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"He big, he's bad....
He's better than his Dad...
Rory Fallon
Rory Fallon"

In this age of the arrogant, overpaid & under-performing international megastars, it's refrshing to find a player that want to give back to the game, and represents his country as a role-model of what a professional player should be...

There may be only "One more shot for Glory" next year, but whatever happens, we can be sure that Rory and the rest of the All-Whites will be giving it their best, keeping it real, and chasing the dream...

Jesus Lives, But Mark Paston Saves!!

Rory - do you fancy coming up to London and playing for a proper team?

My favourite New Zealand footballer is, of course, Ceri Evans. Arrived at Oxford Universtity on a Rhodes scholarship in the late 1980s and before long he had been drafted into what was still a half-decent Oxford United squad, though no longer in the top flight, shoring up the defence with Andy Melville.

Evans, along with a young Jim Magilton playing directly in front of him, was a bit of a Manor Ground favourite for a few seasons. He made 56 appearances for NZ.

Accroding to wikipedia, Evans is currently a forensic psychiatrist, and it is safe to say there are probably few professional footballers who can rival him in the intellectual stakes.

yip new zealand one of the top couple of teams out of the 31 teams that i am now an unofficial citizen of! and will be supporting at the world cup! bistooooo!!!

I was lucky enough to be at the Cake Tin a couple of weeks ago...an Englishman watching Football in a Rugby Country! Rory and the whole team played really well and did enough on the night to get the All Whites to 2010.

I had a great night and to be honest it was probably 'the' biggest live sporting event I had been too (and I've attended some big football, cricket and rugby games in Europe). The reason it was so big was because so much was riding on the game for the Kiwi's and the outcome for them will hopefully be huge for football in this country (NZ). Rugby dominates in NZ and rightly so (they're so good at!!) but I think this world cup qaulifying campaign caught the imagination of so many New Zealanders who maybe hadn't looked at football in this light before.

I think deep down we know the All Whites could get a hiding at the World Cup...but who cares. They are on football's biggest stage and rightly or wrongly deserve to be there. I for one will be supporting them annd wish them the best of luck (my new adopted International Football team....)

ps wouldn't it be great for England to be drawn against them!!

Totally agree with you, Mahoney - I watched the game on tv and the atmosphere was fantastic. It's great to see NZ in the World Cup next year and it's going to do wonders for the game here.
Like in the USA, it is imperative that the country develops its homegrown players with a good structure in place. Would like to see Wellington Phoenix do well in the Aussie league.
Dreaming dreams...what about a World Cup draw consisting of Australia, England, NZ and the Springbok? Could it happen? NZ v Italy in the opening game? Either way, if NZ are drawn with England or Australia, it's going to generate a lot of interest in the World Cuppy next year!

Rafa? Oh Rafa?

Cheap(ish) January transfer decent striking signing alert! PLEASE!!!

i'm sure this world cup will be a great experience for Fallon et al. However they will lose every game, and will probably not score a goal. I wonder in this case whether it would be more worthwhile Ireland, Bosnia or another more deserving team got there?

tomefccam
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I take your point, but by the same token, Ireland/Bosnia would not have stood a chance of winning the world cup so is there any more point to them going than New Zealand?

Personally I like to see a new team in the mixer every now and again. Good for the global game.

9. At 10:23am on 02 Dec 2009, Rafa's Magic Box Beard wrote:
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I think that each continent should operate a league system as they do in south america, but include prelimnary rounds beforehand to the lesser nations. therefore in europe we wouldn't have the likes of san marino or azerbaijan wasting everybody's time in the league format. that would sort the men from the boys. and get more competetive games going as opposed to boring friendlies with 11 subs at half time

Sorry to spoil your dreams but Australia and New Zealand cant be drawn in the same Wc group as they are in the same 'pot'. I would be happy for them to draw england though!

#11

Pauls, don't avoid the real issue here, which is that the world cup will be richer culturally for NZ being there, and I am happy for their fans, but the competition will be poorer for them being there. I am also sure that 3 group defeats, embarrasing ones in...the NZ fans will wonder whether the thousands of pounds spent will have been a waste.

Plus I doubt that the nation of fans will be too involved, Rugby Union is their number 1 sport, unlike the 95% of other teams that will compete in 2010

...And England can't draw South Africa as they are both seeded.

