OFC Direct Qualification For World Cup

Jeffles · Post by **Jeffles** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 2:52 pm

It has been announced that this will go ahead for the 2006 tournament to be held in Germany. As an Australian Soccer fan I am cheering. It is hoped that Australia will not choke again (this time against New Zealand) and progress through.

I hope this is retained. Looking at world rankings, Oceania does not deserve this (Aust. 47, NZ 48, then 100 spots to the next nation). It is more an administrative move to globalise the game, which is a good idea. And as a Socceroos fan, I am not complaining. But it looks like Australia will be a shoe in for every tournament.

Hopefully the Socceroos and the All Whites (New Zealand) can strengthen their squads in the coming years so that Oceania is more deserving of a spot and so that it becomes a real contest.

The Australian venue will be another tussle between the MCG and Telstra Stadium. Will the MCG be finished in time for the qualifiers (late 2005)? If not (I hope not) it will definitely go to Telstra Stadium. If it is, it will be a close call. But if the Vics follow the precedent that they have in the past (mega subsididing of the event to a cash strapped Soccer Australia) then I will have to make the trip South.

Egan · Post by **Egan** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 4:44 pm

I do think and should go to the MCG as it can hold more then any other stadium in Australia lets hope the melbournian public can sell it out this time. The ground capacity at finish will be abot 105,000 people and so even if it is not finished it will still fit more people in it then Telstra Stadium. So therfor it earns the right to host the qualifier the biggest stadium SHOULD always host major events like the Soccer qualifiers to the World Cup but freindlies and Confed Cup Qualifiers should be played in ciities such as Perth, Adelaide, Gosford maybe even Canberra so that many people can watch the socceroos play not just the people of Sydney and Melbourne.

I think it is fantastic that Oceania gets a spot they can truly call it the world cup now that every soccer region regardless of ranking will be represented in the world cup in 3 years time. I think if Australia qualifies it will be a long hard road as shown in the rankings, New Zealand are only 1 place below us and would also be ecstatic that oceania gets a spot in the World Cup. Yet the island nations are getting stronger with Fiji beating New Zealand and Vanuatu beating New Zealand in previous youth qualifiers and Australia nearly being beaten by Tahiti i think last year. We should be wary with the Island nations and not be too quickly to dismiss the qualifications of their teams. We all know too well that anything can happen in the game ofn Soccer.

hoffburger · Post by **hoffburger** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 10:18 pm

i heard a suggestion a while back that if oceania gets direct qualification then they should give the place to asia and get a chance to play qualifying matches against the asian nations to try and qualify. i still feel australia would make the cup and would gain valuable match practice which they definately lack.

argee · Post by **argee** » Sat Dec 21, 2002 11:53 pm

It really is about time that this happened. I think that FIFA were also looking at it as a way to strengthen the game in the region. With the financial woes of Soccer Australia in recent years (decades is probably more accurate) and the fact that NSL clubs are seriously losing money, this was the only option. With the economic windfall to be quite huge, Australia (or NZ) would surely be able to pick itself up off the floor.
What does surprise me is the fact that FIFA still expects the NSL to increase a great deal in popularity. This is unrealistic. With the ever increasing sports coverage in global television and the internet, overseas comps will always capture Aussie attention before a home comp. The very fact that our best players have to go over there to Europe makes this a foregone conclusion.