Australia's move to Asia has apparently been fast-tracked. http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-fifaaustralia&prov=reuters&type=lgns This means Australia can now be in Asian Cup 2007 qualifying - which is great news for us as it means actual matches between 2005 and 2009 (which we otherwise wouldn't be having). J
great title.... nice move by OZs... lets hope this will bring some quality posters to Asia boards as it brought a quality team to Asia!
Australia joining the AFC. Hello room, I'm new to this forum and I'd like to say that I can't wait for Australia to join the AFC and play against countries like Japan, Iran, South Korea and China in tournaments and world cup qualifiers. Now that Australia will be joining the AFC, I feel that the AFC should get 5.5 spots instead of 4.5.
Hello all! I'm another Aussie excited about moving to Asia and finally facing some strong opposition.
Welcome on board aussies. I can't believe how quickly this is happening, I thought last time I heard about it few months ago it was still being debated This will change the texture of all competitions on this side of the world, won't it. Wouldn't Oceania side be really quiet now that Australia is gone??
he and zakka.... I mean can you even imagine any poster in their level of quality!!!... and they were my groupies as well
Even if we do, we are still far better off in Asia and are happy to be here. There are many who think that our desire to enter Asia is about World Cup qualification. Most of us realise that qualification will be just as tough (if not tougher) through Asia. Our main reasons for wanting to join Asia (in no particular order) are as follows:- 1. We are too good for OFC This may sound a bit arrogant, but basically our football has progressed as far as it can in OFC. We dwarf our competition both economically and in terms of population with only New Zealand being able to offer any realistic long term opposition in the past. Unfortunatley New Zealand football has dropped to a point where they are not even making finals of OFC tournaments any more, and couldn't even be bothered to send an under 17 team to the last OFC Championships. Its a struggle getting a lot of others to compete, and the only time they ever have a confederation wide tournament is to provide a qualifier for a FIFA tournament. Most of the island nations are happy to play amongst themselves. 2. National team development Our national team has many players who have played at the top level in club football in England, Spain, Italy and Germany, as well as a few other places. Several have played in the European Champions League with some success. Unfortunately as a part of OFC we get little to no opportunity to play competetive football. In Asia we will have qualification for Asian Championships (and hopefully the finals) as well as a number of World Cup qualifiers to help our team develop in a competetive environment. I firmly believe that with this competition it will allow us to fulfil our potential, and if we do happen to get to the World Cup the qualification system will ensure that we can compete. If we should happen to get a lucky win under the current system we would be hopelessly under prepared for any World Cup appearance. 3. Club Football Currently Australia has no national league, although we will be launching a new league soon with only 8 teams. We have had no regular international competition at all, with the OFC only organising tournaments when they need a qualifier for World Club Championships. Having teams competing in Asia gives us a good marketing opportunity, and the ability to offer something more to our players. I can understand the better players wanting to play in the highest Leagues, but I hope for the day that it is more attractive for our lesser players to play for an Australian Club rather than in the English 2nd division or similar leagues. 4. Youth Football. Currently our youth sides qualify easily for World Tournaments through OFC. In fact if we don't win a two leg plaoff by 10 goals we start to worry about the ability of the team. We have had some success in the past in youth tournaments, with semi final appearances in Olympics and under 20 tournaments, as well as a 2nd place (on penalties) in an under 17 tournament to our credit. Unfortunately the OFC system means that qualification is too easy, and the sides we put up of lesser ability don't compete well. Now that we need to go through Asia our youth teams will also have good tournament preparation. It means that we won't always qualify, but when we do our teams should be able to perform to potential. Overall there are a lot of pluses for us at all levels. I'm sure that we get more out of the switch than the other Asian countries do, and after 30 years of waiting I'm grateful that we have finally been accepted into AFC.
lets hope you guys are not bidding for 2011 Asian Cup because that will decrease Iran's chances of hosting it...
Is there a formal system of rotating the Championships between regions? If not, I'm pretty sure we will bid to host in 2011.
no regional rotation but I'm sure a country can't host it consecutively.... but yeah if you bid for it I'm sure you'll win it... only Iran and India are interested so far... and AFC will give it to you guys as a welcome gift...
???, no, But it would be funny if all the asian teams bulked up in response to australias more physical approach to the game.