[Asia] 2010 World Cup qualifying thread (2 Viewers)

[Fred]

Big big disapointment from Bahrain today. They played a good game, and created a few chances that should have been scored. Mohamed Salmeen was probably the best player, controlling the tempo and creating chance after chance for the Bahraini's but his teammates just kept on missing.

0-0 is not that bad a result in the end, as what matters is you don't concede at home, but still when you look at how superior Bahrain was, it really is a loss that they didn't win this one.

What are your thoughts on the game Sateeh?

 

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[Bianconero_Aus]

LOL @ their shocking miss. That guy should have just put it across to that player who was totally unmarked with an open goal at his mercy.

 

[sateeh]

Big disappointment indeed Fred, I was pulling my hair throughout the game especially the second half where the Kiwis couldn't breathe. The team did well over the game, even though a better would have punished the slack defending at times. The boys should have scored because all that dominance means nothing, and some of the misses were just horrible ( biconero that one was alright, Hussain Ali the number 9 managed to miss a chip that was just easy and hit way way off at the beginning of the second half). Salmeen, Mahmood Jalal, M.Hubail did very well i thought.

Macalla did reasonably well with the subs even though I think Alaa Hubail could've been brought on earlier because he is the best finisher in the team ( imo he should be playing ahead of hussain ali anyway). But Ismael Abdullatif did fairly well after he came and the same is with ringo (nothing great though).

The Kiwis took their game very well ( their coach is the coach of the Wellington Phoenix which is a team we see a bit of here from the A-League and hes not bad). I am not sure how they'll play in the next game in Wellington but I think we can create the chances so whether we can take them and keep the concentration for the 90 mins will determine whether we go through or not ( defense lapses is the thing the bahraini team always does in those do or die games).

 

[Fred]

Hussain Ali and Jacey John were both non existent imo, the midfield did very well controlling the game and creating chances, but Hussain and John's movement was really poor. I think you guys might regret Salman Issa's missed opportunity and the fact that you didn't translate your domination to goals.

Heres hoping that won't be the case.

And indeed, Alaa Hubail should be starting in the next game. Ismael Abdelatif should be given a chance too as he has always impressed whenever given the chance.

 

[Fred]

Yet another disapointment by the Bahraini's. Yet again they play better, create more chances yet fail to score. They even missed a penalty today. One set piece and NZ was through.

Better luck next time Bahrain.

 

[Alen]

Yet another disapointment by the Bahraini's. Yet again they play better, create more chances yet fail to score. They even missed a penalty today. One set piece and NZ was through.

Better luck next time Bahrain.

Obviously, they don't deserve to play at a world cup. Not being able to beat New Zeland, or to score a single goal in 180 minutes, proves that teams like Bahrain don't belong in worlds best 32 teams (or best 64) and it proves that Asians shouldn't be given a chance to have 5 teams at a world cup.

Since there isn't any difference in quality at all, instead of a play off between the 5th Asian and the best Oceanian team, i'd give this spot to the best Oceanian team even without play-offs.

 

[JBF]

Hard luck Bahrain btw Fred now we're only gonna have one Arabian representative in the WC since Bahrain and Tunisia failed to make it....its either Egypt or Algeria.

 

[Fred]

Obviously, they don't deserve to play at a world cup. Not being able to beat New Zeland, or to score a single goal in 180 minutes, proves that teams like Bahrain don't belong in worlds best 32 teams (or best 64) and it proves that Asians shouldn't be given a chance to have 5 teams at a world cup.

Since there isn't any difference in quality at all, instead of a play off between the 5th Asian and the best Oceanian team, i'd give this spot to the best Oceanian team even without play-offs.

Asia certainly don't deserve 5 spots. But Oceania doesn't deserve a direct spot either. Normally Bahrain would have beat NZ, but they were extremely wasteful in both legs and paid dearly for it.

IMO Asia should have 3 direct spots and one that goes to playoffs, take the extra spot and give it to Africa.

Hard luck Bahrain btw Fred now we're only gonna have one Arabian representative in the WC since Bahrain and Tunisia failed to make it....its either Egypt or Algeria.

 

[sateeh]

Just came back from Wellington (New Zealand) and I'm still shattered. This tie was ours to lose, plain and simple. The arrogance took over the hunger and desire that was shown over two legs against the Saudis and its a shame. Our players choked when it matters and its tough on us fans this second time around as we came from Australia but had fans traveling two days for this one game. The team didn't play to its powers and it collectively failed to beat a team that was scared shitless of us. This generation has lost its chance imo, its time to start building on getting new blood into the team.