Ceri Evans, Rhodes Scholar, forensic psychiatrist, professional footballer and 6th dan black belt is annoyingly successful, living happily in christchurch with 3 young children...if you're looking for his achilles heal though, put him on skis and he resembles bambi on ice!

Rory Fallon, you will forever be remembered for the overhead kick you scored in front of the town end for Swindon against Bristol City. Good luck at the World Cup.

tomefccam

unlike the 95% of other teams that will compete in 2010

Australia, South Africa and USA would not class football as their #1 sport. Participation wise, Netball is then the biggest sport in NZ.

You clearly do not get the meaning of World Cup. Based on your reasons then the so called top 4 clubs in England should play in the premiership and only Celtic and Rangers in Scotland. This could go on for every sporting event.

By the way what have the likes of Ireland ever done.

New Zealand are at the world cup because they deserve to be! Personally i find it refreshing to see a new country thrown into the mix every now and again,best of luck to Rory Fallon and the All Whites, unless they get drawn against England of course!!

I love that Fallon believes that God changed Fifa's regulations to enable Fallon to play for New Zealand. That has to be one of the best quotes I've ever seen.

17. At 12:52pm on 02 Dec 2009, Greg10 wrote:

You clearly do not get the meaning of World Cup.
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Listen my friend, I do get the meaning of the world cup, 32 teams in an international cup competition, the best team wins. That has always been the case with the world cup, we have never had a real shock.

Your argument about a 4 team EPL or a 2 Team SPL is completely dumbfounded, are you for real??

My argument is that New Zealand will be so sub standard, that they should not be in the competition as they will not win a game. The EPL is a fair compeitition where I cannot think of a time when any team has gone an entire season without winning. Everybody is capable of beating eachother as it has been standardised in that way, with the relegation and promotion systems sorting out the poorer teams.

Even though it may be one of four teams winning it, or 2 in Scotland is down to the fact that their is an elite amongst this group who will always do well. In the world cup this will be: Brazil, Italy, France, Argentian, Germany.

If you were to pick the top 32 teams in the world to compete at a competition, New Zealand would not feature, they would not even feature in the next 32. So my idea is to have the best 32 teams to represent

I don't know why they bother actually playing the World Cup games if God takes such a personal interest in football that he actually goes so far as to change Fifa rules for one player. Presumably he can decide who wins too. And God is an Englishman after all.

I have to giggle when these players go on about Jesus supplying them with a chance! Yeah, it had nothing to do with the hard work of your team mates, it was the bearded winger supplying the cross lol.

I wonder how many people still believe 'God is on my side', 'Allah will not let us lose' or surely 'Buddha will lend us a hand'. They can't help EVERYONE guys! Seriously. Give your team mates some credit at least!

New Zealand are in the World Cup on merit, both Ireland and Bosnia had their chances and failed. Who is to say Bosnia or Ireland would pick up a point? Shocks happen at World Cups, just like in the Premier League. Who would have given Cameroon a chance in 1990, or Senegal in 2002, or what about Saudi Arabia and Bulgarias progression in 1994? These things happen.

Personally i think New Zealand wont get a point, but who knows? Thats the beauty of football. I for one will cheer them on as long as they aren't playing England.

Is it just me or do all England fans feel some kind of bond with the Kiwis, Aussies (to a lesser extent - maybe because they are often better at cricket and the rivalry is more fierce haha), Wales, N Ireland, Ireland and Scotland? I always find myself cheering them on.

Also football is the no 1 sport in south Africa as its the sport of the masses that were repressed under apartheid. In such sports like rugby and cricket are only successful because history, money and lower level of international competition. The south African team is trying to come to terms with poor organization of the national league and youth setup. As well as the effects of poor diet and health care of the children born during the 1980s that make up most of the current team.

Good to see Fallon doing well for himself, though he was never particularly good for us and was in the team when we were relegated. Interestingly you mentioned we signed David Mulligan but not Leo Bertos who supplied the cross for Fallon. It was a bit of a surprise to see these three playing at the ConfederationsCcup, and I'm sure a lot of Barnsley fans will watch their games at the world cup out of curiosity. Have to say though, I'd like to be drawn against them.

