I'd love NZ to join Asia, as the higher quality of the confederation has only got to be good for the game in NZ long term.
How about this as an idea out of left field.... expand Oceania by adding the countries around the Pacific Rim? Japan, Australia, Korea, China, Indonesia, etc and leave the Indias, Arabs and Stans in Asia.We aren't asia, but then neither are the Aussies, and there are plenty of blonde heads in the some of the central Asian sides (all the .........stans).
I actually wonder if Asia needs to be cut in two - Central Asia and the Middle East in one confederation, South & East Asia and the Pacific in the other.
Of course I'd expect that the most likely best outcome would be that the confederations stay as they are, but the top Oceania team joins the Asian qualifying process at some point.
Dragon2007-05-11 04:30:26
Has been talked about before - the split into East and West Asia. Two issues are East Asia losing the cash rich Middle Eastern countries, and also how to go about splitting WC spots. West Asia would likely push pretty hard for 2.5 slots each and they have a lot of political power and cash to get it, which would leave Aus, Japan, Nth and Sth Korea, China and us all competing for much more limited spots.
My ideal outcome is for the top 2 Oceania qualifiers to join the final group stage of the Asian qualification. The final group would then have 2 pools of 6 (rather than the 5 now, so Asia loses no teams) and the two 3rd place sides in the group would get the final slot. This would give us at least 10 meaningful qualifcation games where we have a chance (but by no means a certainty, or maybe even a probability) of qualifying, and wouldn't leave us relying on getting up and performing in 2 games without competitive buildup, which, as Australia knows well, is no easy task. It also would give a chance for the top Island countries to improve aswell.