I was quite surprised just how many more games the women play, against Sweden in their third group game Wilkinson became the 11th women to 100 caps, whereas only 5 men have got to 60 caps, and none to 90, let alone 100. I was looking through the all time AWs caps Wikipedia, and players would have careers over a decade for 30 caps, Reid doesn’t even have 30, Fallon had only 24 surprisingly, Ryan Thomas was 22yo during those Peru games, he’ll likely have only played once before he turns 27.
Moving confederations to AFC probably isn’t in NZF’s hands, regardless of motivation to do it. AFC, especially the Middle Eastern teams don’t want Australia, let alone another couple hours travelling time. Plus the success of Australia since moving has been instead of traditional AFC teams, so why would they want to add another team likely to get in the way of them winning Asian Cups and qualifying for the WC, as New Zealand would be at least consistently challenging for top 5 spots, around Australia, Saudi, Qatar, China etc.
FIFA are also probably against it as they know, if NZ swap, then the whole OFC will eventually go, and then AFC will be left ranging from Syria in the west to Tahiti in the east, and inevitably calls will start to split east and west. That would be great for NZ competitive games, but a nightmare for bureaucrats at FIFA, so I can’t imagine it happening.
AFC at the moment is, in my opinion, easier to qualify out of than OFC, evidenced by Australia being 3 from 3 since changing. Top 2 in two different groups make it, so there’s far more room for error than OFC, and even finishing third in your group can get you the same playoff winning OFC gets. If the WC wasn’t expanding I could see why NZF would want to change, but why look a gift horse in the mouth? You might lose the intercontinental playoff, but maybe you’ll get an extended OFC qualifying, not to mention that World Cup money would be able to get games hosted in New Zealand, and reinvest in the local game. It’s been over 7 years since a non-qualifier was hosted here, and OFC teams are improving rapidly, only twice in the last qualifying round did we score 4 or more (5-0 vs Vanuatu and 6-1 vs Solomon Islands) and we also drew three games (0-0 vs PNG and New Caledonia and 2-2 vs Solomons).
https://footballoceania.com/2020/02/08/opinion-what-the-ofc-nations-league-could-look-like/
This article goes into a bit what that Nations League could look like, and includes inviting the associate members in from the real small OFC nations. CONCACAF does this in their Nations League by inviting teams like Guadeloupe. In the same way that we say playing more games against Japan/Korea/Saudi would improve us, more games against NZ would improve the islands, and thus make it more competitive in OFC. A prime example is that the last team to win the OFC Champions League isn’t a New Zealand team, but Hienghene Sport from New Caledonia.
The window in the first week of September is probably gone, and with UEFA qualifying being compressed, combined with the Nations League finals in the October window, European teams are probably out of the question. AFC qualifiers also start in September, with the top 12 teams involved there, so any friendly that happens, which I wouldn’t hold my breath for, won’t be against any team of high quality.
Moving confederations to AFC probably isn’t in NZF’s hands, regardless of motivation to do it. AFC, especially the Middle Eastern teams don’t want Australia, let alone another couple hours travelling time. Plus the success of Australia since moving has been instead of traditional AFC teams, so why would they want to add another team likely to get in the way of them winning Asian Cups and qualifying for the WC, as New Zealand would be at least consistently challenging for top 5 spots, around Australia, Saudi, Qatar, China etc.
FIFA are also probably against it as they know, if NZ swap, then the whole OFC will eventually go, and then AFC will be left ranging from Syria in the west to Tahiti in the east, and inevitably calls will start to split east and west. That would be great for NZ competitive games, but a nightmare for bureaucrats at FIFA, so I can’t imagine it happening.
AFC at the moment is, in my opinion, easier to qualify out of than OFC, evidenced by Australia being 3 from 3 since changing. Top 2 in two different groups make it, so there’s far more room for error than OFC, and even finishing third in your group can get you the same playoff winning OFC gets. If the WC wasn’t expanding I could see why NZF would want to change, but why look a gift horse in the mouth? You might lose the intercontinental playoff, but maybe you’ll get an extended OFC qualifying, not to mention that World Cup money would be able to get games hosted in New Zealand, and reinvest in the local game. It’s been over 7 years since a non-qualifier was hosted here, and OFC teams are improving rapidly, only twice in the last qualifying round did we score 4 or more (5-0 vs Vanuatu and 6-1 vs Solomon Islands) and we also drew three games (0-0 vs PNG and New Caledonia and 2-2 vs Solomons).
https://footballoceania.com/2020/02/08/opinion-what-the-ofc-nations-league-could-look-like/
This article goes into a bit what that Nations League could look like, and includes inviting the associate members in from the real small OFC nations. CONCACAF does this in their Nations League by inviting teams like Guadeloupe. In the same way that we say playing more games against Japan/Korea/Saudi would improve us, more games against NZ would improve the islands, and thus make it more competitive in OFC. A prime example is that the last team to win the OFC Champions League isn’t a New Zealand team, but Hienghene Sport from New Caledonia.
The window in the first week of September is probably gone, and with UEFA qualifying being compressed, combined with the Nations League finals in the October window, European teams are probably out of the question. AFC qualifiers also start in September, with the top 12 teams involved there, so any friendly that happens, which I wouldn’t hold my breath for, won’t be against any team of high quality.