A really radical thought: would Asia be better off being split into two Confederations, viz. West Asia (Arab countries) and East Asia (including Oceania)? Would make a lot of sense in many ways (even if it’s not going to happen).

To me Oceania is like a boil that appeared on FIFAs skin. Continuously painful & uncomfortable. Dont know what they do nowadays but they used to lance boils:-

http://www.healthmad.com/Alternative/How-to-Lance-Boils-and-Cysts-at-Home.75899

Painful, but it got rid of boils. Sometimes it takes a bit of pain to clear things up.

Towser i ca’nt see Fiji, Vanuatu etc ever being given much support from FIFA. As Oceania stands now it appears to have very little prospects and almost no clout. A confeds cup place is scant compensation compared to a “proper” qualification route for the exposure and development the game needs to survive. I like this idea of yours, as a compromise,: “They’d just go in a play off so that the winner could be placed in an Asian group.” Maybe 2 oceania teams could be in the same tiered (asain) level as is found in the Asain Cups (vietnam, laos, bhutan etc) for regional compettions. the region wont prosper if it’s alwasy NZ. Fiji and Vanuatu and Solomon Islands etc have a tradition in the game which should be supported. The obvious issue of the proposal being cost, logisitics and the question of who in asia might miss out. to the exisiting memebers i imagine these are very real and contentious considerations.

Altrenatively, as already suggested in the forums, FIFA may need to rethink how the confederations are made up. Asia is too cumbersomely large, Oceania is way too small.

Agree with most of what you say. However the question I ask is how can the Island nations even with massive FIFA development money ever be even a remote football force. All have tiny populations ,small economys poor infrastructure etc. Cant see this changing in the near future. Qatar is small but theres lots of money in these Oil countries for football development & its substantially more than FIFA can ever give. I dont see why FIFA would give up on them though, if they became part of Asia. They’d just go in a play off so that the winner could be placed in an Asian group. Lets face it theres some weak Football nations in Europe , but they get an automatic spot in a group. ie Malta, San Marino, Liechtenstein .Andorra, Faroe Islands. FIFA dont seem to bothered that they get end up at the bottom of their group table every World cup so I,m sure they can find a place in Asia for Fiji or the Solomons.

While whiskeymac is correct that “NZ have to add ‘value’”, the mistake is to thing that the value must be on Australia’s scale, which obviously it cannot be. NZ has an “EPL star” in the form of Ryan Nelson at Blackburn, and they also have a 17-year-old kid called Chris Wood who debuted for (now relegated) West Brom this season, not to mention that Simon Elliott was on Fulham’s books until recently. While NZ’s population is only small, it is a first world market for the ACL to expand into. The folding up of Oceania would mean 4.5 WC spots becoming 5 for Asia. And so on.

I believe the real problem with Oceania becoming part of Asia is that it would be tantamount to FIFA giving up on all the island nations. While this would be a pragmatic move, politically it would be very difficult.

Ytraboy,
First of all the West Asian nations are trying to expel Australia from Asia… Not all are happy with our membership in Asia.. We had been tying to get membership for many years… Now that it has finally happen there are some in Asia trying their damn hardest to expel us..

I have no problem with NZ wanting membership and I for one would welcome you, however, the Asian president Bin Hammon does not even want the Phoenix FC to be in the HAL.. So I can’t see you lads ever getting a spot in Asia.. Although, I would not personally object if you did miraculously somehow find away to achieve it…

The O/President has said that Asia would be too large to accommodate all of the Oceania nations into Asia because of the travel.. It would undoubtedly be the lengthiest distances to compete in of all confederations … as it is now, as it stands.. The NZ clubs would have no hope with the ACL tournaments being so far away; although it would be a wonderful dream for you to think it would work, but realistically due to rigours of travel distances for semi professional clubs It would not be durable.. Good luck if you do get in..

Btw welcome to the ROAR, hope you stick around…

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KB

I don’t think that would ever happen New Zealand bowing down to Australia, they are a nation of little upstarts that have contributed to many a great sporting moments and have caused major upsets in many sporting scenarios.

In a way I’m lucky being both Aussie and Kiwi I can have a good old fashioned ding dong with myself
It certainly can play havoc with ones emotions at times though I must admit.

Take last years league world cup, I really wanted the Roos to smash the Kiwis into the ground but at the same time it was really hard not to smile and cheer for them at the same time. The smile on my Dads face was priceless he had been waiting a long time for that to happen. Then you have the All Blacks love them to bits and I just love it when they beat the Wallabies its one of the best feelings ever but likewise its hard to take sometimes.

So you can understand my dilemas if you see me switching between the two nations at times its hard to keep focused on just the one country as by siding with one I’m denying the other half of me. Both my parents are proud of who they are and even though pop has now been in Australia for 32 years he’s a staunch Kiwi and has never taken Citizenship mum on the other hand she’s a true blue Aussie girl from Bendigo who’s absolutely obsessed with AFL.

So I guess I’d be an Australeander, Koawi

This issue of “deserve just as much of a chance”. If you told say Peru (in Sth American confed) or Switzerland or Wales (in Europe) or on current group form Cameroon (in Africa) any one of a number of what are clearly better AND more traditional footballing nations than NZ that they could have a crack at the WC via beating a bunch of island minnows and then playing a 2-legged tie against the 5th best side in Asia (likely to be a respect-worth but eminently beatable Middle-Eastern team, certainly not in the world top 20) they would take it any day. I think for a team in NZs position they have it about as good as they will ever “deservedly” get.

