[JaredL]

Oops, I didn't think about Austria. I would say they are in the bottom 3. Ecuador is a curious team. Before the 2006 World Cup finals they pretty much only played well at home. Australia we will know more about when they start qualifying with the Asian teams. Beating American Samoa and then playing close home and homes with Uruguay makes them somewhat tough to judge as well. I honestly don't know much about Austria. I would, however, take any qualified team over either of them on a neutral field in a close to equidistant location.

The point about UEFA teams is obviously valid. I'm not trying to say that the European Championship is more difficult to win. I just prefer the tournament because the average quality of play is higher and the group stage is a lot better. Of course a big part of the overall quality being higher is simply that the tournament features half as many teams although just looking at the last 16 they are fairly close.