Crazy to see how poor Brazil are. They impressed me against us at Wembley in the Friendly.
Argentina away is not exactly an easy game and they were far from full strength.
No Alisson in goal, Gabriel and Militao missing in defence and no Bruno Guimaraes either. Also without Neymar but you could argue that's not much of a loss these days.
Crazy to see how poor Brazil are. They impressed me against us at Wembley in the Friendly.
Argentina away is not exactly an easy game and they were far from full strength.
No Alisson in goal, Gabriel and Militao missing in defence and no Bruno Guimaraes either. Also without Neymar but you could argue that's not much of a loss these days.
They’ll still qualify but they’ve not exactly been in great form during the whole qualification, 10 points behind Argentina and 2 behind Ecuador.
Crazy to see how poor Brazil are. They impressed me against us at Wembley in the Friendly.
Argentina away is not exactly an easy game and they were far from full strength.
No Alisson in goal, Gabriel and Militao missing in defence and no Bruno Guimaraes either. Also without Neymar but you could argue that's not much of a loss these days.
They’ll still qualify but they’ve not exactly been in great form during the whole qualification, 10 points behind Argentina and 2 behind Ecuador.
They've not been good for years.
Haven't gone beyond the quarters of a WC since winning it in 2002. Won 1 Copa America since 2007, which was 6 years ago and they were the host nation.
It means NZ have qualified for a World Cup by playing only 5 games (4 of which they played at home). Beat Tahiti, Vanuatu, Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia to qualify. Scored 29 and conceded 1.
Compare that to Asia where teams play a minimum of 16 games to qualify.
It's possible that the Asian team who end up in the Intercontinental play offs and go on to win that, will play 23 games to qualify. Or worse, they could play 23 games, lose the final and not qualify!
And they call it inclusion or some other woke nonsense.
Don't be silly, this is FIFA we're talking about. They call it a money-making opportunity.
Is, of course, the CORRECT answer.
Well, yes and no imo.
Yes, having 48 teams is a money making opportunity.
No, giving New Zealand an easy path is not a money making opportunity.
I think that the question is why is there such an easy way to qualify for Oceania. It should at least be enlarged to include Australia and south-east Asia teams .
It means NZ have qualified for a World Cup by playing only 5 games (4 of which they played at home). Beat Tahiti, Vanuatu, Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia to qualify. Scored 29 and conceded 1.
Compare that to Asia where teams play a minimum of 16 games to qualify.
It's possible that the Asian team who end up in the Intercontinental play offs and go on to win that, will play 23 games to qualify. Or worse, they could play 23 games, lose the final and not qualify!
And they call it inclusion or some other woke nonsense.
Don't be silly, this is FIFA we're talking about. They call it a money-making opportunity.
Is, of course, the CORRECT answer.
Well, yes and no imo.
Yes, having 48 teams is a money making opportunity.
No, giving New Zealand an easy path is not a money making opportunity.
I think that the question is why is there such an easy way to qualify for Oceania. It should at least be enlarged to include Australia and south-east Asia teams .
Cost for the Pacific Teams is probably a big factor - In which case they maybe need to have a Pre-Oceania Qualifying Stage(s) where one or two join New Zealand in the main Asia draw.
Going back to the original comment made by Chris, its worth remembering that the UEFA format isn't much different now; Germany after all only need to play one extra game than New Zealand to qualify for the World Cup. Their three opponents of Slovakia - Northern Ireland - Luxembourg, arent exactly going to be difficult fixtures for them - Same for France, who "only" have to bypass Azerbaijan - Iceland - Ukraine.
Comments
No Alisson in goal, Gabriel and Militao missing in defence and no Bruno Guimaraes either. Also without Neymar but you could argue that's not much of a loss these days.
Interesting article on the failings in Chinese football. They finished bottom of their qualifying group, level on 6 points with the mighty Bahrain!
Haven't gone beyond the quarters of a WC since winning it in 2002.
Won 1 Copa America since 2007, which was 6 years ago and they were the host nation.
Yes, having 48 teams is a money making opportunity.
No, giving New Zealand an easy path is not a money making opportunity.
I think that the question is why is there such an easy way to qualify for Oceania. It should at least be enlarged to include Australia and south-east Asia teams .
Going back to the original comment made by Chris, its worth remembering that the UEFA format isn't much different now; Germany after all only need to play one extra game than New Zealand to qualify for the World Cup. Their three opponents of Slovakia - Northern Ireland - Luxembourg, arent exactly going to be difficult fixtures for them - Same for France, who "only" have to bypass Azerbaijan - Iceland - Ukraine.