18th November looks likely...

[GOALden Hawk]

...for the World Cup Qualifier between Australia and a South American country. FIFA announced on the weekend we will be hosting the 1st leg, although Soccer Australia are appealing the decision. I don't blame them, there is always a big advantage holding the 2nd leg at home, and as we won a confederate, we should have the right to choose.

So what does it mean for us? Well the positives are it's only a week after the France game, so the players will not fly back to Europe for club matches, and we will keep the squad together. It also means the South American country only has 3 or 4 days after their last qualifying match to get here and play - that has to be good for us.

Negatives are the 1st leg will probably be a much tighter affair - I wouldn't expect more than 1 or 2 goals scored. Also we will not know whether we are through or not, so we won't be able to celebrate totally even if we win.

But it's all up in the air, things may change again. I also heard a whisper the sponsor of the France game has pulled out and the match is under a cloud...let's hope not!

 

[Dipper]

Seems pretty unfair that Australia won't be getting the choice of legs, it seems as if you regularly cop it pretty harshly from FIFA.They obviously favour the South American sides especially if it happens to be Brazil over Australia.My view is that they have it pretty easy anyway if you can't finish in the top 4 or whatever it is then you probably don't deserve to go.They'll be a few pretty decent European teams that won't be going to the WC who wouldn't mind a qualifying system like the south American's have got.
There was some pretty dubious stuff going on with the draw for the European play off games being done behind closed doors earlier than previously announced with the England/Germany group getting what seems on the face of it one of the easier games.Although England benifitted from it it seems pretty underhand to me & is another example of FIFA trying to get it's favoured teams into the WC if they can't mange it with straightforward qualifying.

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems that the winner of your qualifying group is the only one that is required to play a play off game which can't be right.It's probably because your whole area doesn't hold much sway politically with FIFA.On the other hand there'll be some pretty average teams from Africa & the middle East/Asia that manage to get in as usual.

 

[scray dog]

The South American qualifying finishes on the 14th .... so if we're forced to hold the first leg in Australia, play hard ball ----> Friday Night, 16th November @ MCG. Gives the South American team only 2 days to travel half way across the globe and prepare for the match..... that'll teach the pricks for not letting us choose when to play our home leg


BTW: Why is Soccer Australia so hell bent on playing it on a Sunday afternoon? A night match (Friday or Saturday) increases the atmosphere (and exposure/ratings) ten fold, IMO.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Dipper, you are correct, we are the only winner of a federation that doesn't get direct qualification. It's something Oceania has been campaigning for for years but with such a weak federation it would be unfair as Australia would qualify fairly easy.

However, you would think that by winning a federation we would at least get some acknowledgement, but as coach Frank Farina said - FIFA treats the OFC as a 2nd class citizen.

What I (and I'd say most Australia soccer fans) would prefer is the OFC winner to join the 10 teams currently playing off in Asia. Increase it to 12 in 2006 with Japan and South Korea having to qualify, and have 3 groups of 4 with 3 qualifying directly, and perhaps a 4th or 5th going through on a play off system.

But that way, instead of Australia having just 2 matches of any importance every 4 years, we could play in a group and play 10 matches, both home and away. Not only would this increase the profile of soccer in Australia with more matches, it would also give us a better chance of getting a squad to gel together.

We deserve better than the lottery situation we have now. Either give us direct qualification or put us in a group.

 

[Top Dog]

Good call scray dog