Steve 0 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 BBC Story So we have both Australia and New Zealand in the World Cup. Excellent for football in our part of the world. I don't understand the argument where you have people saying it diminishes the event having smaller nations like the Kiwis and the like when bigger nations like France and Portugal may not make it through. It's the WORLD Cup, not the European Championships. Now I don't know how the seedings will work, but a group of Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa would be fucking awesome. Nine points for the Aussies and the Poms and Saffers can fight it out for second place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snakehips 0 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 It's never bothered me about the size of countries taking part in the WC finals, whether they're mighty nations such as Brazil, Engurlund, Argentina, Germany, or lesser, miniscule, backward, insignificant, wannabe nations such as Australia, NZ or Tonga. As you say, it is the World Cup. Due to the world getting 'smaller', I see a time, however, when qualifying competitions have groups involving teams from Europe, Asia, Africa, N & S America. Then, and only then will it truly be a 'world' cup imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 0 Posted November 14, 2009 Author Share Posted November 14, 2009 lesser, miniscule, backward, insignificant, wannabe nations such as Australia Dick. Due to the world getting 'smaller', I see a time, however, when qualifying competitions have groups involving teams from Europe, Asia, Africa, N & S America. Then, and only then will it truly be a 'world' cup imo. I have to be honest, I'd love to see this too however the bigger clubs would reject this in a second. You already have the Aussies playing frendlies in London to make it more likely clubs will release players, and Brazil playing friendlies like the one this week in the Middle East to cut down travel. That's the only drawback to that idea, even though playing regular competitive matches against teams from all over the world would be nothing but a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trophyshy 7083 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Pleased to see the Kiwis in. Hopefully we'll get to play them or the Aussies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snakehips 0 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 I remember seeing NZ play NUFC at ST JAMES' PARK sometime in the 80's. NUFC won 4-0 and a young Steve Howey played iirc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Kids Support Chelsea!! 0 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Now I don't know how the seedings will work, but a group of Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa would be fucking awesome. Nine points for the Aussies and the Poms and Saffers can fight it out for second place. Aussies, Poms, Kiwis and Saffers. Sounds like Saturday night in Shepherd's Bush Walkabout. Actually, thinking about it, I bet all the southern hemisphere theme bars are absolutely creaming their pants at the thought of all pissed up antipodes now having an interest in the World Cup. It could get messy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walliver 0 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 This doesn't excite me very much. I'd much prefer the World Cup to be a smaller event - make it harder for teams to get in and really make it the best in the world at the time. I'm not opposed to having a second concurrent World Cup with the next set of teams, if need be. Same with the European Championships - going to 24 teams is the wrong direction in my opinion, I'd prefer it was cut back rather than made larger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Castell 0 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 No doubt this result will be mentioned on the news in New Zealand, after the story about a dog that can sing Tainted Love. The Kiwis really couldn't give a shit about football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15561 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 what fucks me off is the likes of NZ and co getting in to the world cup by beating Bahrain. That's like Ireland qualifying by having to beat san marino.. Except that will never happen because were in the European groups and we have to beat former world cup holders to get through. Except when you had to beat, erm, Iran. This doesn't excite me very much. I'd much prefer the World Cup to be a smaller event - make it harder for teams to get in and really make it the best in the world at the time. I'm not opposed to having a second concurrent World Cup with the next set of teams, if need be. Same with the European Championships - going to 24 teams is the wrong direction in my opinion, I'd prefer it was cut back rather than made larger. I don't mind a World Cup with 32 teams, the world's a big old place after all. The Europeans with 24 is just ridiculous though. Why bother with qualifying at all? Just send the 16 biggest European teams through automatically and let the minnows fight it out among themselves for the scraps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 what fucks me off is the likes of NZ and co getting in to the world cup by beating Bahrain. That's like Ireland qualifying by having to beat san marino.. Except that will never happen because were in the European groups and we have to beat former world cup holders to get through. And even that's after holding the current world cup holders to 2xdraws, and finishing 4points ahead of a team like Bulgaria fronted by a £30m striker. yes people