Asia remain football's laggards, as Latin America dominates

France qualified from a 'weakish' group - their REAL test is coming very soon

I would think it makes sense to increase the comp to 40 teams. 5 in each group would mean 4 games each and probably a fairer qualification to the second round (less goal difference importance). More friendlies between confederations would also be a positive. Europe doesn't need any more teams - 13 out of 32 - come on...

Interesting idea, but I can't see anyone giving up that half spot without a huge fight. Having said that, I can't help but think that like most things this will be decided by dodgy men at the AFC and FIFA (with the result not necessarily in the best interests of the game) and anything could happen.

Not at all Fuss! At least not on this occasion! The above comments are constructive and respectful in my opinion. Perhaps you are taking it easy on a newbie poster and I should not expect to be let off so lightly in the future? :P I by and large agree with your comments and have expanded on the mechanics of it in my response to Ben of Phnom Penh above.

Please do write a thesis on this. I would love to read it! You make a good point in saying that the current qualification system is already quite onerous and would become even lengthier if they were to go for an 8 to 10 team round robin format in the final round. Perhaps a possible solution for this issue would be to combine the preliminary qualifying stages with qualification for the Asian Cup. In keeping with the spirit of borrowing ideas from other confederations, this would be similar to CAF (African) qualification process (at least at one point in time). The CONMEBOL qualification process for FIFA World Cup 2014 (involving 9 teams this cycle) started on 7 October 2011 and concluded on 15 October 2013 (excluding 2 legged intercontinental playoffs). The Asian Cup 2011 was held between 7 and 29 January 2011. Qualification involving major teams began in the weeks of 14-21 January 2009 and concluded on 3 March 2010. If we take the assumption that there will not be any significant changes to the international football calendar in the future, then we could make this work as we can avoid fixture clashes between the three processes mentioned above. The current Asian Cup qualification process involves 5 groups of 4 teams, with two teams from each group qualifying for the tournament proper. Add the 3 teams that finished in the top 3 in the previous tournament, 2 Challenge Cup winners, and the host, and you have the 16 participating teams for the tournament. If the AFC were to scrap the rule allowing the top 3 teams from the previous tournament and involve them in the qualifiers, then they will get 10 teams for the final round of World Cup qualifiers (or have the 3 best 2nd placed teams if we were to go with a final group of 8) as well as for the Asian Cup. And the 3 best 3rd placed teams in their respective pools (Or 4 if the Asian Cup host also happens to finish in the top 2 in their group) from this qualification stage would also qualify for the Asian Cup in addition to the 10 teams mentioned in the previous sentence. Add the 2 Challenge Cup winners and you have your 16 as per usual. I do recall that some of the Asian Cup qualifiers were played outside of the FIFA window, which is an issue. However, there are usually windows for up to 6 matches between September and November, so making use of these fixtures could circumvent this problem. Using these international windows for qualifiers would mean fewer windows for friendlies in preparation for the Asian Cup. Nothing is perfect I guess! To me this is a small price to pay. Another possible way of reducing the number of fixtures would be to involve the sole (half) qualifier from the OFC in the final round of the AFC qualifiers. This would save 2 games in the month of November prior to the World Cup. This of course would be on the proviso that both the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL confederations do not put up a fuss at the prospect of losing the opportunity for their teams to qualify via (in their opinion) an easier route through OFC/AFC teams rather than against each other. Hong Myung-Bo and either Yuto Nagatomo or Shinji Kagawa (I cannot recall) alluded to a lack of physicality being a contributor to the sub-par performances of their respective teams. If this is true then having the OFC winner (most likely New Zealand) involved would provide extra exposure to this element of football. Even if their statements are mere excuses rather than legitimate reasons for their failures, exposure to a different brand of football does not hurt their causes (unless literally through a tackle from behind from Ben Sigmund, for example). And if the AFC were to go with 8 rather than 10 teams, then there are 4 less fixtures. So yes, there are challenges in altering the qualification process, but I think it can be done! And also yes, raising standards in the second tier in the long run would have a much more profoundly positive impact than the above suggestion (Although one could also make the argument that the 2-5 “second tier” teams who make it to the final round of qualification would benefit from the relatively constant exposure to top quality teams within the confederation if the proposed format above were to be implemented). Perhaps I should have written this response as an article rather than a comment, seeing that it ended up being as lengthy as the CONMEBOL qualification process itself. I know this is a long winded response so I hope you have read this far because I have a question for you. Which elements of Europe does the AFC blindly attempts to emulate in your opinion? I can think of the Champions League format for one, but would be interested to hear your thoughts on other issues!

