Why don't de Oceanian Associations fuse with the Asian Associations. So Australia will have a bigger change reaching the World Cup and have some differentation in opponents.
The issue is that the AFC is the largest confederation without adding the OFC countries. The AFC struggles now with its size so adding the OFC countries would just turn a bad situation into a worse one. Crowdie
I have always said this but I believe that the AFC should split into two groups. South East Asia should join the OFC to become the new 20 team OFC and the AFC can be 25-30 countries lighter.
It's very simple. AFC doesn't want OFC teams merging with their region because they have too many teams as it is and OFC isn't willing to give AFC anything for it. Why don't they just combine AFC and OFC and give the entire region 5 spots (basically the same as now, OFC's 1/2 would go to Asia/Oceania)? Asia would be happy cause they get another 1/2 of a slot and OFC would be happy cause their best teams would have a much better and more fairer chance at qualifying. Now I'm not saying that they will be combined in the early phases - for that they will still be seperated. Right now as it is in the AFC, 8 group winners will advance to their Final Round where they will be split into 2 groups of 4 with the top two qualifying and the two third placers to play in some sort of playoff with the winner playing off against another 1/2 slot team from another region. In the OFC's Final Round right now, 6 teams will make up one group with the winner advancing to play a 1/2 slot team from another region. Why not have the top 2 teams in the OFC Final Round advance to the Final Round in AFC and put one team into each group making 2 groups of 5? In this scenario, the top two teams in each group would still qualify, and the two third placed teams will playoff just like before. However, the winner would qualify right there and then and no other playoff would be needed. Australia could not be upset about this, and geographically it makes sense. Only bad side to this is 4 more matchdays would be needed for the Final Phase in the AFC as 2 more teams are being added. I do think this is a good idea though cause having only 2 groups of 4 with 6 of 8 being alive after the finish is just so anti-climatic. But 2 groups of 5 would make the matches worthwhile. Thoughts?
That won't help either as that means there will be 11 more 'mouths to feed' The joining of South East Asia and the OFC is a good way because the South East Asian countries have a higher chance of qualifiying for the *sigh* OFC's half spot.
Sorry, I'm just not getting this. 11 more 'mouths to feed'? How is combining OFC with AFC in the later stages meaning that?
i was just using an expression on the 'overcrowding' the AFC is situated. If we lure another 11 south east asian nations then they would have a higher possibility of attempting to get to the world cup or 1 step away from it! AFC has like 60 nations or so and that is a tough fixture to organise.