Soccer

» KiwiDave - Australia

To talk about the quality of the opposition that Australia had to play off against is missing the point (although having said that, Uruguay are hardly Accrington Stanley). The point is that to have to qualify via a 2 leg tie is a much more difficult proposition for any team than to go through the usual group competitions.

Take the England team as a hypothetical example. England are always a fairly good bet to emerge from their group and qualify for the finals, because the group system means that in the long run the best teams qualify, allowing for the odd slip up (Northern Ireland 1 – England 0). League tables, and world cup qualifying tables, don’t lie. If England had to qualify by playing a home and away against “middling South American” opposition, such as Uruguay, then the place in the World Cup finals that England fans have gotten used to would be far less certain. One bad night and Sven’s men could all book their summer holidays.

Despite what FIFA's wacky world rankings say (USA five places above England!?) Australia are a better side than some teams that reguluarly qualify for the finals, Japan for example.

-- posted by KiwiDave