Jul 18 2011
2011 Asian Cup Performance Good News For Australian Football
It has been a month where anyone looking to Fly Drive Australia would probably do well to fit their craft with a propeller. But elsewhere in the Australian news, things have been rather more sunny for their Football team (that’s Soccer Football rather than ‘Rules’ Football). The Australian team have been becoming a world power in Football for some time, earning a 14th place ranking in FIFA’s official list. Despite this ranking however, the Australians have never been major performers in the all important cup competitions, crashing out in the group stages of the 2010 World Cup.
Not so according to their progression in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. Australia have only recently become an AFC member: they previously played in the Oceania Football Confederation’s cup, which a tournament that was only ever won by themselves and New Zealand. This offers them greater assurance of a World Cup place, despite the presence of other emerging World powers like Japan and South Korea. At the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, they progressed all the way to the final to face Japan, who have been regular winners of the tournament since 1992. This has therefore been one of the more reassuringly successful Australia tours.
There’s also more good news to be had for future world football power Qatar, who have hosted the AFC tournament as a warm up for the 2022 World Cup. The home team have actually distinguished themselves at the event, though all attention was on the (absolutely fine) stadiums. It was the Japanese who put a stop to the Qatari campaign, but with a last minute goal in a game that was looking like a 2-2 draw at full time. Back with Australians, the issue of hosting has a lot to do with their motivation in this cup. Australia will host the 2015 Asian Cup and the opportunity to defend the title on home soil would create a far more interesting event for those on Australia holidays. Australia has overcome much to get to this position: years in the stagnant OFC has seen many dual-citizen players lost to other national sides. But Australian football is here to stay.
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