Now why don’t I apply the same analysis to Australia back in the OFC days? Well in part I do, except that we made an art-form of slipping on each and every of those pesky “sudden-death” qualifiers, like clockwork every 4 years. And also that Asia recognised that we as a nation add heaps to their confederation, and in return of course we have the strength to perform ok (as we have shown) and qualify via a proper series of group games. Neither of those is true of NZ based on either quality or broader footballing interests.

But bottom line is you’re coming from a compassionate, charitable stance which I respect but does not resonate with my interests-based view of the world. Oh, that is unless another option on the table is for NZ to abregate its sovereignty and be subsumed into the Australian Federation in which case this issue (and many others outside of sport) goes away with the only downside being that the Rugby Union axis of the code-wars would be significantly strengthened

The same could be said for all the Oceania teams none more so than New Caledonia and New Zealand.
Quality opposition equals bums on seats equals dollars to invest in football at grassroots levels which in turn helps to the progression of their national teams.

Australia’s move into asia was financial. Australia needed the competition to put bums on seats.

Sorry just seen your last post about the size of the confederations
Going by FIFAs website Europe has 10 more teams than Asia so I can’t see too many problems with Asia absorbing Oceania as you put it.

I agree with True Tah that the current Oceania teams could play a tournament to decide who goes through to represent them in the Asian qualifiers. As it currently stands only four nations including NZ who have direct representaion contest the Oceania world cup qualifiers. Apart from NZ the other teams qualify for Oceania through the Pacific Games of which the last games had 8 teams vie for three placings. So effectively four teams from Oceania would only take ASIA to 47 teams but realistically lets say for arguments sake that the top two go through this would only increase Asia to 45 teams still 8 teams smaller than Europe. If they poorer nations do qualify surely FIFA or Oceania would help out with travel costs would they not?

That is a very sad way to view it and to be honest it screams of arrogance. Yes they may not be as good as some of the bigger nations but they deserve just as much chance of qualifying as we do. We all know teams build with regular time together so whats to say the consistant exposure to quality opposition will not improve their football.

One poster above has stated that when Australian Rugby was at its lowest New Zealand yes those little Islands a few hours east were the ones who stood up and came to our rescue not only with money but with the constant matches of which had we not had we would be seeing the Wallabies in the Pacific Cup with the likes of Samoa and Japan.

Give the youth something to aspire to.
Why will the youth want to play when as you stated their is an unfair pathway to World Cup Qualification

Its ok for us to say its unfair but now we have escaped the comedy that is Oceania football we now sit on our high horse and belittle the other nations from our geographic region and don’t warrant them the same oppurtunities. Or back them reaching out for a higher level of competition which in essence is what the Socceroos did

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KB

It’s more to do with the lower end of the spectrum with the youth, rather than the senior teams .. I can see where the OP was coming from, he made some valid points .. Concentrate on the youth with FIFA qualifications and send their best to European competitions and the rest will come as it finally did with Australia…

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KB

I question your logic as to why Australia is part of Asia. After all this is the first qualifier series Australia has played in since joining the Asian conference. You do not want to help the New Zealanders out as they are rivals.
So what makes you think us playing in Asia isn’t any different?
We are directly gaining from matches against higher opposition and our ranking continues to climb. Asia our rivals are helping to sustain our football and keep it at a level that is formidable and will only get stronger so maybe we should offer a hand to our Neighbours. Its really hard to talk about us and them when I am both lol

Out of curiosity you say Australia joined Asia, is it really as simple as you make it sound?
Just rock on up to FIFA and ask for an application form to be included into another confederation.

I have heard what the president of Oceania has said but we haven’t heard from New Zealand and what they think. Mils after your last comment I can’t help but put my cynical cap on and say maybe the President is saying all this that NZ is happy to stay as he knows llike you have said that Oceania will become extinct should NZ go elsewhere.

Agree with you on what Spain did and what they could do to much higher ranked teams. They seen what the plucky Kiwis put up against Italy and while they (nz)got a good thrashing Spain gave NZ they respect they deserved in fielding a very strong team.

Agree Spain are “Hot”.

Note though that we have to be careful not to extrapolate from the one single 5-0 result v Spain last night. A rampant Spain has all the quality and then some to impose a similar scoreline on Australia, and on many other respectable nations.

PS: Australia left Oceania to join Asia by the way. And if NZ and New Cal also left, as you hypothesise, then I’m about 799% sure that Oceania would cease to exist as a confederation about 3 minutes later.

I saw the interview. He is kidding himself. May be easier to qualify but it will just mean more thrashings like yesterdays against Spain as True Tah indicated.

What would happen to Oceania if they were to lose New Zealand and or New Caledonia to Asia?

Australia has joined Oceania and is beneiftting from a higher quality opposition so why are some so adamant that NZ inparticular should not be given the same advantage?

Millster – Using your argument Australia should not be part of Asia right?

if that is their attitude, then they will never be a decent futbolling region, is NZ really happy being the biggest fish in a tiny pond?

NZ would improve a lot of their were involved in the Asian Cup. Racking up 31-0 scorelines against the likes of American Samoa didnt really help the Socceroos much did it?

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KB

Millster,
did you see the interview a couple of weeks ago on TWG / SBS (the president of Oceania) …? It seems they are glad Australia are gone and believe NZ can now move forward with new opportunities arising competing in more FIFA tournaments at all levels…

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KB

How can they improve their football in Oceania?. Its impossible. They will still suffer for the majority of their International matches, from the same syndrome that afflicted us prior to Asia. That is lack of regular meaningful matches. A play off against the 3rd placed Asian team at the end of Oceania qualifiers wont do it for them.

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KB