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New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert, left, and captain Ryan Nelsen reacts after their team's 1-0 win over Bahrain in the World Cup qualifying playoff second leg soccer match at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009. (AP Photo/NZPA, Ross Setford)
What a remarkable last few days of World Cup qualifying. Such a shame it’s been tarnished by Theirry Henry’s handball and the debate that has followed it. However, that’s not what I’m interested in discussing.
Instead something has been nagging at me since mid-October when I heard BBC radio’s love/hate figure Alan Green express another one of his controversial opinions on his World Football program.
“I think that … the World Cup has for too long been too over blown. Too, for want of a better word, democratic,” Green said.
“Last weekend as I commentated on Ukraine against England, which mattered only in terms of which of two really good teams, Ukraine and Croatia, managed to get a playoff spot, I was asked to give the result out of the Asia and Oceania play-off first leg. ‘Bahrain against New Zealand, nil-nil.’
“I thought what on earth would either country contribute to the final stages apart from making up the numbers in a group and most likely not winning a game?
“The World Cup tournament in South Africa should be about an assembly of the World’s best international teams yet we went into the final games last week not knowing whether Argentina or Portugal would qualify, and that’s ridiculous.
“Either of those teams could win the World Cup. At least 24 of next year’s finalists know themselves that they’ve got no chance whatsoever. Is that really what we want?
“Qualification needs to be rethought and in these days of worldwide travel, groups should be worldwide with proper seeding.”
That’s an edited down version of Green’s rather long monologue, but he does make some reasonable points.
Now this isn’t another exercise in New Zealand bashing, there’s certainly enough Kiwi cynicism in Europe as it is, but I would like to pose the question ‘do we need to revisit the qualification process?’
Is the system in place at the moment the best way to get the most deserving 32 teams to the tournament final? Does it allow the teams not up to scratch the opportunity to develop their game?
The positives of a global draw are obvious. It would kill the issue of Oceania. Not to mention help to grow the game in CONCACAF where there is a lack of high quality opposition beyond the USA and Mexico.
The European qualification process could do with some improvements as well. The group system is uneven not just in numbers but also quality. A group won by Switzerland is as ridiculous as the continued hammering of the Faroe Islands.
Surely the Faroe Islands, San Marino and all the other smaller and low-standard European nations would be better off playing against teams at their level from across the globe? We’ve got plenty of them here in Asia.
Of course opening the process up could create the risk of the tournament being made up of even more European teams (though I don’t believe that’ll be the case – just look at how thin the talent pool gets at the Euros) but there is a solution.
To ease the transition you could seed under performing regions in a way as to help them gain the necessary experience to develop and, eventually, have a chance at qualifying.
Logistically it is not as impossible as it seems. The long distances are no longer the problems they once were. Countless European based players travel from Europe to Africa, Asia and the Americas to play for their country as it is. We’ve also seen Portugal, England and Brazil travel long distances recently to play friendlies and turn a tidy profit.
When examining the feasibility of such a concept aside, one point must not be forgotten and Jesse Fink couldn’t have said it better in his blog on Monday:
“The World Cup is not a tournament for the best football teams in the world; it’s a tournament for the best football teams of the world, an important difference,” Fink wrote.
Every country right across the globe should have a chance of developing their football to a level where they can go to the World Cup. Whether the current system is the best way to make it happen is open for debate. Still, I hope we never lose sight of that core objective. It’s what makes the World Cup truly special.
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