 4 spots to CONMEBOL is not fair. Those 3 confederations have never done much at the World Cup. But I am glad CONCACAF got SOMETHING. Guatemala, Jamaica, USA, Honduras or other potential 4th place CONCACAF finishers would make short work of the 5th place finisher in Asia.
At the risk of fueling the overheated Europhiles that occassionally grace our boards, I ahve to say this is just ridiculous. First of all, it's ridiculous for Oceania to get one full berth, and this has been borne out by the fact that they can't seem to beat the last qualifying team from either Asia or S.A. Second, Asia does not deserve 4.5 spots. China and Saudi Arabia were terrible. And Asia has a record of WC failure prior to '02 second to none. Third, Africa needs to lose a spot until their countries prove otherwise in international competitions. yes, they have had nice little underdog teams do well from time to time, but out of 4 or 5, one is bound to have a good run, based on luck alone. Even the mighty Nigeria has failed to make a big impact on the tournament. I don't care if they have great individual talent in Europe. This I'm quite willing to concede. The Africa All stars might be a better team than the CONCACAF all stars on paper, but their national teams do poorly. Fourth, Europe is getting shafted. Their record of success is obviously the strongest of all the confederations. Frankly, Europe losing a spot is partly a product of white guilt applied to the sporting arena. I'm not necessarily adverse to that impulse, but let's recognize that this combination lowers the standard of play for the tournament. Fifth, I'm assuming that FIFA is figuring that the US will come in first second or third in CONCACAF, and won't have to deal with a possible US v. IRan or Iraq problem, but why are they even asking for this potential problem? (P.S. N. Korea, under such a authoritarian dictatorhsip, wouldn't be a problem security wise).
Personally, I would have done it like this.... Europe (UEFA) 15 (inc. hosts GER) Asia (AFC) 3 South America (CONMEBOL) 5 Oceania (OFC) 1 Africa (CAF) 4 North, central America Caribbean (CONCACAF) 4 Total 32 Who needs to have playoffs....And when has an Asian team ever done well outside of WC 2002? Was it 1960?
Asia will boycott the World Cup unless the federation gets plenty of spots. India boycotted the World Cup in 1950 because FIFA would not let them play without shoes. AFC boycotte the 1962 Cup because of spot allocation. A boycott was threatened in 2002. Korea, Japan and Iran are good teams. The rest of the teams are not as good, although some are improving. Guatemala could beat just about any team in Asia.
What a freakin' joke! Australia & New Zealand are the two luckiest soccen nations on earth now. They've got a 50-50 shot at making it now. Australia didn't lose a single match in qualifying and New Zealand only lost to Australia.
The odd choice is clearly Asia. They got an extra spot because of having double hosts and then got to keep it when their only teams that weren't playing at home (China & Saudi Arabia) were the two worst teams in the tournament? Asia should have felt lucky to get 4, but 4.5? Wow. As for CONCACAF, it's hard to say we didn't deserve it. Costa Rica was level on points with Turkey, the US advanced to the Quarterfinals, and Mexico won a group with Italy. Folks in Honduras, Jamaica, et al, just got a little extra bounce in their step today! And Steve Sampson's chances of returning to the World Cup just got a little better too!
First of all, vote for WC soccer as the #1 story in the espn poll: http://espn.go.com/main.html Fifa's decisions today were great business decisions. It certainly wasn't about having the best 32 teams in the finals. Soccer is not dominant in various parts of Asia, Concacaf and Oceania. There are other sports that are doing very well in these regions. Helping more from these regions make the soccer finals is a great marketing tool for soccer. For those purists that are upset, I have empathy. But for the good of the game worldwide, for its growth and dominance, this is a great move.
Nice to see the efforts of CONCACAF being rewarded. Why in the world does Asia need another half a spot??? The two host nations advance, for the first time for each of those cuntries. S. Korea had not even won a game before the 2002 Cup, how can they be expected to have the same results in another Cup outside of Korea. Also why does Australia need a bid??? Cause we all know that most of the time it's going to be Australia getting the bid. I think New Zealand will sometimes put up a fight, but Australia is just whining because they can't beat the 5th best team in Asia and S. America. I thought the World Cup was to try and get the 32 best teams in the world. The World Cup is not rec. soccer it's not FIFA's responsiblity to make sure everyone gets a chance to play.
You took the words right out of my mouth. Marketing, marketing, marketing... I have no problem with FIFA's decisions.
Does anyone know when the last time a team from Oceania even made it to the World Cup? Was it 1982? We could debate and complain about this for years. It's ridiculous that Asia got another 1/2 spot. Korea and Japan had great runs but will be very hard pressed to do that again. Of course, there are many that may be saying that the US will be challenged to make a run to the round of 8 again. Whatever...it'll be interesting to see what the playoff turns out to be (Honduras vs. Saudi Arabia? Jamaica vs. UAE? Costa Rica vs. Qatar?)
As an overheated Europhile, I must disagree. There HAVE been World Cups prior to 2002, and the record of CONCACAF teams is woeful. You may remember that the team which Australia failed to beat in 1998, Iran, also disposed of Team USA in the finals themselves. Neither CONCACAF or Asia deserves an extra spot at the expense of Europe.
'98 was bad. But was the record woeful in '94, when 2 teams advanced? Or '90, when one team did? Or in '86, when Mexico made the quarters? TFC's record is pretty good. It's unquestionably better than Africa's or Asia's.
WC 2002 Group A 2 UEFA sides 1 CONMEBOL 1 CAF 1 UEFA, 1 CAF advanced Group B 2 UEFA sides 1 CONMEBOL 1 CAF 1 UEFA, 1 CONMEBOL advance Group C 1 UEFA 1 CONMEBOL 1 CONCACAF 1 AFC 1 UEFA, 1 CONMEBOL advance Group D 2 UEFA 1 CONCACAF 1 AFC 0 UEFA, 1 CONCACAF, 1 AFC advance Group E 2 UEFA 1 AFC 1 CAF 2 UEFA advance Group F 2 UEFA 1 CONMEBOL 1 CAF 2 UEFA advance Group G 2 UEFA 1 CONCACAF 1 CONMEBOL 1 CONCACAF, 1 UEFA advance Group H 1 AFC 1 CAF 2 UEFA 1 AFC, 1 UEFA advance So you roughly advanced half your teams to the second round and UEFA won half the groups. Considering you have half the teams in the WC shouldn't you dominate more that CONMEBOL who has had much more success with a third of what UEFA gets? Look, UEFA has some minnows that make it every year too. Them losing .5 spots isn't a big deal.
Here's my take: Oceania does not deserve an automatic berth if they've shown that they can't beat fourth or fifth place teams from other regions. How can they be rewarded for failure? It's not like they CAN'T beat the other teams - take the last WC for example. Australia beat Uruguay 1:0 at home, only to lose 0:3 in Montevideo. So do they have no chance? Obviously not - they beat Uruguay for God's sake! All they needed was a tie in Montevideo and they lost - for that they shouldn't be rewarded an automatic spot. CONCACAF, based on the strength of the last WC and the fact that Mexico has always put in strong performances, deserves the extra half spot. CONMEBOL should have five spots guaranteed, based on their history and the strength of their field. This continent has provided three different WC winners in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay and should not be penalized for the fact that soccer is already the most important religion down there. The extra spot for CONMEBOL should come at Africa's expense as they have never lived up to all the hype since the early 90's. Africa should get 4 spots and no more. Perhaps CONCACAF's extra half spot should be against Oceania, as they can't seem to get past South America or Asia. That would leave the rest of the spots for Asia. Problem solved.