What a rip off. Out of all places to take a spot from the WC, Fifa decides to take it from THE MOST DOMINANT continent in the World, South America. SA has won 9 of 17 World Cups, has won more than 50% of Intercontinental club championships and usually only lose because the SAmerican teams are playing Euro teams using South American stars. So what has been done is essentially hand a spot to Australia and eliminate a Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Chile or even possibly a Brazil or Argentina. FURTHER insult is that now Concacaf can get a 4th spot in a match against ASIA. Concacaf which has never been CLOSE to s WC final can get 4 spots while South America with 9 World Cups has 4. Asia has 4 spots just like SA!! Africa 5!! SICKENING! Joke...joke... joke. No matter what spin you put on it this is NOT right. South America is where the greatest talent comes from and shouldnt be punished because of politics. Lets see whats wrong with this picture: Europe 14 spots (8 WC Champs) Africa 5 (0 WC Champs) Asia 4 or 5 (0 WC Champs) SA 4 (9 WC Champs) NA/CA 3 or 4 (0 WC Champs) Oce 1 (0 WC Champs) COMEBOL should strike at the next World Cup . It would basicly become a Euro 2006.
Man...I agree with you 1000% What is really scary too is that Oceania will get ONE full spot...I would not even consider them in the qualifying.... That means that Australia will be in the world cup every time....they defeat teams by scores of 31-0 for god's sake.... I know why this happened.... I would actually bet a lot of money in that Australia will be in GERMANY's group once the "drawing" of the groups is done for germany 2006
I'm sad to see South America lose a spot too. Africa should have lost one for sure, but it's all a part of making the game more global. Quality of the actual tournament is secondary. In defence of FIFA's decision, it's been a long while since South American teams other than Argentina and Brazil have set the tournament a light.
I'll agree that SA got screwed to benefit Austrailia, but those 9 titles have all been the work of two nations (I would discount the 2 by Uruguay because of the low participation rates). After Brazil and Argentina the remaining SA nations aren't that much better than what the rest of the world can do. What I would have liked was for FIFA to take the 4th place team from CONCACAF, 5th place team from Asia, 5th place team from CONMEBOL, and 1st place team from Oceania and bring those four team to neutral fields in the host nation and have them play a single group tournament with the top 2 teams getting the last 2 qualifying spots.
Agreed on the quality of Southamerica after Brazil and Argentina... The thing that I'm complaining about is that Oceania got one...when any "fifth" ranked team in Southamerica can beat them... I like the idea that the last post gave... 5th in SA 4th in Concacaf African team Asian team and Australia (oceania) should compete for a couple of spots The world cup is ALREADY global....EVERY TEAM (most nations) in the world try to qualify.... THAT MAKES IT GLOBAL....the final tournament is just a celebration...a party....only the best should go....NOT Australia every time.
They took away a spot from the UEFA as well, so I don't know why you bring the Intercontinental Cup into this I don't like the fact they took away a spot from us, but I think it's more than fair to give the other Confeds some more spots. I'd rather have this than they make the Cup even bigger with more teams just so they can give them more spots without having to take away some from the UEFA and CONMEBOL (Aren't half the teams from over there still able to qualify anyway with these new allocations?) The only real problem I have is that Asia gets 4 - 5 tickets, when 2 or 3 (4 max) would have been sufficient for now. If they get that many spots, they should have put the Oceania teams in their qualifiers in my opinion. Maybe, as well, they should have made the teams that get the play-off spot from CONCACAF and Asia play for the World Club tickets against a South American and European team, so they can prove they deserve those spots that were taken? I don't really have any big problems with these new allocations though.
Actually, they only took a half-spot away from South America. I do agree that it should have come from Africa instead though. Glad to see CONCACAF get a playoff spot. That's about what they deserve. Another World Cup or two of success like this past one and we can make the push for expanding that to a full spot. Sachin
Futhernore this is a DIRECT spot to Australia (lets not kid ourselves). Australia had 3 chances in a row to prove they belong but : "After easily winning the Oceania qualifying, Australia fell at the final hurdle in the last three campaigns -- losing to South America's fifth team Argentina for the 1994 tournament, Asia's fourth-ranked nation Iran for 1998 and Uruguay in 2002. " They might be king in POceania beating team 31-0 but outside of Oceania they couldnt even handle Iran. If this new ruling was implemented back in 94 we wouldnt have had Argentina in the US WC, the Iran x US matchup in 98 and on of the best goals of WC 2002 by Uruguay. What exactly does Australia have to offer soccerwise other than being just a number 4 team in a group without having much of a chance to advance. People can badmouth Uruguay all they want , but Uruguay has tradition and great talent. They can play with the best and make it deep in any World Cup.
Oceania's vote helped Germany/UEFA to win the rights to host the WC Finals. They probably appeased the Africans for losing the 2006 WC. Oceania should play against Asia for 1 spot. CONCAFAF should play South America for the other spot. Europe 14 (14.5) Souith American 4.5 (4.5) Asia 4.5(4.5) Oceania 0.5(0.5) Concacaf 3.5(3) Africa 5 (5) In this way, only Europe loses half a spot from 2002. Everyone should be happy.