Let us not forget that many years ago God sent to earth a man - in many ways a humble man, an unremarkable man, but a man of great faith. On occasion he would display moments of great brilliance and genuine tenacity. Though he was mocked and vilified by his opponents for his intellect and insight and so often had his reputation tarnished in the public domain, he stood fast and was rewarded with a platform on which to share his views with the world. Though this exposure was short-lived, his legacy remains to this day. He is, of course, Graeme Le Saux.

In reply to tomefccam, I think you're doing NZ a bit of a disservice regarding their competitiveness, recently (and yes I know they were only friendlies) they're drawn 2-2 with Wales and 3-3 with Italy ... We know we're not going to win the world cup, but if we get South Africa or North Korea we could pinch a win, and I can see us managing a draw with a few other sides in it. There won't be any San Marinoesque scorelines!

Hear hear Paul!

Does no-one else recall a similar conversation being had about the Australians before they got out of their group eight years ago? It can and does happen.

Plus as it's a winter World Cup, might the Kiwis (and the Aussies too) not have some kind of advantage in fact as they'll be coming to a climate similar to their home nations at that time of year, whereas other teams will have to readjust to that?

#28: My bad, I meant in 2006 not 2002.

Do you think a MAJOR shock is possible though?? I do not.

North Korea in 1966 had come out on top of an African and Asian qualification process. This was designed obviously to provide us with the best team from Asia and Africa. They went on of course to complete a major upset in the finals, but they were a credible side, having been the best to get their in the first place.

In 1990 cameroon beat argentina in the opening game, yes. But they had finished top of their qualifying group and then won a two legged final round qualifier. They qualified as one of two of the best teams africa had to offer, from a possible 26 candidates.


Thye did also have a squad of players who played or would go onto play Top tier european football in france, spain and italy.

New Zealand had to beat New Caledonia! Vanuatu! and the mighty Fiji to excel through a tough group phase to play an intercontinental playoff against Asia's 5TH BEST qualifier...being bahrain in this case. They scraped through 1-0.

Why should ROI have to face France, Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia and montenegro to get through. This is simply unfair.

New Zealand will not cause an upset, they will be beaten in every game. If anybody would like to bet against this, i will happily take your bet.

NZ have just one player who would potentially make the ROI squad in Ryan Nelsen. They have produced in Wynton Rufer only one player worthy of mention in their history.

#24 are you suggesting Leo Bertos is in fact Jesus :D (read #22)

#30 you are still missing the point. ROI have a huge advantage in that they get to play competitive matches against good teams on a regular basis and can improve as a result. New Zealand are somewhat hampered by the fact that their only competitive matches come against the likes of New Caledonia. So how can they improve?

What do you suggest a World Cup group with no continent division? What is England were in a group with Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Vanuata. That could happen if it was just luck of the draw. Yes England would qualify but have you any idea what that would do to the players physically? Already there is complaints of too much traveling, so this is just impractical.

Responding to tomefccam

By your reckoning I imagine you would agree that England have no place competing in the winter Olympics where they will lose in everything. Why did Tim Henman play tennis for so long when he was quite clearly useless?

I can imagine your life is spent sitting on your couch, eating pies and drinking beer yelling at the TV telling the players what they should be doing (as you obviously know best).

Remember New Zealand is a nation of 4 million people as opposed to the 50-60 million in the UK. As you said, Rugby is the main game so for a small country where most of the males play rugby, it’s perhaps more impressive that NZ qualified than it is the English. After all, the English wouldn't not qualify for a major tournament in the national sport would they?? Oh wait, Euro 2008.

I agree New Zealand will not win the tournament, but why write them off so quickly. I personally don't think England will make it past the quarter finals, for all the money and hype the players and team just aren't good enough. So why should England show up to a tournament they're not going to win. Also why should Wigan travel to Old Trafford when they know they can't win against Man U?

New Zealand focusing on football/soccer more can only improve the sport. As they've shown in other sports they compete in they can compete at the top levels, so give it a few years and the England team may well be running scared.

Its arrogant negativity that you show which ruins the game, but I'm sure you'll be wearing a shirt that doesn't fit over your belly, waiving a flag from your window and drinking Carling right up until the point when England lose another tournament when you'll get into a fight and complain about the ref, just because you don't have enough intelligence to realise England just aren't that good at football - really they might as well stay home and leave it for people who at least try they're hardest, like New Zealand.