can say "oh its great, see some diversity" etc etc No, sorry it's not, for a tournament that only comes around every 4 years and should have the best generations of that countries players in it, i want to see the best countries qualify, and not just because they had a piss easy group in the arsehole of nowhere where the star player is a 29 year old for some team no one has heard of. We get 2draws with Ranked 4th in the world and get put into a 2leg playoff with ranked 9th Ranked 80odds in the world qualifys for the world cup by beating ranked 60something jesus fucking wept edit> oh aye well done.... Pint of bitter for you eh? Did you not see the effort Bahrain had to put in to even get that far btw? I personally don't care about seeing the so-called best teams as in the last few of these tournaments all of the knockout stages have more often than not produced unbelievably boring affairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 I think anyone who has qualified has done so on merit, it almost goes without saying. That said, I think 32 teams is too many and going back to 24 would be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adios 717 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 what fucks me off is the likes of NZ and co getting in to the world cup by beating Bahrain. That's like Ireland qualifying by having to beat san marino.. Except that will never happen because were in the European groups and we have to beat former world cup holders to get through. And even that's after holding the current world cup holders to 2xdraws, and finishing 4points ahead of a team like Bulgaria fronted by a £30m striker. yes people can say "oh its great, see some diversity" etc etc No, sorry it's not, for a tournament that only comes around every 4 years and should have the best generations of that countries players in it, i want to see the best countries qualify, and not just because they had a piss easy group in the arsehole of nowhere where the star player is a 29 year old for some team no one has heard of. We get 2draws with Ranked 4th in the world and get put into a 2leg playoff with ranked 9th Ranked 80odds in the world qualifys for the world cup by beating ranked 60something jesus fucking wept edit> oh aye well done.... I'm sure San Marino helped scupper our chances one year under McCarthy. We're shit. Maybe that's one of the reasons I like the idea of a 'festival of football' with some weaker teams in too, not just an elite league of boring diving ubermensch. Oh, and stop crying you big puff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 what fucks me off is the likes of NZ and co getting in to the world cup by beating Bahrain. That's like Ireland qualifying by having to beat san marino.. Except that will never happen because were in the European groups and we have to beat former world cup holders to get through. And even that's after holding the current world cup holders to 2xdraws, and finishing 4points ahead of a team like Bulgaria fronted by a £30m striker. yes people can say "oh its great, see some diversity" etc etc No, sorry it's not, for a tournament that only comes around every 4 years and should have the best generations of that countries players in it, i want to see the best countries qualify, and not just because they had a piss easy group in the arsehole of nowhere where the star player is a 29 year old for some team no one has heard of. We get 2draws with Ranked 4th in the world and get put into a 2leg playoff with ranked 9th Ranked 80odds in the world qualifys for the world cup by beating ranked 60something jesus fucking wept edit> oh aye well done.... I'm sure San Marino helped scupper our chances one year under McCarthy. We're shit. Maybe that's one of the reasons I like the idea of a 'festival of football' with some weaker teams in too, not just an elite league of boring diving ubermensch. Oh, and stop crying you big puff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Pint of bitter for you eh? Did you not see the effort Bahrain had to put in to even get that far btw? No i was busy watching us get dicked by seeding and a handball and a late deflected goal against one of the top 10 teams in the world. Seeding is a load of balls Weak teams playing each other in a weak region to qualify for a world tournament is a load of balls. Waiting 4years to see a ranked 80'ish team draw a top 10 team and get torn to bits is also a load of balls, i want to see competitive matches. This is not the fa.cup there is no multiple chances for one tiny team to somehow get 1 result against a decent team in a giant killing, they won't. Greece done ok in 2004 mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Pint of bitter for you eh? Did you not see the effort Bahrain had to put in to even get that far btw? No i was busy watching us get dicked by seeding and a handball and a late deflected goal against one of the top 10 teams in the world. Seeding is a load of balls Weak teams playing each other in a weak region to qualify for a world tournament is a load of balls. Waiting 4years to see a ranked 80'ish team draw a top 10 team and get torn to bits is also a load of balls, i want to see competitive matches. This is not the fa.cup there is no multiple chances for one tiny team to somehow get 1 result against a decent team in a giant killing, they won't. Greece done ok in 2004 mind. Greece had a reasonable side with players who played for decent teams in decent leagues, with a few quality ones holding them together. Their side wasn't that good at all. The reason they won it was due to Rehhagel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Pint of bitter for you eh? Did you not