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All Whites' turn to shine on the world stage

Roar Guru
8th June, 2009
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Roar Guru
8th June, 2009
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2523 Reads

Following on from the euphoria of the Socceroos finally qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup comes the realisation that Australia won’t be appearing in this year’s FIFA Confederations Cup.

Having moved from the Oceania Football Federation to the Asian Football Confederation, the FFA has given up that right to New Zealand as the current Oceania champions.

To make another appearance at the Confederations Cup now, Australia have to win the Asian Cup and the current AFC champion is Iraq.

The FIFA Confederations Cup is held every four years and is a football tournament for the national teams of the six FIFA confederation champions from CAF, CONMEBOL, UEFA, AFC, OFC, CONCACAF.

They are joined by the current FIFA World Cup champions (Italy) and the next FIFA World Cup host country (South Africa). The event is held in the FIFA World Cup’s host country as a forerunner to the actual World Cup.

The Confederations Cup will also provide New Zealand with an ideal preparation for their crucial World Cup qualifying playoff later in the year. The All Whites, who have qualified for two previous Confederation Cup tournaments, play European champions Spain, hosts South Africa and Asian champions Iraq in their group at the eight-team tournament which begins on June 14.

The Confederations Cup tournament itself is financially rewarding and gives New Zealand a lot of international exposure.

Australia’s best effort was runners up in the Confederations Cup of 1997, losing to Brazil in the final. On the other hand, the All Whites have participated at the 1999 and 2003 Confederations Cups, but have yet to claim a point from the tournament, having lost all six of their games so far.

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Undoubtably the biggest tournament in international football is the World Cup finals and the next one is in South Africa in 2010.

The All Whites play the fifth-ranked Asian nation home and away to determine whether they will return to South Africa next year for the World Cup finals and join the Socceroos.

Currently Bahrain look favoured to finish third in Group A and either Saudi Arabia or Iran to finish third in Group B.

Those two third placed teams play off in a knockout home and away series to see who will meet New Zealand for the final World Cup place at South Africa 2010.

The international football spotlight will firmly be on the All Whites, not just in the Confederations Cup, but also in the final stages of World Cup qualification over the next few months.

A lot of Australian football fans will be hoping they can shine, too.

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