You love making lists don't you Johnno?

Concacaf Rubbish?LOL. What have the AFC done in recent years to be considered better then concacaf? Has anyone won a WC? Last time I checked the two best teams in asia and most consistent teams, are Japan and South Korea. Concacaf is growing, and improving. The AFC is not, the AFC is going to lose spots.Why? because the money is in the US, not China. The US pays the most in WC TV rights. Its the reason the 2016 Copa American, is going to be in the US. Haiti,Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica & Panama geting better. If it wasn't for the US, Mexico wouldn't have made it.Panama would have finish above Mexico in the WCQ standings.

Concacaf Rubbish?LOL. What have the AFC done in recent years to be considered better then concacaf? Has anyone won a WC? Last time I checked the two best teams in asia and most consistent teams, are Japan and South Korea. Concacaf is growing, and improving. The AFC is not. The AFC is going to lose spots.Why? because the money is in the US, not China. The US pays the most in WC TV rights. Its the reason the 2016 Copa American, is going to be in the US. Haiti,Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica & Panama geting better. If it wasn't for the US, Mexico wouldn't have made it.Panama would have finish above Mexico in the WCQ standings.

Good theory Brian but - this World Cup the Southern European teams have been rubbish - Italy Spain & Portugal, it is the French Dutch Belgians & Germans leading the way

I like tackling from behind, it encourages a more physical brand of football. It brings in the Vinnie Jones types, the hard man, the long ball becomes a good skill-set. Watch how rough football used to be in the 80's and 90's some real bad asses defenders. I like the Mark Van Bommel and Kevin muscat types, hard physical footballers. Imagine if basketball you couldn't do steals from behind. Football should encourage all skill sets and the enforcer should be encouraged as a skill set, not just flashy players.

For better or worse FIFA have changed the rules to assist the teams that are technically better at holding the ball. You can no longer tackle from behind and so possession has become more important. This has bought us tika taka and has helped all those who play football from birth - The Latin American and Southern Europeans. Its not just Australia who are struggling. Look at England, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Russia, Romania, Poland. All these teams are pretty much worse then they used to be and their success has transferred to Costa Rica, Spain, Portugal, Chile, Colombia.

CONCACAF has the two most consistent teams outside UEFA & CONEMBOL being USA & Mexico. Other then that its rubbish. Costa Rica have made it out of the groups twice and that's it. I wouldn't worry about the AFC losing spots remember 2022 is in Qatar and FIFA would love to see China making the World Cup so there should be 4 spots minumum whilst the Qataris have already begun nationalising Brazilians to make them competitive in 2022.

Japan completely bottled it IMO. I remember watching the Ivory Coast match where Japan got the early lead. What followed was completely shocking. The Japanese side ceased pressing and sat back and then pumped long balls to Okazaki and Honda. Ivory Coast started to dominate possession and because Japan sat deep in the box the Ivory Coast were free to pump crosses into the box taking advantage of Japan weakness contesting aerial delivery and inevitably Ivory Coast won the match due to two good crosses. It was watching a side commit suicide on the world stage with bizarre defensive tactics.