see the effort Bahrain had to put in to even get that far btw? No i was busy watching us get dicked by seeding and a handball and a late deflected goal against one of the top 10 teams in the world. Seeding is a load of balls Weak teams playing each other in a weak region to qualify for a world tournament is a load of balls. Waiting 4years to see a ranked 80'ish team draw a top 10 team and get torn to bits is also a load of balls, i want to see competitive matches. This is not the fa.cup there is no multiple chances for one tiny team to somehow get 1 result against a decent team in a giant killing, they won't. Greece done ok in 2004 mind. Greece had a reasonable side with players who played for decent teams in decent leagues, with a few quality ones holding them together. Their side wasn't that good at all. The reason they won it was due to Rehhagel. I didn't say it was that good i said it was reasonable, witha few decent players throughout to hold the rest together(not unlike the irish frankly) the Greeks are always hard to break down always have been, even at club level. Yet would you not say Greece winning the tournament and a lot of their results was a giant killing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob W 0 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Just back from NZ - I have to say that Football is not exactly front page news - it comes after Rugby Union, Netball, Rugby League, racing and maybe Crown Bowls on the sports pages................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Ant going into meltdown here. "lol" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayatollah Hermione 13894 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 So, which of these minnows that are qualifying will undoubtedly knock England out in the second round on pens? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimthemuss 0 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 No doubt this result will be mentioned on the news in New Zealand, after the story about a dog that can sing Tainted Love. The Kiwis really couldn't give a shit about football. To be fair, we are greatly Rugby orientated over here. However, on saturday Westpac Stadium (By rights a Rugby ground) was filled to capacity with the football public of New Zealand. an additional 500 seats were added a fortnight before the game to meet demand. Rather than the usual muted, mundane atmosphere that is created from an All Black game wheere we are expecteded to win easily, we got a robust, electric atmosphere of fanatics. With ten minutes to go, the majority of the 36,000 crowd removed their shirts and waved them above their head until the conclusion of the game. (Not the women tho ) Since the result, the country has choked on Football, and the attention football has recieved can only be benificial to our game. Minnows such as ourselves need to play in a global tournament such as the world cup to raise the countries awareness of the game, regardless of who we have to beat to get there. We wont expect to win a pool match, but by christ we'll give it a nudge!!! White is the new black!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charvski 0 Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Ant going into meltdown here. "lol" ant has a point to be fair though, surely they could just merge Oceania and Asian qualification. Still it would not be as hard as the European groups are. I dont know what the answer would be because I like to see small teams in the world cup too. The seeding of the play offs was a joke. Maybe Ireland could steal a 1-0 out in France. I still fancy Bosnia to beat Portugal in Bosnia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammynb 3368 Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Ant going into meltdown here. "lol" ant has a point to be fair though, surely they could just merge Oceania and Asian qualification. Still it would not be as hard as the European groups are. I dont know what the answer would be because I like to see small teams in the world cup too. The seeding of the play offs was a joke. Maybe Ireland could steal a 1-0 out in France. I still fancy Bosnia to beat Portugal in Bosnia. They did, 1st place in Oceania played 5th place in Asia! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15561 Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 did they? you sure about thatItaly, yup qualified got there USA 94 yup qualified got there (mcgrath super star!) 1998, finished 2nd in the group lost in the playoffs to belguim 2002..Korea.. yeah we got there there after beating holland. 2006, didn't qualify france and switzerland did San marino? eh last time (from what i remember) it was like 2007. Firstly we won, and secondly it was Stan not McCarthy in charge... jog on. Eh? What did you think I was talking about in my post? Jog on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stevie Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Ant, you can always support England in the WC if you don't make it, so at least take that consolation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Ant going into meltdown here. "lol" ant has a point to be fair though, surely they could just merge Oceania and Asian qualification. Still it would not be as hard as the European groups are. I dont know what the answer would be because I like to see small teams in the world cup too. The seeding of the play offs was a joke. Maybe Ireland could steal a 1-0 out in France. I still fancy Bosnia to beat Portugal in Bosnia. Not sure what it is like but feel free to enlighten me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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