Another Aussie Bombshell
No, Ricky Ponting has not followed Farina into retirement... FIFA today announced that, as of January 1, 2006, Australia will become a member of the Asian Federation instead of Oceania.
The decision of the FIFA Executive Committee is expected to be ratified by Congress but no opposition is anticipated... just the way the boss likes it!
Herr Blatter himself hailed the agreement as leaving all parties "satisfied" and was confident the remaining Oceania members would assert themselves now that they will be out of Australia's formidable shadow.
Stan Lazaridis, like most of his Australian team-mates, was on holiday and unavailable for comment, especially to an Englishman during an Ashes summer. Players and officials alike have long bemoaned the status quo which sees Australia come up short again and again in WC qualification.
Home-and-away play-offs have seen the Australians eliminated except for one solitary appearance back in Germany, 1974. They managed a point that time, as opposed to ZERO at this tournament.
Blatter also revealed that FIFA will deal with the TV rights marketing for the World Cups following 2006 themselves; that he fully expects Liverpool to participate in the forthcoming World Club Championship and that a new FIFA World u-17 tournament is to be established for women.
Now it`s back to the football... check out the final and third-place results here and read more soccerphile reaction tomorrow.
Das Purist
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