The 2002 Japanese team lost at home in the 2nd Round. Their best team was actually 2010 who won 2 out of 3 group games and lost in the second round on penalties. I guess Asia overachieved in 2010 but I wouldn't get to excited by CONCACAF. Honduras were probably the worst in the tournament and US and Mexico have always been good. Yes Costa Rica have surprised but one team doing well cannot mean praise for a whole continent.

Minor point Sydney High isn't a private school. It's a public school - academically selective (not economically selective), hence the large contingent of non-sporty types. Anyway, the selective schools debate is probably not one for the roar really! I'd argue that High and Grammar might not produce sports people so much anymore but that Sydney doesn't want for more sports driven schools - apart from the remaining GPS schools there are numerous public sports high schools who have produced any number of sporting stars. As for being replicated in Asia, you only have to look at the popularity of the badminton champion Lin Dan to see that sport is a valid career path... maybe?

Nice work, Kris. On first glance, I must say I like your idea of one group of 8 to replace the 2 groups of 5. Maybe, we go all the way & replicate the CONMEBOL qualification schedule and have 1 group of 10? It would mean each team plays 18 matches in the 4th round - instead of the current 8 matches - but these extra 3 matches per year would be far more productive than meaningless friendlies. I'm sure the member FAs would also welcome this - more matches against the bigger nations in AFC. PS: I apologise in advance .. apparently I am sanctimonious & condescending. And, those are just my good points. ;-)

Sort of a dream draw how South America has worked out, to an extent. There will be at least one South American team in the Semi-Finals, as the winners of Brazil / Chile and Colombia / Uruguay face off in the Quarter Finals. Then, Argentina is on the other side of the draw, and looking at their form, they could very well go all the way too. Summing up the Asian teams.. Australia, results wise, disappointed, obviously. But, performance wise, which is what most people are judging us by, we did quite well, for our expectations and our group. Japan really disappointed me, I was tipping them to make it out of the group, and make a real push to the Quarter Finals. There was a lot of expectation on them, and they just didn't deliver. Kind of like Australia in 2010, but with bad results. Iran really impressed me, I was hoping they would get through, they somehow managed to play good counter-active football, with a real solid defence. Ultimately, that let them down, as they couldn't score goals (only one in their three games). Their major disappointment was their performance against Bosnia. Korea... not very good in defence, I think that is their main thing. And, their attack wasn't very penetrative. I didn't expect much of them personally, so wasn't very surprised at their performances. I do think qualifying process is an issue, but that's where South Americans have the advantage, being a 'small' confederation. With only 10 teams, their process of playing each other works. Plus, the Copa America invites teams from other associations to make up 12 nations competing, allowing them another outlet of facing other confederations in a competitive outlet.

Hi Kris, good to see you chiming in. The quote from Carlos is both on the money and wide of the mark. The AFC do have a habit of aping Europe, which can be rather frustrating. The same cannot be said of the federations who are far more adept at tailoring structures for their own sporting environment. If we could get the AFC to have the same dynamism as many of the federations then we'd be really moving on a broader front. One of the problems holding back football in SE Asia is that money has come quicker than a football culture. Too often rich owners finance teams partly as a trophy as partly as they love the sport. However they were not raised in a football culture themselves. Hence they do not put in place the management structures required to run a successful club and tend to have a strong influence on the clubs (team & player selection, budget allocations, training schedules etc). Indeed more often than not they are totally ignorant of the structures needed and the rationale for them. As a result there is a governance ceiling which stifles the growth of football. When that ceiling is successfully challenged, such as has happened in some clubs in Thailand, the results are quite staggering. I could write a thesis on this, and have indeed written a few articles for the Roar on football development in different parts of Asia. Your idea has some merit, and indeed was the initial rationale for the East Asia Cup. An issue is that it risks lengthening the qualification period for what is already a lengthy process. The main problem though isn't the sides that make the World Cup, but the next tier that are challenging. Whilst there are some that are knocking on the door, there are not enough. It is these sides that we need to step up.