Yes Greece winning was a shock, however they did have players who had played and went onto play regular champions league football. Their league is also competetive and has boasted winners of major European trophies. Korea Rep in 2002 had Hiddink a world class manager and home support, neither things will NZ have at their disposal. Korea rep were also ranked amongst FIFA's top 20 teams between 1998-2002. They are the major asian footballing power and had they not been unable to participate in the World Cup for 32 years surely would have recorded a their first win in the competition before 2002

#31 your argument is valid, but this is what I am getting at. NZ I believe, along with Australia would benefit from an Asian/Austalasian qualifying section. But only if they finish the top 2 teams in an OFC qualifying section (presumably they would).

I wonder if he attributes Jesus to his earlier miss.

But tomefccam, surely NZ drawing with Wales and Italy is an indication that maybe they are going to be competitive? ... And there's an old expression that you can only beat what is put in front of you, arguing they only beat minor teams is a bit like arguing that runs scored in test cricket against Bangladesh don't count.

waikato_fc

I hope so for your sake, as I I do genuinely hope NZ do well, but i also genuinely believe NZ will not.

And nobody wants to see 8-0, 9-0 defeats in tournaments. Nobody wants to see an Oleg Salenko being touted as the next big thing due to scoring lots of goals against poor teams.

Tomefccam

It is quite obvious that yo have never played a team sport in your life. Before you reach for another beer try looking up FIFA world rankings. The best 32 teams in the world would mean the ROI and Bosina wouldn't be there anyway. Oh but they might in your rankings as clearly you know best.
Also the powers that be in English Football have taken on your advice and decided that the FA cup will only be contested by Premiership Teams as no one else could possibly have a chance of winning it.
You will also believe all the hype that will be written in the papers here stating that England are going to win the World Cup.
By the way in the 20/20 cricket world cup I clearly remember the Netherlands beating an over hyped, cocky England team but then in my eyes that wasn't a shock.

Fair enough, but remember that we didn't get humilated at the confed cup recently, picking up our first senior fifa point (0-0 v Iraq), playing poorly in losing 2-0 to South Africa and 5-0 by a very good Spanish side. Not great results indeed, but nothing to suggest 8 or 9 nil. With Shane Smeltz, Rory Fallon and Chris Killen potential goal scorers plus Nelsen at the back I can't see anyone absolutely thumping us. I don't expect us to spring any major surprises, but I don't expect humiliation either. For example, Australia are now considered (quite rightly) a very good football side, and when we play them there is very rarely more than a goal or two in it.

Please also forgive my error in the Italian friendly, I was under the misguided impression we drew, but they actually nicked it 4-3 with a couple of late goals, the sods!

#31 Leo Bertos may well have been Jesus and it is to our shame we let him move on. We could have used his water-walking abilities at Plymouth last weekend.

So yet again people resort to bashing the English, showing themselves to be quite pathetic. I hate the ignorant chav minority as much as anyone as they are an embarrassment to our nation, but we are not all like that!

Post no. 33 - Would you post on a forum about African football calling yourself 'GladImNotAfrican?' or would you think that's racist?

Haha, good arrows Tom.

Hey Kiwis, stop the pommy bashing would you! The World Cup is the only time that the English get to wave their flags without getting called racists! At least give us our few weeks of misguided optimism wont you?

Regarding my ealier post, i presume from some of the anti-England comments, that those of you who arent English will be cheering for England to lose. Oh well. I'll still root for the All Whites nevertheless.

Tomeffcame.. what a stupid attitude towards the world cup. By your infinate wisdom surely the US should not compete in the world cup as there qualifying is pretty much guranteed. How do you expect new zealand to improve if there are unable to compete in such a competition, they thoroughly deserve to be there, qualifying for the the world cup will encourage more people to get into the sport meaning they will be even more competitive come future tournaments, the USA is a perfect example of this. You clearly miss the point of the world cup. Look at Trinidad and tobago, they gave everyone a good game at the last finals and nobody gave them a chance.

I'm a Kiwi, see any England bashing from me? I live here (England) because I want to, and I support England against anyone except NZ!

Paul, do you not think that some posts have turned into an England bashing for no particular reason? It happens so often. From what i can tell their was never any animosity from the English aimed at any other ntion here - in fact the English were saying they would suppot the All Whites. So why the animosity in return? Personally i find it quite tiresome.

