Problem for Australia is that they always have to play barrage with fifth South American team, so they don't have big chance to qualify.
I suppose it would be more appropriate to let them play in the asian zone, which is the weaker of football confederations.
Also in this qualifications I was surprised to see China going out at the first round. It was nice to see them for the first time at the world cup in 2002, and I thought they were going to be following the path of a team like South Korea through the years.
Now, missing world cup 2006 puts them ten years behind and leaves the world of football without the biggest nation (by population) until 2010.
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