Just want to expand on the age group WC's and their impact on the local scene.
Meaningful qualifying games would be great but there is absolutely a cost balancing act to handle as seen with Australia. One of the major advantages at age group level with respect to playing at age group world cups comes down to the experience gained. The experience isnt just gained at an age group world cup. Because its affordable we have been able to have long build ups, selection processes and training opportunities for players and coaches. local coaches who get these jobs lift their performances significantly from their local coaching roles at club and schools. They naturally have a desire to be a success and also have to fulfil the professional expectations of the national body. The trialling, identification, coaching and selecting of talent for our age group sides is reasonably involved and thorough. A function of being able to afford to do this via Oceania. When these coaches come back out of the NZ age group scene the lifted levels of professionalism and training habits gained then get passed on to those they deal with back in the club and school system. Its a significant boost to the football infrastructure. Tough qualifying games help a team improve but not as much as meaningful trialling, training, coaching and selection processes. Games are the end product of the hard work done on the training pitch.
I just cant see us being able to sustain that if we moved to Asia. Would it hurt us long term?