YES, says Michael Cockerill

Cue the doomsayers, and the gnashing of teeth from rival sports and their spruikers, who will run interference on Australia's 2018 World Cup bid until they drop.

Football's relentless growth under Frank Lowy threatens a lot of people, some who should know better. The battle for Lowy and his team is not inside Australia - it's out there in the real world, and in the real world football doesn't have to justify its status, or its currency. Australia's battle is to justify its football credentials, simple as that. So can Australia pull it off? Why not?

-------------------------------- YOUR SAY: Can we host the 2018 FIFA World Cup? --------------------------------

Up against the likes of England, Russia, Spain, the US, Mexico and a joint bid from the Netherlands and Belgium, it's obvious to say Australia faces stiff opposition. In truth, the stiffest opposition may be from China. If the Chinese enter the race, Asia's support will be split, potentially stalling Australia's bid at first base.

These are all hurdles, but Lowy is the man you want in your team as you head up the straight. The lear jet and floating mansion will be getting a workout over the next two years as he pumps the fists of the 24 members of the FIFA executive who'll make the final decision. Lowy impresses people for many reasons, sometimes because of his wealth. Whatever the case, he's proved to be a very persuasive individual in his relatively short time back in the game. The fact he convinced Mohamed bin Hammam to invite Australia to become part of the Asian Football Confederation speaks volumes for his diplomacy.

Those persuasive talents were crucial in what many thought was "Mission Impossible" - getting a Labor Government, in tough economic times, to commit $45 million to the bid process. When John Howard was Prime Minister, Lowy was a regular visitor to Kirribilli House. Now he's jumped the political divide with ease, convincing Kevin Rudd to share the dream.

Thus Football Federation Australia has the resources, and imprimatur, of the Government at its disposal. Lowy has promised not one cent of public money will be wasted on frivolities. This is not a $45m slush fund. It's business, serious business, and Rudd's declaration of support takes the bid to a new level - a credible level. The mandarins at FIFA headquarters in Zurich know Australia will put on a good tournament if given the chance. Now they have no choice but to acknowledge Australia as a genuine contender.

There are, of course, some disadvantages Australia must overcome. The tyranny of distance can't be overcome, the argument that Australia is TV unfriendly for European and US broadcasters can be. The blue sky in the broadcast world is in Asia. China and Vietnam were among the top five markets for Germany 2006. That gives Australia some bargaining power.

The other major disadvantage is more emotive. Europe has never had to wait more than one turn for the World Cup since the inaugural edition in 1930. With the next two going to South Africa and Brazil, the Europeans - especially the English - believe they will have waited long enough by the time 2018 comes around. Convincing the FIFA executive on this point will probably be Australia's biggest challenge.

None of this is news to Lowy. He knows Australia are outsiders. But he's hoping 13 is going to be his lucky number. That's all the votes Australia needs, and there's two years to get them. Difficult? Yes. Impossible? Don't bet against it.

NO, says Andrew Stevenson

Kevin Rudd, econocrat par excellence, loves fairy stories as much as the next boring man in a suit. Typically, the Prime Minister most wants to appear as exactly what he isn't.

So instead of recalibrating retirement investment tax options in the wake of the global financial crisis, Rudd is trying to put the first Australian on the moon, get Australia a seat on the United Nations Security Council, create a European Union for Asia and win the hosting rights to the 2018 World Cup.

JFK chose the moon because it was hard but it promises to be perhaps the easiest of these should Rudd ever in fact catch the space bug. The World Cup is hard. Very hard.

Why? Because no one in the world except Kevin Rudd, Frank Lowy and the football-loving fans of this nation of 20 million - which, judged by recent A-League attendances may not be quite as numerous as Lowy would have us believe - actually want it to be held here.

Admittedly, the whole world doesn't decide. The 24-member FIFA executive committee will represent them and finding a majority among them looks harder than the Socceroos actually winning the damn thing. Even finding one or two to kick things off will be hard.

Other bidding nations have a man on the inside whose vote and influence they can count on - England, Spain, Belgium, the US and Russia among confirmed or mooted bid rivals for starters. Australia begins with the hole in the middle of the donut - Lowy now has $45 million to put some sweet dough around the edges to see if he can get the committee to swalllow it whole.

Tell him he's dreaming. The next World Cup, in South Africa, can be counted as one for the game, a visionary decision to extend the sport's domination of Africa.

In 2014 the carnival's off to Brazil, a return to one of football's spiritual heartlands.

In 2018 the Cup will go where the spirit and the flesh can be put on the bones of FIFA: to Europe.

Australia is a non-footballing nation with no rich football fans in close proximity. Europe has them in their hundreds of millions. Australia is night to Europe's day, undercutting the television revenue upon which the largesse of FIFA is built. After selling itself short in South America - a brutal time zone for Europe - the governing body will not be in a rush to do it again.

Nor will it head to the southern hemisphere for a third cup in succession. Sepp Blatter enjoys accumulating frequent flyer points as much as the next sporting executive but even he counselled caution.

"As the next two World Cups will be in the southern hemisphere, it is perhaps logical that Australia concentrates on the 2022 tournament," he said.

Blatter votes, and wields enormous influence. So, too, Franz Beckenbauer. Surely, a German would favour anyone but England?

Surely not. "I think there is not really a problem to pick a host of the 2018 World Cup. In my opinion, there is only one very serious candidate and it is England," Beckenbauer said.

The last time I looked, Beckenbauer is on the FIFA executive committee. Lowy is not. Here's betting "the Kaiser" will have a much shorter trip to the World Cup in 2018 than the emperor of football in Australia.