So it seems that Australian Football are going to go to Asia after so many years. Everyone seems happy with the decision in the media, and the players are happy enough as well. But what are the implications of the possible change from Oceania?
First and foremost, it has to be kept in mind that we (Australia) are still a few steps away from making the move. FIFA, known for backflips and back stabbing, still have to approve the move-which I have reservations about. South America would want to vetoe the move as they have 4.5 spots in the WC (the half spot being shared with Oceania). They would not want to lose the half spot, especially if they have to take on a European team, unless they were guaranteed a full spot (their 5th) in return. CONCACAF (who Asia have a playoff with in WC quallies) would also not like the move given that a possible WC spot would be lost every time to the Asian team.
Australian National teams may not benefit from the move as much as first thought either. Sure, the National Team would find it easier to get into the WC, but there are 11 teams from the AFC ranked ahead of Australia, who are ranked the 59th best nation in the latest FIFA Rankings. They are:
Japan (=18th)
Iran (20th)
South Korea (22nd)
Saudi Arabia (30th)
Jordan (42nd)
Iraq (45th)
Uzbekistan (46th)
Bahrain (52nd)
Kuwait (=54th)
China (=57th)
Oman (=57th)
So people that say it's easier to make the WC from Asia already has a flawed agreement. If all those teams are better than us (which according to facts is the case), then we wouldn't even make the final stage of qualifying.
It also is bad news for our junior (U/17, U/20 and U/23) and Women's teams who would be less likely to qualify for tournaments that we would virtually automatically qualify for. Les Murray from SBS in his latest collum on www.theworldgame.com.au says SO WHAT? Well I bet the players and officials closely involved would be angry with that comment as it would also affect the lower 'grades' of football. If we fail to qualify for those tournaments (now more likely), then I bet Les' opinion (who I have the utmost respect for) woudl be slightly altered.
Some people say that we would have more meaningful matches if we move to Asia. Naturally we would have more games with 16 matches (provided we qualify for that stage) in WC qualifying over the period. And if there's one thing that John O'Neill has done right, it's fixing up the international schedule for our best commodity in Australia. However, in my humble opinion (which doesn't count for much in the football community) all games are certainly meaningful-it's just a few people who don't really care about our National Team (mainly the Managers of heartless European Clubs, but there are others) who just think that there are 2 meaningful games every 4 years.
My Solution? Whilst it is inevitable that the move would happen barring a FIFA kurfuffle, maybe it would be better off moving EVERY Oceania nation to Asia. That way, we would not hear of the minnows who would play the Pakistans of this world, and everyone in Australian football still gets the dream move, likewise New Zealand who I believe may want to move as well. It will be interesting to see what happens from here.
