Having seen the quality of Asian countries (yes Australia is counted as Asian for footballing reasons) I can confirm 100% they don't need any more places most of them are ****. The three or four good ones have a good chance of qualifying as it is.
I would like to see the guy playing a central position, as I have only ever seen him play wide left for us. He seems to have the knack for goals and looked better than Walters last night.
Well, surely with no RvW and an out-of-favour Grabb-it-while-you-can, his chance must come very soon - unless he's going to out-Becchio Becchio?
They already have! No intention of joining FIFA though. One of their better results was a battling 0-0 draw with San Marino B!
I agree some of the Oceania countries are dreadful, but It's political, all about getting votes. I can't stand Platini but I'd rather have him in at FIFA then some of the other jokers as he'll at least ensure it remains how it is.
I genuinely think they should have a 'B' tournament for the minnows to play in, the current system is completely pointless and just a complete waste of time when it comes to the likes of Andorra, San Marino, Gibraltar etc. As well as stopping them from clogging up the serious competition, it would also give them a chance to actually win some games amongst them as at the moment they are always in different groups so regularly end up without a point or even without scoring a single goal - how much fun can that be? Some of these countries have been plugging away for years now without getting anywhere - Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, Moldova, surely these countries would rather play games at a similar, albeit ****ter, level? The best four countries would go into the main qualification, and the rest keep plugging away until they improve. I guess the sponsors wouldn't be so interested, or tv companies so the money wouldn't be there, but if it was marketed properly it could be a goer. Nice to see Iceland qualifying, and Albania even have a shot of making it through - they've always been one of the very worst. Faroes Islands appear to be getting better as well
Very much as I suggested in comment #19 Munky "Add Liechtenstein and Faroe islands to that list and you've got a deal But seriously, that's exactly what they do in cricket - the 'associate' nations, i.e. non test playing countries like Scotland, Denmark, Namibia etc have pre-qualifiers and the winner of those goes through to the main event. If anything, it makes it fairer for players and fans, as San Marino vs Gibraltar may well be quite a tight game. Whereas San Marino vs England, for example, could and should be a double figure pasting - even though we're not currently as good as Wales"
Canvey Island, in Essex already have a team who could give Gibraltar, San Marino, Andorra etc a decent game - Concord Rangers are no slouches