Australia, where is your passion for your own teams?

Um no. They play at least twice every four years during the CONMEBOL WCQs home and away. Then there's the possibility of playing at a Copa America. Would rather spend a fortune to see that than a meaningless friendly.

No Rogic, Mooy, Leckie and Langeraak are not elite footballers compared to the Brazilian and Argentinian national teams. They are good footballers but if people have the choice between watching two teams play live they will choose to watch better teams. People can and do appreciate watching Australia play but if given the choice you cant fault people for wanting to watch the best play.

There's an awful lot of Irish supporters living in Canada that moved over there due to the GFC. The American contingent in the crowd was small

Dolt! Just what constitutes elite level football to the brilliant football analysts that is the general Australian population? I suppose Tom Rogic with his 2 Scottish league titles and his cup winner's medal is not at elite level? Aaron mooy Will be playing ELL next season, Matt leckie and Mitch langeraak will be in the bundesliga next season. Are you going to tell me they are not elite players? Pull the other one. It's a free country and when it comes down to it if people want to go watch Brazil and Argentina instead of their own country in a so or die world cup qualifier then good luck to them. But when they go to the game and end up throwing paper planes then they have lost any right to claim some sort of guru status or superiority because "they only watch the world's best."

Obviously not because the Saudis don't play any of those sports

You are asking why more Australians want to see some of the best footballers in the world play a game more than they want to see two teams made up of players not good enough for elite football? Are you serious?

#Tex I went based on the report from the Australian pre game: (6:15pm) "Football Federation Australia officials are expecting a crowd well in excess of 30,000 for a game the home side simply has to win to stay in contention to claim one of the two automatic spots for next year’s World Cup in Russia. The crowd will be well short of the 53,500 ground capacity but Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou still expects them to make plenty of noise and get right behind the team in what is being regarded as one of the most important games on home soil since the 2005 qualifier against Uruguay." and earlier at 5pm that night: "A crowd of over 30,000 is expected to turn up for what is being described as one of the most important games for the code in Australia since 2005 when the Socceroos beat Uruguay to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1974." So - the Oz was pushing it. Generally the expectations are based on pre-sold vs possible walk up. Perhaps a smidge below 30k is wonderful by some criteria - but, the result against expectation is below expectation. And clearly because #Nemesis hadn't flown over with the clan.

@ PB - the attendance beat the last one the national Australian Football team played in Adelaide---so it was a wonderful result for the country and for a mid week Australian Football (FFA) fixture in Adelaide.

There is nothing to suggest any Australian team would ever attract more than 30k in Adelaide on a Thursday night to watch us play Saudi Arabia. You wouldn't get COMBINED crowd of 30k on Thursday night in Adelaide to watch: Cricket: AUS vs Saudi Arabia Rugby: AUS vs Saudi Arabia Rugby League: AUS vs Saudi Arabia I won't add AFL since that's just being mean.

#Tex Not a wonderful turnout when pregame it was reported that the FFA expected "Well in excess of 30,000". That puts it towards the lower end of expectations. So - not wonderful. Not horrid either. But - not wonderful. The opponent clearly not a major draw card. The 'event'.....not the do or die game just yet - that is still coming.

#Philby And - even in the AFL this has been recognised - - 'blockbuster' games or 'event games' that while they are not exhibition/practice - they still are just a game for 4 points. Games such as Anzac Day, Queens Birthday (yesterday), DreamTime at the G etc. Draw big crowds. Become 'events'. The reward is still just 4 points and may not always be that good a game. What the FFA perhaps needs to accept and so too the ARU - is that trotting out the Socceroos or Wallabies and expecting people to be crushed in the rush is no longer a given. Granted - Wallabies v All Blacks might get the job done but for sometime I suspect the NZ side of that equation has been doing the heavy lifting. A bit like test cricket hosting India - I've felt that the Indian side of the crowd is becoming the more dominant force. Perhaps - just perhaps - over the last 20 years we've seen the AFL, then the NRL, and now the FFA and even BBL cricket - - they are pushing 'club memberships', club loyalty etc. There's only so much time, so many dollars and so much spectator 'passion/energy' to share around now!!

