WOOOO HOOOOto the SOCCEROOS

Onya Boys...Can't wait 'til 2006

2006 is just 45 days away.

This will suit most of our players because most of them are based in Europe/England anyway.

[quote=Lawnbowler]my heart stopped during the penalty shootout......

I had my eyes half-covered most of the time during the shootout...now that's drama (and I still think it's a terrible way to sort out the winner)

At least I know tomorrow the newspaper headlines will be good news for a change

Johnny Warren must be turning cartwheels up there somewhere

I left the room, my heart wouldn't take the excitement! w00t!

WOOO HOOOO GO THE ROO'S HELL YEAH!!!

...(and I still think it's a terrible way to sort out the winner)

yeah I agree.

I would have bet my life Kewell would have been given man of the match. Hiddink is a genius and Aloisi had balls taking that last kick. I don't think there was an aussie out there who had a bad run, I still can't believe it.

You mean I dont have to listen to 3 1/2 years of "we wus robbed"?

oh no wait, that will come when we get beaten.

Not being much of a sports fan . . can somebody please tell me how this
works?. . I mean the path to the World Cup next year. ?? . .like. . how many more games to the final. . . who is still in the running. . *you know. . all the basic stuff I have no clue about* .      

Was so happy!!! I was standing during the penalty shootout hiding behind the door so nervous and excited. It's been a really good year for sport. CONGRATS!!!

Quoted from Gizmo

Not being much of a sports fan . . can somebody please tell me how this works?. . I mean the path to the World Cup next year. ?? . .like. . how many more games to the final. . . who is still in the running. . *you know. . all the basic stuff I have no clue about* .      

Well Giz there's so much to know...and so little time...the wikipedia entry is a pretty good explanation of how the regions all work and it does list all the final 32 so you can go here if you want all the details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Cup_2006.

Basically, what's happening in Germany next year (and what we qualified for) is the finals.  There are 32 teams in the finals (out of 197 teams who vied for those spots) and we were the last team to qualify.  

Each of the 6 qualification groups (based on geographic regions) gets a certain number of spots in the finals and the countries in those regions get to play off for the spots.  Depending on where you live you will have a different view of how fair this system is -

Europe Group has 51 teams competing for 13 places,
Africa has 13 teams competing for 5 places,
South America has 12 teams competing for 4.5 places,
Asia has 39 teams competing for 4.5 places,
North America and the Carribean has 34 teams competing for 3.5 places
Oceania has 12 teams competng for 0.5 places

The unfairness of all of the above is due to the massive corruptions within FIFA (the body that governs world football)(yes this is my opinion only)(but its true dammit)

The winner of Oceania (Australia this time) had to play off the fifth place team in the South American group (uruguay)

Clear as mud eh?

Suffice to say...it's damn hard for Australia to make it in and it's a jolly good show that they did.  I'm not the worlds most fanatical sports fan but I do like to see a fariy tale come true every now and again to restore my faith in the goodness of the world (besides soccer players are sooooo cute)

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!!

One hell of a game!!   Bring on Germany!!

I don't believe Oceania deserves a spot yet. While some areas of the qualifying system seem abit grey I do think Fifa has done a decent job in handing out the fair amount of spots respective to how good the quality of football in each region is played. I think they should have instead made us qualify through Asia and maybe after last nights performance, surely they've got to rethink where we stand in the whole process. I just hope they don't fall into the same group as my beloved Portugal, that would be heart breaking and its gonona be different without having the irish there next year. I always enjoyed watching them play, they had alot of heart.

Quoted from Complicatedsimplicity

I don't believe Oceania deserves a spot yet. While some areas of the qualifying system seem abit grey I do think Fifa has done a decent job in handing out the fair amount of spots respective to how good the quality of football in each region is played...

I don't necessarily think Oceania deserves a whole spot either (I'd like it but that is the heart talking) and I certainly don't think qualifying one time should change things.  But I also don't think the Europe or North American groups deserve all the spots they get - their performance does not justify the numbers.  

But I don't really care today...'cos we're going to Germany...we're going to Germany

ok we aren't going to Germany...they are