Road to Brazil World Cup exhausting Asian teams

"Four days later, Lebanon will take on group favorite South Korea just outside Seoul."

That 'group favourite' part will definitely hurt some people. Bring out the black trucks!

Way too easy for Asian teams to qualify for the World Cup when you compare what European and South American teams have to go through to get their qualification spots. Japan have to beat the likes of Jordan (which people are inevitably treating as though they beat Spain), whereas a team on an equal level like say Paraguay are playing Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador, etc.

So cubic should we have teams like Japan fly to Europe and S.America to play games to qualify for the World Cup?

cubic: I said the exact same thing a couple of days ago and was essentially harassed for it, as though Japan really DID beat Spain! Like I said that day, the Asian qualifiers are a joke. Three good teams at best, with the favourite being South Korea.

KariHaruka: If they played in those groups, they would never qualify, period. The point is that the groups are extremely uneven. While Japan is getting stronger, they would never qualify in any other group save perhaps Africa.

Always amusing to see people give you a thumbs down because they don't agree with your favourite team or some such rubbish. The Asian qualifiers are a joke compared to the other groups. It's a fact, so deal with it. Australia knows it -- why do you think they joined the Asian group a few cups back? for the competition or the lack thereof?

smithinjapan: Do you think I was serious in my post about Japan flying to Europe or S.America instead? Because I wasn't being serious in it, thought that would of been obvious but I guess it wasn't.

Smith, I agree that it is easier to qualify for the World Cup in Asia, which is why people have been calling out to reduce the number of spots awarded. Personally I'd like to see Asia get 3 or 4 spots, max. However, the level of play of Asian teams in the past few World Cups has been quite high. In 2010, both Japan and South Korea advanced to the top 16 and I believe New Zealand was unbeaten (3 draws). It's definitely harder to advance in Europe, but let's not forget that there are easy wins in Europe too. Look at the group England is in : Moldova (fifa ranking 140), Ukraine (52), Montenegro (50), Poland (62), San Marino (206!) Just for the record, I don't think anyone said beating Jordan is like beating Spain! I think Japan was expecting a tough game because they hadn't beaten Jordan in 90 minutes prior to the last game.

KariHaruka: "Because I wasn't being serious in it, thought that would of been obvious but I guess it wasn't."

In this case, the sarcasm was lost on me, sorry. My bad. Should have known you were being sarcastic.

bicultural: "It's definitely harder to advance in Europe, but let's not forget that there are easy wins in Europe too. Look at the group England is in : Moldova (fifa ranking 140), Ukraine (52), Montenegro (50), Poland (62), San Marino (206!)"

Yeah, but isn't that just this round? luck of the draw? Spain, Italy, France, Germany, etc. are all still in Europe -- in Asia all the countries suck except a few no matter what the draw for qualifiers. And no one literally said Japan beating Jordan was like them beating Spain, the media are just overplaying the performance of the team as though it were of such magnitude.

"I think Japan was expecting a tough game because they hadn't beaten Jordan in 90 minutes prior to the last game."

Well, then, more proof Japan is getting better, but no more proof the group doesn't suck as a whole.

bicultural: and btw -- I agree 100% with limiting Asia to a small number of spots. In fact, it should be no more than two. As it stands, those two would be always Japan and South Korea, but it might make the qualifiers more interesting.

And before anyone agrees with the national hype about the rather sad game against Jordan, ask yourself how many times you had ever heard a game against Jordan mentioned before said game. It didn't sound like a 'good' game at all, it sounded like a one-sided round of boredom. Support your nation and be proud all you like -- one should, when their nation does well -- but calling it a 'good' game is a bit much (and many people I know talked about how great it was).

Qualifying in Asia is like challenging a three-toad sloth to a quick draw (to use the old Far Side comics).

Yeah, but isn't that just this round? luck of the draw? Spain, Italy, France, Germany, etc. are all still in Europe

England were one of the top seeded teams therefore they would of avoided the likes of Spain, Germany etc.

How many spots does the European block possess? How about South American block? At the end the possibility of qualifying to the main games is about the same in any and all block.

smithinjapan - I agree, that Europe gets a raw deal, especially when you see the level of play at the Euros, but if Asia gets 4 spots as a result of how they do at the World Cup. If Asian teams weren't making it past the first round, the number of slots that they are allotted would decrease. Looking at the other confederations, though obviously the level of play is fairly high, 5 out of 10 teams in South America got in the last World Cup compared to 4 out of 43 for Asia. And (though of course, I could be wrong) I believe that Japan, Korea and Australia would've beat out the teams that didn't qualify for South Africa like Venezuela, Columbia and Ecuador. If you're looking for an easy group to qualify for, I would go for CONCACAF. Mexico and the States are basically guaranteed a spot, while everybody else is fighting for the third guaranteed spot.

SamuraiBlue: "At the end the possibility of qualifying to the main games is about the same in any and all block."

Not at all. The numbers may be similar, but the odds are not similar in the least.

Kreza: Thanks for the info. You're right about the calibre of the three top Asian teams, of course, and I'm not denying it -- just saying the playfield on the whole is not very level. I guess that's not going to change any time soon, though. Let's hope tomorrow's game is one worth watching.

looking forward to the game

yourock: It's going to be good -- or at least I hope it is. Given the past performance of both teams in the last few games I think Australia doesn't have a chance of winning unless they can win by holding Japan off and keeping them on the defensive.

Australia knows it -- why do you think they joined the Asian group a few cups back?

Well, there will be a full house tonight against Japan and there will be 3 other very good crowds for the other qualifiers. ACL Clubs get to compete in the Asian Champions League and Australia will host the next Asian Cup.

You seem to have forgotten the bottom line in your judgement.

None of this was possible under the old system and Australia playing New Caledonia and Fiji was hardly beneficial for the national team or the league.

@Smith san,

"they would never qualify in any other group save perhaps Africa."

That's just simply not true. First, North American region is the easiest in my opinion. Why do you think the US always qualifies ? Because they just have to beat the likes of Hondurous etc, only Mexico has a decent team there, and Japan is ranked higher than Mexico in the FIFA ranking.

And Japan beat Denmark 3-1 in the last World cup, and obviously Denmark came out of the European qualifiers, so we have a good chance of making it past there.

We can say that Japan and its soccer is not as good European, South American teams, but hey the French invented the game, they call it Futbol and the Brits Football, then took it down to Uruguay, where the sport caught on like wild fire, but here in Asia, including Japan, the sport is fairly new, and if we start including the rest of Asia, say CHINA, INDIA?? Still only a few Chinese really love soccer and Indians?? I think because of the British occupation they are more into Cricket, right??

Wow, it's all kicking off here. I think the fairest option would be to have a play-off between an Asian qualifier and a CONCACAF qualifier, or say no.3 or no.4 Asian qualifier vs no.4 CONMEBOL qualifier. It's just too easy for the stronger Asian teams (in the context of Asian football) to blast part-time teams like Jordan and qualify, when the battle for places in Europe or Africa is ridiculous. It devalues the World Cup for the sake of 'diversity' or whatever the reason is FIFA allow so many Asian teams to qualify. The same teams always qualify too - Japan, S.Korea, Australia + 1 of N. Korea, Iran, etc.