Alpine Opinion

World Cup denigrated

Posted in Sport by Ray Dixon on 14 November, 2009
kiwis1

There is no more ugly sight in the world than New Zealanders winning ... at anything!

 Just when we were looking forward to next year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa featuring the cream of international soccer nations – including Australia again – along comes our cross-Tasman neighbour New Zealand to spoil the party … by joining it! Yes it’s true, somehow the Kiwis have qualified for the World Cup and will join the other 31 nations in next year’s play offs. But how? I thought they were in the same qualifying group we were (and if not, why weren’t they?), yet Australia qualified almost six months ago by going through the whole competition undefeated! What happened? Did New Zealand get a 2nd chance somehow, and why? I just hope they’re in the same group as we are in round 1. Imagine the result – Australia 10-zip is my bet. This really brings the standard of the whole World Cup down to a 2nd rate level.

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9 comments

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  1. bobbygee said, on 15 November, 2009 at 2:06 am

    I never knew this. I like it. Aussies are cool. Go Brasil. Tell me more about the national team. I only see them everyonce in a while on TV in theb USA. http://bobbygee.wordpress.com/

  2. Dominic said, on 15 November, 2009 at 9:21 am

    I see what you mean about “ugly”. How big is that guy’s mouth?

  3. Ray Dixon said, on 15 November, 2009 at 11:17 am

    Yeah, he’s so ugly he could be a Collingwood player.

  4. Blog Bludger said, on 15 November, 2009 at 11:51 am

    Mmm.. are these Australian sour grapes? But… they taste so sweet!

  5. Baldrick said, on 15 November, 2009 at 12:30 pm

    I suspect the qualification for Oceania has changed since we transfered over to Asia. In any case I would rather we played against the Asians as this means regular, strong games against very fast and technically skilled sides such as Japan and Sth.Korea. Incidentally we’re still in with a show in the Asian Cup after we won 2-1 overnight.

    I’ve got no problems with the Kiwis being in the WC. The difference between us and them being there is that we will be competitive and they will be in the other WC (the toilet).

    We have street cred since the last campaign in Germany. We played extremely well against everyone including the cheating Italians who went on and won it. It is amazing how much respect we have in Europe. In Germany itself, Australia was the Germans 2nd favourite team. This wasn’t by accident. We will give the powerhouses a scare, no matter what pool we are drawn in.

    As for ugly players, he’s not a scratch on our Lingie or prior to that our and your Scratcher Neal or our Neville Bruns. And in any case he isn’t a ranga.

  6. Rox said, on 15 November, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    Bring it on. I loved the last WC, much to my surprise. And yes, Ranga Ling wins by a mile.

  7. Ray Dixon said, on 15 November, 2009 at 2:28 pm

    Blog Bludger – Hi & welcome. No, it’s certainly not ’sour grapes’ on our part – how could it be? Australia is ALSO in the World Cup don’t forget, and boy do I ever hope we get to play your lot? Btw, it’s all in good fun and I hope the Kiwis do well (meaning I hope they manage to score at least one goal in their 3 losses before being eliminated). I might go check out your NZ blog at some stage. Cheers.

    Baldrick – I couldn’t agree more. So NZ got in by beating the likes of: Fiji, Tonga and the Solomon Islands? Bloody stiff competition that is. Okay, they also beat Bahrain but then again, that’s no big deal either. It should be a great World Cup and I reckon playing it in the Southern Hemisphere is a distinct advantage for Australia – the Europeans won’t know which way is up and they’ll be shocked by the clear skies and sunshine.

    Rox – I reckon that Kiwi soccer player is a dead-ringer for Collingwood’s Mr Ugly, Brad Dick. Same gaping hole of a mouth too.

  8. Clubwah said, on 15 November, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    Good on the Kiwis for qualifying – it does not bring the standard of the world cup down at all.

    The qualifying system means there will always be worthy teams that miss out and some minnows that get through. It is not the best 36 teams in the world and quite often we see some of the bigger teams upstaged by the lesser lights. It’s what makes the World Cup so great.

    A lot of traditional soccer nations questioned Australia’s qualification last time (after thery had to beat Fiji, Tonga and the Soloman Islands) and look how far they went.

  9. Ray Dixon said, on 15 November, 2009 at 7:29 pm

    I actually agree, Wah. It’s great to have a few ‘minnows’ in the World Cup – remember Namibia ? (although I think they were in the Rugby world cup. Same principle though). I just like to hang it on the Kiwis.


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