Midfielder - but doesn't your argument kind of prove my point? It's all about entertainment and the experience for the punter, not really about the quality of football on offer for most of the tournament. Nothing wrong with that, it's giving people a chance to feel part of the action - but so do those reality TV shows. The whole structure of professional football is driven by the same imperatives that drive commercial TV shows and the movie industry: they're in business to make money by providing entertainment to the masses. Which is where I draw the comparison: who is Nemesis to deride people who prefer cooking competitions to football tournaments? Surely, there's room in this world for people to have their own interests and preferences without constantly denigrating those whose interests and preferences differ? Being a football fan, watching the World Cup, doesn't make one inherently superior to someone who's a fan of cooking, home renovations or talent shows. (I suspect it's even possible to be a fan of football and Masterchef.)

Bakkies - from what I've read, about 5000 fans flew from Ireland for the game. I suspect most of the Ireland fans were actually Irish-Americans and Irish-Canadians. Which perhaps goes to show that sporting allegiances can be confusing.

northerner Me thinks you are totalling confusing two totally different things. Yes FIFA want money and get a lot out of the WC, and that process is corrupt where those choosing the location appear to have accepted !@!!@#$% in return for their vote. However the WC itself is so successful not because of who comes first, second etc its because its a cerebration of Football ... the skills, and how do people adjust ... i.e. the small in size nations say Japan up against the large nations [size again] ... so how does a small defender mark a much taller forward etc. My honest belief is most people in Australia don't understand the WC is actually a great big party were the game is important. So yes I do find comments like yours to be way to cynical as they take what has been done by a corrupt few to represent the whole ... apply the same logic to any sport if you like .. AFL players are all on drugs, NRL players are all wife beaters, Union players are all eastern Sydney snobs...

@Midfielder - sorry for the cycnicism, but it relates entirely to the professional game, not to the sport of football. And I think a high degree of cynicism where FIFA is concerned is entirely warranted. Qatar, anyone?

4.5 spots out of the 10 competing in the qualifiers. That's not hard done by. Just geography and size of the countries on that continent.

'Much like when 62K turned up in Chicago (that’s in the USA) last November (that’s when it averages 9 degrees centigrade) to watch Ireland play New Zealand in a union test (that’s not a top-flight sport over there).' Majority of that crowd were actually Irish. The weather was also about average in Ireland in November. The Ireland v USA match last Saturday in New Jersey attracted a bigger attendance than the Wallabies v Fiji.

Good work, Mddy. I went to Epping Stadium yesterday to watch MVFC vs Moreland Zebras. As you know, the ALeague clubs in the NPL can only play u20 players in the senior team and the Victory got a smack yesterday from the 2nd team on the NPL2 West table. Victory started the season slowly then hit a nice bit of form where they surged up the table to 3rd. Now, they've lost 5 of the last 6 so they're doing it tough. In the u20 NPL2 competition, Victory can only field u17 players. And, they're dominating the table. Sitting on Top with 66 goals from 19 matches and a GD of +38. I'm loving NPL. We now have decent live sport to watch in Melbourne after ALeague finishes. Now we get to watch Victory for 11 months each year: September is the only month without any action, although we may get an FFA Cup match.

It's a tough one, Middy. I can't speak for others but all of my NPL discussions are undertaken on the local blog in my home state.

Results so far this weekend ... its building guys FFS start to get some traffic on the Roar site for this.... the thread has 156 posts to date about over 100 are mind and of the last 100 about 90 mine... The Football is good to . Check out the link below. have a look at some matches most are kept up for quite a while... http://www.theroar.com.au/2017/05/15/missing-league-try-watching-local-club/comment-page-17/#comment-5726473 Gold Coast City v Caloundra = 14,628 views (FB) Granhe Thistle v Peninsula Power = 7k views (FB) Essendon Royals v Altona City = 5,120 views (FB) Langwarrin v Malvern City = 1.9k views (FB) over 4 videos. Why. Maitland v Byron Bay = 10k views (FB) Cardiff City v Coffs City = 13k views (FB)