Obviously, they don't deserve to play at a world cup. Not being able to beat New Zeland, or to score a single goal in 180 minutes, proves that teams like Bahrain don't belong in worlds best 32 teams (or best 64) and it proves that Asians shouldn't be given a chance to have 5 teams at a world cup.

Since there isn't any difference in quality at all, instead of a play off between the 5th Asian and the best Oceanian team, i'd give this spot to the best Oceanian team even without play-offs.

I don't know how you determine the merit to being in the world cup as by your standards then most of the spots will be given to Europe and South America. The World Cup is allowing the smaller countries to develop by giving them the chance of reaching the world cup and smell the big stage. Performance wise they wouldn't even come close to the big guns and a Bahrain, New Zealand, Angola or Togo will come close to even a last 16. But people don't care about the smaller teams anymore because thats how football is.

Bahrain couldn't score against a weak NZ side but did beat a mammoth of a team (in Asian terms) in Saudi Arabia. That doesn't mean anything to you but it does to many people around these parts.

I'll put things into perspective for Bahrain and I'm sure it applies to many other small countries around the world. There isn't a professional league or set up and football is laced with corruption and players rarely get any contracts that are worthwhile but dam the fans love the game even though the population is around 1m. Compare that to the smallest European nation

If the best teams in the world are taking the world cup for granted then is it fair to reward that complacency by giving them extra chances? Portugal, Argentina, France and Mexico fucked around and should we give them the extra chance or make them go through the hard route? The World Cup should have proper representation from all over the world and its not restricted to some parts over others.

 

[Alen]

I don't know how you determine the merit to being in the world cup as by your standards then most of the spots will be given to Europe and South America. The World Cup is allowing the smaller countries to develop by giving them the chance of reaching the world cup and smell the big stage. Performance wise they wouldn't even come close to the big guns and a Bahrain, New Zealand, Angola or Togo will come close to even a last 16. But people don't care about the smaller teams anymore because thats how football is.

Well, my suggestion did support the small teams. Asia had a chance to give 5 representatives while Oceania could have had 0 representatives. I was wondering why is there a play off match at first place. Why didn't the best Oceanian team go directly to the world cup?

In this case it was Bahrain, a small team in football terms, so it was exciting duel and whoever of the two made it to the world cup, it would have been fine because a smaller country was going to be given a chance to play at the world cup.
But what if the 5th placed from Asia was some bigger team who already played a lot at world cups? In that case the Oceanian team would have stood little chances and again we'd have seen a world cup regular in South Africa (Iran, Arabia, Japan, Korea etc) instead of a small team.

 

[sateeh]

Well, my suggestion did support the small teams. Asia had a chance to give 5 representatives while Oceania could have had 0 representatives. I was wondering why is there a play off match at first place. Why didn't the best Oceanian team go directly to the world cup?

In this case it was Bahrain, a small team in football terms, so it was exciting duel and whoever of the two made it to the world cup, it would have been fine because a smaller country was going to be given a chance to play at the world cup.
But what if the 5th placed from Asia was some bigger team who already played a lot at world cups? In that case the Oceanian team would have stood little chances and again we'd have seen a world cup regular in South Africa (Iran, Arabia, Japan, Korea etc) instead of a small team.

I really don't have an answer for the first question and it has been on the minds of people from this Oceania region for a while because they always had to take a tougher route. And i see your point where it wouldn't be fair if a bigger team got through it is bound to happen.

I guess the rationale behind it is to add some competition to them instead of simply getting something close to a free pass. The other teams in the region are not remotely competitive nor do they care about it. It was a breeze for the Aussies before ( if you look through the records you'll find the most goals scored in a qualifying match belongs to one Archie Thompson against some team here in 02). Now the Kiwis are finding it easy as well. So i think that it wouldn't be fair to give that group a direct slip, because of the very small quantity of teams here along with the overall interest in the game.

Another view could be cynical and saying that they don't want to give the smaller teams the chance while providing the bigger teams the chance in Asia. But even if a big team ends up in the playoff, could be that a smaller team already went through.

Anyway I see your point here and for me there isn't the on solution that could please everyone with this allocation of spaces for the WC. There will always be someone that gets left out.