April 18 – New Zealand captain Ryan Nelsen (pictured) has today called for the country to follow neighbours Australia and leave Oceania to join the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to give it a better chance of qualifying for the World Cup. and help raise standards.
New Zealand, nicknamed the All Whites, have reached World Cup in South Africa, the first time they have qualified since the event was held in Spain in 1982, but the Blackburn Rovers centre-back believes it would offer them a better opportunity for future tournaments if they were included as part of the AFC.
He said: ”I know some people think the Oceania champions should be part of the 10-team Asian qualifying series, but I think New Zealand should go the whole hog and apply to follow Australia into the Asian confederation.
“I thought that was a great move for Australia and, ultimately, for Oceania.
“In the long run, it will be best for everyone.
“If New Zealand joins Asia, the other Oceania nations can form a competitive league with the winner perhaps going on to play in the Asian World Cup qualifying group.
“But New Zealand would benefit most from full membership of Asia.
“Just think if we played South Korea or Japan in Auckland.
“I think there’d be a fantastic crowd there and I bet we’d get a full house if we played Australia in Wellington.”
Nelsen, who has been capped 38 times by New Zealand, also believes that if they were part of the Asian football scene then it would help the sport grow in the country.
New Zealand qualified for this year’s finals in South Africa by beating Bahrain 1-0 in a two-leg play-off, with Plymouth Argyle’s Rory Fallon (pictured) scoring the decisive goal in Wellington.
Nelsen said: ”We’ve got a good team now and I think we’d be competitive against Asia’s best sides on a regular basis.
“If it’s the Asian Cup or a World Cup qualifier and there’s something riding on the result, I think it is proven now that the New Zealand sports public can come and watch.
“We could take the team around the country.
“Imagine a World Cup qualifier against someone like Saudi Arabia in Invercargill in June.
“It would be a major advantage.
“We’ve always had to go to the Middle East and play in the horrible heat and cloying humidity.
“It would be brilliant to bring Asian teams down here in the middle of a freezing New Zealand winter to play in front of a big, ferocious Kiwi crowd while our players lapped up the rain, hail, sleet and wind!”
Australia left the Oceania Football Federation to join the AFC in 2006 and qualified for South Africa through the Asian qualifying rounds during which they had to play Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan, Bahrain, Qatar and Uzbekistan.
Even the extra travelling and matches would not put Nelsen off joining the AFC, he claimed.
He said: ”I would rather have 10 to 15 tough games in Asia even if it meant we didn’t go to the World Cup if we weren’t good enough.
“This way, we would get the games we need to challenge the top sides.
“We’ve traditionally always been under-prepared for World Cup campaigns.
“But it’s a different story now.
“We’ve got a very competitive team which can only get better with more international exposure.
“But I believe we’re good enough to go to the World Cup through playing in Asia.”
Last year the AFC called for Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand’s leading club, to be axed from Australia’s A-League or face Australian clubs being banned from the lucrative Asian Champions League (ACL) because they were a member of the OFC and not Asia.
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