All Whites' Dead End Road To Russia 2018

However, although there are a handful of decent sides, there are also a lot of mediocre sides in Asia which would be no more attractive to the public than the Pacific Island countries.

Just look at the Socceroos' group drawn this week:

Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh anyone?

Even the toughest team in their group, Jordan won't attract the punters in Australia, nor would they here....

Plus, climatic conditions, travel etc. can be even more difficult in Asia than the Pacific e.g. Japan are drawn to play Syria and Afghanistan  - could be a few problems there considering Japanese hostages were executed in Syria recently !!!

Think your wrong there, Socceroo's have played in front of crouds of no less then 20k for the pass 10 years why would that stop now?.

When I watched the Roos beat Wales back in 2012 (?) the turn up in Cardiff was pitiful, both from the Welsh and Aussies.  I ran into about 10 kiwis there, which was about the size of the Aussie turnout!

Australia vs. Ecuador, the Den, London, March 2014 = croud of 7011 (about the same as the Wales game Aug. 2011)

(not a true home game  - but these London friendlies still count as home games...and Australia have played a lot of them)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Australia_nation...

Socceroos vs. Malaysia friendly, Canberra, Oct. 2011 = 10,041

Socceroos vs. Indonesia friendly March 2005 = 13,719

Jordan FIFA ranking 103

Tajikistan = 143

Kyrgyzstan = 153

Bangladesh = 167

Australia played much stronger teams in the early rounds of qualifiers for the last two World Cups (2010: first qualifiers = China, Qatar, Iraq; 2014: first round = Saudi, Oman, Thailand)

Therefore I predict lower crouds than previous World Cup qualifiers this time around....

NZ Football have enough money from the Mexico All whites match. they should host this time our conditions

seeing Smeltz and Kosta in the A League Final got me thinking about the new v old breed and how the 2018 All Whites (if they get there) will stack up against the 2010 team.

The 2010 team were Paston, Reid, Nelsen, Smith, Bertos, The Godfather, Elliot, Lochhead, Killen, Fallon and Smeltz.

That team had 1 experienced EPL player and club captain, 3 in the Championship, 1 A League golden boot (2 yrs), 1 in second tier Euro League and 2 guys with recent EPL/MLS and top tier Euro League experience.

If you fast forward to 2017/18 I think optimistically the All Whites will have:

1 experienced EPL player and club captain in Reid, 2 Championship players ( Smith and Wood), 2 top tier Euro league players (Thomas and Tuiloma), and 1 in second tier Euro league (Rojas - excl Boyd here). 

Pretty similar. The difference is Elliot and the Godfather. 2 guys with top league experience. 

The rest of the 2010 team were average A League players and id say the same will be said of the 2017/18 lot.

The biggest difference is the leadership and experience of Nelsen, Elliot and the Godfather. I just don't see the same qualities in the current crop.

On the flip side I think the coaching staff for the 2017/18 team "appear" more credentialled but then again Herbert got some impressive results in and around the world cup- eg con fed cup, qualifier and world cup warm ups- despite what people say about him.

Don't have an an argument per se here but thought the comparison was interesting and it shows how much work Hudson has in front of him. 

You've forgotten our new Greek Kiwi Themi Tzimopoulos an experienced Greek top tier central midfielder / centre-back aged 29.

He certainly bolsters the credentials of the current line-up.

Could be the equivalent of a Vicelich in position and experience.

I'm sure we'll turn up some youth gems before 2018 as well.

There are other guys around too these days such as Dan Keat, a regular in the Swedish top tier, a level "Plodder" Christie could only dream of.

Marinovic looks a promising keeper too and has been garnering a solid background for five years in German football.

Boyd could kick on in Portugal and that's a damn good league too.

If Jordan's Prince Ali were to win the FIFA presidency vote (yeah, right), he intends to raise the number of teams for Russia to 36.

Prince Ali's World Cup plans

Doesn't matter, Sepp will win anyway

FIFA confirm World Cup slots remain the same for 2018 and 2022.

