Post by serious14 on Nov 6, 2007 1:11:33 GMT 10
Now I know that SBS are bitter about.............. well, everything at the moment, but this piece of shit article truly does take the cake. David Lewis, take a bow whilst you receive the "Stupidest. Article. Ever." award.
Moving back to Oceania a good idea?? Entering the AFC a hindrance rather than a help?? Possibly another point he's trying to make that I don't quite understand, because none of this article makes sense?? Hey dickhead, we know that the AFC is harder than Oceania, but what would you rather?? Drubbing the Solomons 20-0 and end up having to play the best 3rd placed AFC nation anyway??
TWG, you've lost your f*cking minds.
www.theworldgame.com.au/home/index.php?pid=st&cid=99101
Long, hard road for Socceroos - EXCLUSIVE - David Lewis
In football, as in life, you need to be careful what you wish for.
Australia's entry in to the melting pot of the Asian Football Confederation might just wind up being a prime case in point.
With the nation - and the team - still smarting from the Socceroos' embarrassingly brief dalliance at July's Asian Cup finals, the compass, without further ado, now points to Durban for November 25's preliminary World Cup draw.
The safari to South Africa 2010 is rife with big-game hunters looking to claim prize scalps - and there are none juicier than the Socceroos as they face up to a possible 18-match marathon over as many as 20 months in a bid to become one of the 32 teams who make it to the Rainbow nation's big coming out party.
Being cast as the AFC's number seeds has insulated the Socceroos from the indignities of playing the likes of Syria and Turkmenistan during the recently-completed first round of qualifying.
The field will be whittled down to 20 teams later this month, with Australia joining the third phase of qualifying on February 5 when things get deadly serious.
What lies ahead, by anybody's estimation, is a gargantuan test of players' ability to handle long-haul travel, extreme climatic conditions and short match preparation schedules. And that doesn't even take in to account the high quality of the opposition.
To illustrate the fact, Australia could be paired with Asian Cup winners Iraq, emerging power China and a supposed lightweight like Thailand when the draw is made on November 25.
The top two teams from five groups of four progress to the final leg of the qualification, commencing in September 2009.
However the cards fall, it's going to make TV's Survivor look like a Caribbean cruise.
Assuming Australia negotiate their first hurdle with all guns blazing, they will need to again finish in the top two in a group of five to qualify automatically for the World Cup.
Of the eight games they will face, five are on single FIFA dates, which means players will appear for their clubs on the Saturday or Sunday, then jet to the Middle East, far east, south-east Asia or Australia with no more than 48 hours preparation time.
Should they finish third in their group, they will face the third-placed nation from the other side of the draw for the right to meet the Oceania champion, probably New Zealand, in November 2009 for the last place in South Africa.
But back to the present.
While Australia will avoid fellow seeds Japan, Saudi Arabia, Korea Republic and Iran when the pots are drawn in Durban, they cannot avoid the realisation that in joining the AFC they have entered a potential chamber of horrors.
Which brings us back to a region Australia couldn't escape quickly enough.
For those of a sentimental bent, recollections of gorging on the minnows of Oceania may not seem quite so unpalatable after all.
Even the two-legged lottery against the fifth-placed South American seems like a joyride on the Orient Express when juxtaposed with the realities of surviving an Asian inquisition, which the man they call Little General will need all his wiles to negotiate.
Welcome, Mr Dick Advocaat, to Asia. We know you've been there before with Korea Republic...but this time the bulk of your team won't even be based in the region and find the humidity, inferno-like temperatures and the tyranny of inter-continental travel not entirely to their liking.
Adovcaat also faces another hurdle: re-lighting the fire in men like Brett Emerton, Harry Kewell, Vince Grella, Mark Bresciano, Jason Culina and Tim Cahill who have already got the monkey off their backs.
They've played at the World Cup - and can chalk it up in their annals of achievements. They have nothing left to prove.
Just how much they are willing to sacrifice to get there again, when they know their bodies will not thank them for stepping back in to Asia's grilling fields, is open to debate.
Several have already indicated that Advocaat must consider a rotation policy. It is yet to be determined what the man, who plans to cosset himself amid the canals and coffee houses of his native Netherlands, will make of it all.
Suffice to say, if he thought that life after the rigours of Russia, where he is working out his notice with Zenit St Petersburg, would be a sinecure, he may have to think again.
Amid the euphoria of Australia's confirmation as the 43rd AFC nation, there was one dissenting voice, player manager Bernie Mandic, who guides the careers of several senior and emerging national team stars.
He warned, grim reaper-like, at the time: ''People don't understand what a difficult and demanding path we have now found ourselves on. There a major player management issues, the question of keeping clubs on side and massive player welfare questions. These are going to be never ending."
''You may find that clubs will simply forbid players from being a part of it all.''