To Glad I'm not English (or should I reveal your real name and home address?)
You are comparing the population of NZ vs the UK - in case you haven't realised, the UK do not have a football team

Fair play to you Waikato, but some of your countrymen are letting the team down. Its not really an issue of anyone supporting England, more a case of why do people hate England so much? im honestly interested whether it was to do with personal experience or just stereotypes.

I also am a Kiwi living in Britain and do support England Football team. My comments are directly at tommefccam who is just an ignorant individual who clearly thinks his opinions should be valued. It doesn't matter who you support but to say that a team shouldn't be there when they clearly qualified shows the narrow mindleness of a idiot.
And yes these idiots also exist in NZ hence the dislike and hatred directed at me when the All Blacks are playing over here. There wouldn't be any bashing if idiots just kept there opinions to themselves.

I thought this post was about New Zealand, and people are talking about Republic of Ireland! I'm sick to death of all this talk about the Irish, if they were so good they would be at the World Cup without any controversy, end of.

Just shut up and let the rest of the World get on with the World Cup without you

Greg10, remember that this is a forum for expressing opinions. I disagree with tomefccam BUT hes entitled to write what he thinks. Ive heard the arguement plenty of times before about changing qualification groups, but i dont think this ever will, or ever should happen to any major degree. The logical next step may be to combine Oceania and Asian qualifying. I think this would really help New Zealand develop, as i think its already helped Australia become stronger.

Its good that FIFA have relaxed these rules in letting youth players change nation (only if its valid and not someones grandma bought a camel from an Egyptian so they qualify for Egypt etc)

It gives so many players the opportunity to experience a tournament like the World Cup and them experiences live with you forever!

Its also good to see the little less known teams like NZ and North Korea and so on get to be at these tournaments. I mean, when would players like Rory Fallon ever play against the Messi's and Kaka's of the World?

Plus, theres always shocks waiting around the corner, its what makes the World Cup, FA Cup (and others) so interesting and everyones favourite competitions

Why would he play for England when he was born and brought up in New Zealand?

Im sorry, but once you play for a country at any level that should be that. Its your country, yet some people treat it like a club - look at Tyrone Mears.

It sees nowadays too many people who are not good enough for one country simply play for another, its a complete and utter nonsense and dilutes the International game. Just like this talk of Almunia playing for England, its ludicrous. Im sorry, but i dont want him to play for England. The only reason he would is because he isnt good enough for Spain. I dont want a player playing for us when we are second best to him personally.

Tyrone Mears is in the wrong, he played a full international and is trying to change it (I have no idea why, he was rubbish when he played for us)

In my opinion, if you played youth internationals then I think you should be still allowed to change, unless you have played a certain amount.

I don't like the idea of Under-21's changing though, plus you should only be allowed to play for the nations you were born in or your parents were born in, grandparents shouldn't come into it, and that 5 year rule should be there either, maybe if you spend 10-15 years growing up through schools in a country should you be allowed to play for that nation. Makes me sick knowing Almunia wants to play for England..

Well Done Rory, as a big Swans I am really pleased that you managed to get to the World Cup. I always liked you as a player and you had a good record with us, of 14 goals in around a year, including the fantastic goal in the play off final v Barnsley. I was very disappointed when you left us, although I know that this wasn't the view of all Swans fans.

Good luck this season Rory except when you play us, and also of course for the World Cup.

The issue of him nearly missing out on playing for New Zealand because he played a couple of games for an England youth side is another opportunity for me to rage at FIFA. Of course rules are needed but FIFA seem to run around making up nonsense just for the sake of it. I'd love to see some common sense in football but it's all too rare.

As a Kiwi I acknowledge that on form and ability NZ are not as good as other teams who won’t be at the World Cup. But it’s like the English FA Cup. The occasional success of clubs outside the Premier League adds to the appeal and excitement of the competition.

Most Kiwis empathise strongly with Ireland’s bad luck, particularly because a blatant referee’s error led to the winning try by France (them again!) to knock NZ out of the last Rugby World Cup. But football’s like life. It isn’t always fair. No one supports injustice but if football was completely fair all the time then wouldn’t it be a bit dull?

Hi Fletch... sorry but i only read the first couple of lines and then my interest was lost this time mate....