>>Glad to see CONCACAF get a playoff spot. That's about what they deserve. Another World Cup or two of success like this past one and we can make the push for expanding that to a full spot. >> Im glad too because it makes the US job easier but, do they really deserve to gain while SA lose? Look lets be honest, the US finished 8th and thats great! But besides that Costa Rica didnt make it out of group play and Mexico only got as far as R16. I wouldnt say that in itself is a call for 1/2 or even a full spot. For all we know that "success" could have been a mishap. What about Asia? Korea top 4, does that mean we should increase them also 1 full slot? >>CONCAFAF should play South America for the other spot.>> I totally agree. That would be very interesting to see NA/CA#4 vs SA#5. What a wasted opportunity. Instead they do Asia vs NA/CA...that makes no sense.
New Zealand actually has a shot. They are the only serious competition in Oceania for Australia. They are after all, the last Oceania team to make the World Cup. Things have changed a lot since then, but Australia isn't guaranteed to beat NZ. They beat them 6-1 on aggregate to advance to the playoff with Uruguay. Sure that is a sound beating, but most of that came on the home leg. I think FIFA ought to force Asia to accept Australia & New Zealand into their federation and let those minnow teams in Oceania fool around with .5 spots or just make an Asia/Oceania federation.
FIFA is a joke organisation like the IOC, full of corrupt wankers who have more interest in money than the game of football. Australia, sorry, Oceania do not deserve an automatic place in the WC. They can't even beat a third placed Iranian team, or a 5th placed SA team.
You are not fair on Australia. They are basically the only country in the world whose World Cup participation hinches on two games against an intercontinental opponent. Other teams can afford to lose games because of being part of a big league and still qualify. Australia don't face quality opposition until these play-off games. The winner of the Oceania pool should have been merged with the final group in Asia instead and try to qualify from there.
You can count Peru, Chile, Paraguay and Colombia right next to Uruguay in what you just said. Having New Zealand or Australia in the Final tournament is not going to make the tournament "global"....it's going to make it low quality...poor quality....UN-interesting....etc... (New Zealand or Australia...what's the difference) For example....if by any chance New Zealand makes it, and they are matched up in a group against.....mmmhhh China.... China vs New Zealand....DO NOT wake me up for that game!!! Reasons why Oceania got a full spot... 1) They will be in the same group as Germany 2) Return of a favor, since Oceania voted for Germany instead of Africa. That sound about right.
Brazil (5 Time Champ) Argentina (2 Time Champ) Colombia Uruguay (2 Time Champ) Chile Paraguay add upcoming Equador 3 of these will definetly not be in the World Cup. Australia New Zeiland 1 of these will Definetly be in the WC (most likely Australia everytime) Also why does ASIA get 4 spots? Asian soccer sucks bad and only did as well as they did in 02 because they were home. China should be banned from the World Cup, I bet any US college team can beat them.
.2 of those weren't at this year's WC even with that ½ extra spot .2 of those were kicked out of the tournament in the 1st round I bet Australia can do just as good in 2006 It's not the end of the world, it's just a ½ spot
In Oceania's case, it is significantly more than 1/2 a spot. It's 1/2 a spot on paper, but is much more in reality.
They should not have taken the half-slot away from South America. At the very most, they should have continued with the play-off for Oceana. They could not defeat the final qualifyign nation from CONMEBOL, Uruguay, who were not a very impressive side through and through. THey could not even beat Iran. It is like Oceana is being rewarded for having two selections a half-step above total mediocrity. And I still don't buy into Asia's 4 full spots. Yes, S. Korea is solid as is Japan. But Suadi Arabia, China, Thailand and Iran pretty much headline their next tier of talent. None are remotely impressive. If they want to just "give" the spot to Oceana, then fine. It should have been: 15 Europe 5 CONMEBOL 4 CAF 3.5 CONCACAF 3.5 Asia 1 Oceana No way do I buy Asia getting 4 full spots, CAF remaining the same while CONMEBOL and UEFA lose. IMO, it all but points out that they're trying to target the 2010 cup for Africa. Which would suck - and you can say you saw the utter deterioration of the international game.
Oh yeah, the World Cup will be nothing without Ecuador's SMASHING display in the finals..wooooo I think that the Oceiana should still have to playoff, but I don't see what all the griping from South America is all about. 9 World Cups means nothing when they were all won by the same three teams. Although I don't think the confederation deserved it, I'm happy that CONCACAF gets a half spot, it could have been interesting to see if Honduras in Korea/Japan, they have a very good team down there. To South America: It's just half a spot, quit the whining.
I don't think that area deserves 1 full spot either, but I can see where they are coming from that as a confederation they should have at least 1 full entry into the World Cup. Plus Australia can field a pretty good team these days, it's not like they will be sending another China to Germany. They did beat Uruguay at home, it's not like they had no chance at all against the 5th place team in the CONMEBOL, who knows what would have happened if it was just 1 game at a neutral ground (á la the World Cup) which we will now be able to see in 2006. 4 out of 10 teams from South America will still be going to the World Cup. That's 40% of their teams, STILL more than any other confed if I'm not mistaken (UEFA = 28%) should UEFA also send 40% of their teams just because their top teams have done good in the World Cup? Oooh, Colombia and Chile won't be going! Shocking! Romania, Norway, Yugoslavia and the Netherlands (for God's sake!) didn't go for Europe, why shouldn't UEFA get more spots then (judging by the "Euro 2006" comment") while CONMEBOL should? Who knows, maybe this will help evolve the sport in that region and in time make teams from Oceania more competitive? And if only the best teams from the world should go to a WC, and not the best teams from a region...should only European and South American teams go to the World Cup seeing as no team from another region has ever made it to a final? Thank you