When asked whether he still maintained that stance, Mandic replied: ''I haven't changed my mind at all but I do applaud the FFA in bending over backwards in trying to find the best way to handle all these problems. I wish them well.''
He's not the only one.
Moving back to Oceania a good idea?? Entering the AFC a hindrance rather than a help?? Possibly another point he's trying to make that I don't quite understand, because none of this article makes sense?? Hey dickhead, we know that the AFC is harder than Oceania, but what would you rather?? Drubbing the Solomons 20-0 and end up having to play the best 3rd placed AFC nation anyway??
TWG, you've lost your f*cking minds.
www.theworldgame.com.au/home/index.php?pid=st&cid=99101
Long, hard road for Socceroos - EXCLUSIVE - David Lewis
In football, as in life, you need to be careful what you wish for.
Australia's entry in to the melting pot of the Asian Football Confederation might just wind up being a prime case in point.
With the nation - and the team - still smarting from the Socceroos' embarrassingly brief dalliance at July's Asian Cup finals, the compass, without further ado, now points to Durban for November 25's preliminary World Cup draw.
The safari to South Africa 2010 is rife with big-game hunters looking to claim prize scalps - and there are none juicier than the Socceroos as they face up to a possible 18-match marathon over as many as 20 months in a bid to become one of the 32 teams who make it to the Rainbow nation's big coming out party.
Being cast as the AFC's number seeds has insulated the Socceroos from the indignities of playing the likes of Syria and Turkmenistan during the recently-completed first round of qualifying.
The field will be whittled down to 20 teams later this month, with Australia joining the third phase of qualifying on February 5 when things get deadly serious.
What lies ahead, by anybody's estimation, is a gargantuan test of players' ability to handle long-haul travel, extreme climatic conditions and short match preparation schedules. And that doesn't even take in to account the high quality of the opposition.
To illustrate the fact, Australia could be paired with Asian Cup winners Iraq, emerging power China and a supposed lightweight like Thailand when the draw is made on November 25.
The top two teams from five groups of four progress to the final leg of the qualification, commencing in September 2009.
However the cards fall, it's going to make TV's Survivor look like a Caribbean cruise.
Assuming Australia negotiate their first hurdle with all guns blazing, they will need to again finish in the top two in a group of five to qualify automatically for the World Cup.
Of the eight games they will face, five are on single FIFA dates, which means players will appear for their clubs on the Saturday or Sunday, then jet to the Middle East, far east, south-east Asia or Australia with no more than 48 hours preparation time.
Should they finish third in their group, they will face the third-placed nation from the other side of the draw for the right to meet the Oceania champion, probably New Zealand, in November 2009 for the last place in South Africa.
But back to the present.
While Australia will avoid fellow seeds Japan, Saudi Arabia, Korea Republic and Iran when the pots are drawn in Durban, they cannot avoid the realisation that in joining the AFC they have entered a potential chamber of horrors.
Which brings us back to a region Australia couldn't escape quickly enough.
For those of a sentimental bent, recollections of gorging on the minnows of Oceania may not seem quite so unpalatable after all.
Even the two-legged lottery against the fifth-placed South American seems like a joyride on the Orient Express when juxtaposed with the realities of surviving an Asian inquisition, which the man they call Little General will need all his wiles to negotiate.
Welcome, Mr Dick Advocaat, to Asia. We know you've been there before with Korea Republic...but this time the bulk of your team won't even be based in the region and find the humidity, inferno-like temperatures and the tyranny of inter-continental travel not entirely to their liking.
Adovcaat also faces another hurdle: re-lighting the fire in men like Brett Emerton, Harry Kewell, Vince Grella, Mark Bresciano, Jason Culina and Tim Cahill who have already got the monkey off their backs.
They've played at the World Cup - and can chalk it up in their annals of achievements. They have nothing left to prove.
Just how much they are willing to sacrifice to get there again, when they know their bodies will not thank them for stepping back in to Asia's grilling fields, is open to debate.
Several have already indicated that Advocaat must consider a rotation policy. It is yet to be determined what the man, who plans to cosset himself amid the canals and coffee houses of his native Netherlands, will make of it all.
Suffice to say, if he thought that life after the rigours of Russia, where he is working out his notice with Zenit St Petersburg, would be a sinecure, he may have to think again.
Amid the euphoria of Australia's confirmation as the 43rd AFC nation, there was one dissenting voice, player manager Bernie Mandic, who guides the careers of several senior and emerging national team stars.
He warned, grim reaper-like, at the time: ''People don't understand what a difficult and demanding path we have now found ourselves on. There a major player management issues, the question of keeping clubs on side and massive player welfare questions. These are going to be never ending."
''You may find that clubs will simply forbid players from being a part of it all.''
When asked whether he still maintained that stance, Mandic replied: ''I haven't changed my mind at all but I do applaud the FFA in bending over backwards in trying to find the best way to handle all these problems. I wish them well.''
He's not the only one.
