The Road To Brazil 2014 via Wellington feat. Mexico

On second thought. Fixed.

If we had taken that attitude to South Africa we wouldn't have come away with 3 draws. Wake up, take advantage of the situation. South/North American teams will now look to play us, or at the very least, play Australia and we piggy back them. Asian teams are obviously already aware of our threat.

way too much 'fowler action' for us piss-head purists

I don't care who we get.  I just want another 14 November 2009.

ditto!!

I too would quite like another 'best night of my life'.

Don't really care who we get - we will draw 0-0 with them away from home, and beat them 1-0 at home.

Concacaf complained about our easy route... someone tell me how a ballot changes this? We're still going to be playing the least games out of anyone. They should be made to play off with Caf, how can they justify 5 places when theyre consistently pants?

And wtf - theyve had a playoff with Bahrain as well so who are they to complain?
AJ132011-03-05 03:28:21

 i though fifa banned at altitude??? detoxin2011-03-05 05:00:40

Think Bolivia kicked up a fuss because there is no where to play their home games except at altitude. Having been there, it must be tough to play that high up, it was hard enough just doing simple things like having a shower for the first few days..

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/4734764/Fifa-revision-nothing-to-fear-Ryan-Nelsen/

does every journo use the forum for their articles?
"Fifa's decision sparked a rash of complaints on a fans' website yesterday with some saying Oceania's champion should automatically qualify because it was the only confederation without direct entry."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/4734678/Ricki-Herbert-relaxed-about-Fifas-decision

Was that this website?I don't remember anyone around here saying the Oceania champion should automatically qualify.
Nobody around here is that stupid are they?

I dunno, I just assumed it was on YF. And yes there are people that stupid around here! lol

Oceania should be gauranteed atleast 3 spots for the world cup as to grow the confed - sheesh.

WCQ games all put back until 2012...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10710399

Ryan Nelsen uncommitted to the 2014 campaign? I thought he was all for it?

Probably cause he will be too old.

danny hay reckons we got a raw deal.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/4736585/Life-is-tougher-for-All-Whites

seems a bit negative for me. At the end of the day, 200 odd countries are competing to get to the finals, why should we have an easier path than others.    I wouldn't have cared if we had to face the 5th placed asian team and then a 6th place south american team.    more quality games and games at home to get crowds to the games.

"At least with Brazil qualifying automatically as hosts, the Concacaf pool is as diluted as it could ever be".

Just how hard is it to get the simple facts right?

And as for it not being fair, and a poor reward for the All Whites' efforts last year - seriosuly? What, exactly, is unfair about it? And exactly what kind of reward were you expecting? Direct qualification for the next 5 World Cups?el grapadura2011-03-06 22:15:39

What is FIFA telling us in OFC? OFC not only deserves 0.5 slot, we deserve 1 full slot! Anything less is disrespectful to us!

Got nothing to do with respect, and all to do with political power.  OFC have none.

Even if we did, the size of OFC is so small, and the qualifying path too short to justify more than 0.5 slots to every other confederation. The best chance to get a better qualifying scheme is to merge OFC/AFC, or have the top one or two teams join the last AFC qualifying round. But we all know how that's going to go.

* Also in the grand scheme of things, all nations in OFC are weak, including dare I say it, the All Whites.
timmymadden2011-03-10 08:22:08

It's got nothing to do with respect or political power but fairness. Winning Oceania is too easy and short to qualify for the WC finals directly.

Lolz.

I lolz at your suggestion it would be fair for oceania to qualify directly.

Never said anything about fairness.  It's all about political power.

No, this is a bollocks argument.

Brazil or Germany don't qualify often because CONMEBOL/UEFA are too easy, but because they're top sides. Put them on any qualifying path, and they'll probably qualify.

Put OFC winner on any other qualifying path, and they'll struggle mightily. It's all about the context, and OFC is the weakest confederation by a long, long way.

And this - you cannot possibly be serious.

OFC, in its four World Cup appearances, has 1 win. That's it. 1 win. Think about this.

Fiji is getting its act together in finding some overseas based players.

When is the confeds cup?

June 16-30, 2013 in Brazil.

Some other OFC nations, particularly French Polynesia are getting their acts together.Should be interesting in the next few years, we won't be taking them lightly.

of course its going to be OFC veruss south america fifa will make sure of it, why have the draw?

OFC has no political power?

Er, I think that's incorrect. Australia's departure to the AFC was primarily the vision of the former OFC President Reynald Temarii and it was largely due to him that that move happened. The FFA were happy to accept the open door. I believe Temarii had to take that to the FIFA Executive for approval, not the FFA. The FFA were happy to work with the OFC to make the move to the AFC.

Leaving that aside, I think its fair to say the member associations in the OFC have since enjoyed many of the benefits of a post-Australia era with 13 or so qualifications for New Zealand in all FIFA events since 2007 and the All Whites run through to South Africa last year.

The other member associations have benefited from more matches, a regular continental club competition that is well followed everywhere except New Zealand; Solomon Islands have appeared at more FIFA world events (futsal and beach soccer) than ever before, Tahiti have one appearance at a FIFA world event in the U-20 age group.

To say the OFC has no political power in the wider scheme of things is inaccurate. Temarii is gone now and the new President's (David Chung from Papua New Guinea) biggest challenge is to maintain that power and keep the OFC's stock high...politically.

On the field, New Zealand football has improved massively and will only get better. By the way, the Wellington Phoenix presence in the A-League has also required support from the OFC at the highest levels; I think you'll find the OFC recognise the value of the club to New Zealand football and the wider region.

I can't recall a brighter period for our sport in New Zealand.

Gordon Glen Watson

FFA were happy to accept the open door? No, FFA wanted out. The situation in OFC hasn't changed, NZ and it's clubs will win 95-99% of all future events and the smaller nations wont grow. The OCL is a good step in the right direction and the number of islanders playing in the NZFC will hopefully rise but they just don't have the funding and population we have. Much like the situation we had when Australia was here. The few number of FIFA events the other OFC nations make it to, they will get smacked around like we did pre 2010.

Also if FFA didn't want the Phoenix we would be out, so who has the political power? OFC put their support behind the club but the decision was really based on the fact that the FFA wants the club in it's competition.

I trust that FIFA will be doing a live televised (even if over the internet) draw for our final qualifying phase so we can all see that it's done fairly.