Soccer: Australia biding time over Cup

New Zealand fans shouldn't book their tickets just yet but the chances of Australia hosting the 2022 World Cup are improving.

Their strategy of doing little and keeping out of trouble is proving excellent.

They haven't entirely kept their noses clean, with allegations emerging in June they gave pearl necklaces to the wives of the Fifa executive committee and offered an all-expenses paid trip to a voting member. But, compared to the alleged collusion between Qatar and Spain/Portugal and the mud-slinging of the Russian and English bids, that looks insignificant.

Australia are now second favourites, just behind the US, to host the 2022 World Cup. They can be assured of one vote, assuming Oceania president Reynald Temarii gets to cast it when the 24-man Fifa executive meet on December 2 to decide the venues for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Temarii is expected to be reinstated once Fifa's investigation into his discussions with an undercover Sunday Times reporter is concluded.

Oceania have long promised Australia their support, with their vote likely to go to the US if Australia are knocked out of the contest (there are multiple rounds of voting with the country with the lowest number dropping out of the race until only one remains).

They will give their vote for the 2018 World Cup to England. They have always supported England, dating back to the days when Charlie Dempsey ran the confederation, and believe the time is right to see it return to England for the first time since 1966, the year Oceania began.

Their second preference had been for the combined Spain/Portugal bid but it's not known if that will change after revelations the European neighbours have been colluding with Qatar. Neither Qatar nor Spain/Portugal are likely to prevail even if they are found to have done nothing wrong. They have been tainted; it's difficult to get the stains out.

Suddenly, Australia's bid is seen as more appealing when they had earlier been viewed as little more than also-rans.

The Football Federation of Australia this week played on the fact they are the only continent not to have hosted the world's biggest sporting event. They have also said it would provide the impetus for the game to grow in this region in the way the US surged ahead after the 1994 World Cup.

Working against them, however, is geography and the clock. Television is worth squillions to Fifa and playing games in the unfriendly times in Australia is unattractive to European and American broadcasters.

Australian bid chief Ben Buckley countered this argument by saying 75 per cent of the world's population was expected to be living in Asia by 2022 and that the area was likely to experience fantastic economic growth.

World Cups in England and Australia would be excellent results for New Zealand football fans. But, as we have seen before, especially around the vote for the 2006 World Cup when Dempsey eventually abstained from voting, funny things can happen in Fifa.