....but my initial thoughts were - I don't want to be deliberately nasty (but)... maybe Rory Fallon should pray a bit harder as he is tosh.

with God all things are possible,NZ can shock any team,watch out mate

44. At 5:19pm on 02 Dec 2009, Jonny5 wrote
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For some reson my username has changed, and I can't change it back. So tomefccam says:

I do not have a stupid attitude, I am arguing that teams as poor as NZ will take away the competetiveness from the finals by being there, all teams they face in the group stage will take 3 points from them.

USA are a different kettle of fish...

They go through 4 rounds of competetive qualifying process where they eventually had to progress through a group containing past world cup participants in

Mexico, Costa Rica T&T etc.

USA, Mexico and Honduras made it through...Costa Rica the 4th placed team had to face a play off with the 5th best team from South Americas qualifying system...in former world champions and ever competetive Uruguay!!! a far cry from having to beat Vanuatu, Fiji, New Caledonia and subsequently BAHRAIN to get there. This is clearly flawed.

38. At 4:43pm on 02 Dec 2009, Greg10 wrote:
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The only thing that is obvious is that you do not know anything about me or my background, so to say I have never been involved in team sports is laughable. This is also a football blog, therefore comparisons with 20-20 cricket are not accurate, I refuse to compare standards accross different sports, that is for a whole other blog.

I did not state at any point that ROI or Bosnia were in the top 32 Fifa ranked teams, I simply stated that the best 32 teams should be there, and I would include these two nations at present as amongst the top 32. Ignore FIFA rankings...they are also flawed, and a system that has been changed numerous times and will change again soon because they do not illustrate the performance of international team accurately eg. Croatia are not the 10th best team in the world, they are not even the 10th best in europe

silence speaks volumes...everybody acknowledges that I am right

Silence means everyone has moved on, it happens you know?!

And you aren't right, just because you say Croatia aren't the 10th best team in Europe doesn't mean everyone has to agree. In my opinion Russia have one of the best teams around, yet they aren't going to the World Cup, but it doesn't mean they should automatically be there because they are good, and it doesn't mean I'm right either.

Theres no way ROI or Bosnia deserve to be there, there are better teams in the world, Europe and South America do have the most competitive competitions and qualifiers, because they replicate their leagues.

I think your forgetting Ghana qualified for their first World Cup last time round and they shock everyone and got through their group, plus South Korea got the semi finals of a World Cup - a feat which raised their profile in the World

Everyone loves an underdog, so let NZ, N Korea, Honduras and co have their day!

Another thing, another reason its good to see the smaller footballing nations in the World Cup is that it promotes football in their country, it gets fans on board in places that football isn't the number 1 sport there. It gets players noticed by big leagues (especially the African players) and it also helps attract sponsership money, players and so on to their country. USA have benefitted in the long run with hosting a World Cup, but other nations are expanding their amount of players, income and leagues etc, just like the Caribbean Islands and maybe now New Zealand, thanks to exposure on the World Stage

Football is not the national sport of NZ, them being at a world cup will not change this...it did not work for the USA, the MLS got going again in 1996, and I don't see how in 13 years the standard of it has improved at all. The attendances are probably just about the same as they were in '96 and the standard of players is probably worse in fact. Yet they continue to pump money into soccer stateside

It has to be said the the Kiwis did have the easiest qualifying of all the 32 teams going to South Africa. But this is not their fault. They can only do what FIFA put in front of them. I am an Aussie and there is a great rivalry between the 2 nations, but I think it is great that the Kiwi's will be there. It is a shame for Australia that they have not had an easy qualifying run or they may have been at more World Cups. Once again, this is not New Zealand's fault.
To all the supporters of other countries wining about the Kiwi's being there, get a life. Just go to South Africa or sit at home and cheer for your team of choice. I am going to be there and will have a big cheer for the Kiwi's (as well as England and Australia of course) and would love to see them win a game or even just get a point.
Another question to all the doom sayers, if one of the top teams were to have a bad tournament and not get a point, should they never be allowed to compete again.
FIFA want to get as many teams involved from all corners of the globe. If my team missed out (Ireland, Bosnia etc.) then I guess I would be upset. But if you look at the big picture, Football is truly the only "World Game". It is because of some of FIFA's policies that this is the case. Is it corrupt to do this, probably yes. But now there is interest in Football al around the world.

The beauty about football, an old cliche, anything can happen :)

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

it gets fans on board in places that football isn't the number 1 sport there. It gets players noticed by big leagues (especially the African players) and it also helps attract sponsership money, players and so on to their country