Africa: 5, Asia: 4.5, Europe: 13, Concacaf: 3.5, Oceania: 0.5, S America: 4.5, Host: 1

Got a link>?

Blatters first revenge

#BlatterOut

Good.  It would be a disgrace if Oceania got a full spot.  What needs to be fixed though is our horrendous qualifying pathway that in no way prepares us for a 2 legged playoff, let alone a world cup match.

The only confederation that doesn't get represented in most "World" Cups....

may not

We don't deserve to be in a world cup? We didn't deserve 2010?

We can only hope that Sep feels more in debt to Asia then the American confederations and he wants Asia to have an easier pathway in a playoff against Oceania

South America here we come!.

Sepp Blatter is full of shark, 0.5 spots for the next two world cups? Bet them island nations that voted him in must be kicking them self now.

We really need to get the fk out of Oceania ASAP.

Now we know that FIFA is corrupt, but Martin should've voted to support Blatter's  bid. That way we keep him on side and possibly get direct entry to World Cups and keep-in with our Oceania friends. Let the US legal system take care of Blatter and his cohorts. If we had voted for him we would have  possibly reaped the benefits and may have gained direct entry. Did Martin and his advisors do us no favours, just to ALIGN with his UK friends. Blatter may go soon after further investigations but should Martin go as well for his error of judgement on the vote.

TV

FIFA Know It All

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Man how high was the fall when your mum dropped you?

You're right. And now NZ Football can walk with it's head held high as everyone else plays at the World Cup.

Couple of weeks late for comedy fest, bro.

I don't know why people think we would have got direct entry anyway. I just posted this in the FIFA Meltdown thread but maybe here is a better place:

I'm pretty sure that years ago OFC was promised direct entry to the World Cup by Blatter as part of his campaigning and he never delivered. Let's face it, the financial input into Oceania football is more than enough to buy the loyalty of OFC. And I don't even think that the rest of OFC are that fussed about direct entry to the WC because they know that 9 times out of 10 it would be NZ qualifying. There's no reason to take half a spot off another confederation to effectively buy one country's vote, which is what people are suggesting could have happened if we voted for him.

I put this in the FIFA meltdown thread but applies here

If NZ had voted Blatter, there would have been equal noise saying how could NZF vote for corruption.

There are 2 realities - you don't get high up in FIFA unless you have been exposed to this a some point so I question if Prince Ali is any cleaner than Blatter and NZF were fudgeed which way they jumped. As someone else said, walk out with your principles intact knowing you are going to the dog box or get into bed with the villainy and show everyone your position on morality.

It's great the all knowing chiming in after that fact about what NZF shoulda coulda done but the truth is, they were fudgeed either way and those same folk would have bashed them for voting Blatter and an easier path etc. Blatter alone does not decide OFCs WC path so it's a bit ignorant to think he alone put the sword to our throat - the other confeds would never have surrendered any spot to a confederation they would have thought was less deserving than them. This was at best, 10% chance of happening.

I respect their stance and give them no stick whatsoever regardless how it hurts us and our confederation after the fact. 

Seems media is going with the line that NZ has been dealt a blow with Oceania not getting direct qualification to the world cup.  FFS, it was never going to happen as every other confederation would be up in arms.  NZ cannot be so arrogant to believe that half spot is ours.  The Pacific nations are closing the gap on us and if we are not careful we'll finish 2nd best.

I'm actually a little nervous for this side getting to the continental playoff even though I preached patience.

on the other hand, some nations will have their votes secured by brown envelopes. Others will have them secured by promises of qualification pathways. Some a combination of the two.

Under the current regime we will gain direct qualification only through bribery or in repayment for favours. Fairness will not be a consideration.

Oceania won't get a direct spot just because it isn't deserve it. Here in South America everyone believed that just for voting Blatter the half spot would be given to Oceania cause they voted Sepp. I think is pretty clear now that is not going to happen

The only time a Pacific team played a youth tournament (Tahiti) lost 8-0, 8-0 and 5-0, and it doesn't look that the second time (Fiji) will be different, hope to be wrong but sometimes not even NZ is up to that level