On the same day as the FFA formally lodged its bid book and application to host the 2015 Asian Cup, the Australian U19 Young Socceroos defeated Vietnam 4-1 to make the final of the Asian Football Federation’s U19 tournament.
The Young Socceroos will take on defending champion Thailand in the AFF U19 Youth Championships final on Sunday night.
17-year-old Central Coast Mariners recruit Mustafa Amini opened the scoring for the Young Socceroos in the opening minute against Thailand.
Amini is one of the shining lights of the U19 tournament, he is set to become one of the future stars of Australian football and is showing great improvement, football ability and skill.
Mustafa comes from the Blacktown area in Sydney’s West and was obviously overlooked by Kevin Sheedy for the GWS AFL team.
The Young Socceroos other goals came from Adelaide United’s Matthew Leckie, Ben Halloran and Eli Babalj. Kantarovski, McGowan and goalkeeper Matthew Acton were also outstanding.
The Young Socceroos are in their third AFF U19 Tournament final in three years.
“We won in 2008 from a penalty shoot out against South Korea, last year we lost to Thailand in a penalty shootout after we were locked at 2 all after extra time, we will be out for revenge this time around,” said Young Socceroos coach Jan Versleijen.
Meanwhile, on the back of a glowing report from the FIFA inspection team that visited Australia to examine its bid to host the 2022 World Cup, Australia moved to secure the rights to host the 2015 Asian Cup finals after formally lodging its bid.
Football Federation of Australia chairman, Frank Lowy, CEO Ben Buckley, and head of AFC Asian Cup 2015 bid, Rob Abernethy, delivered Australia’s bid book to Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.
Bin Hammam said he appreciated the great personal interest taken by Lowy and Buckley in showcasing Australia’s bids for the Asian Cup and the World Cup by delivering the bid books in person.
“The successful three-day FIFA inspection visit to Australia ended only last night.
“The presence of Chairman Lowy and Mr Buckley, both of whom were heavily involved with the inspections, here today proves the enthusiasm and commitment of the FFA for the 2015 bid,” said Bin Hammam.
“I assure them that their bid will have my recommendation when it goes before the AFC Executive Committee.” he added.
The AFC Executive Committee is expected to make a decision on the hosting rights at its meeting next January, which Australia is expected to win.
While Bin Hamman’s support is assured for the Asian Cup bid, the AFC President said he would vote for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, not Australia.
The U19 Young Socceroos success, the Asian Cup and World Cup bids follow on the heels of the National Women’s football team, the Matilda’s.
The Socceroos are also set to compete in the Asian Cup of 2011 in January and is grouped with the Korean Republic, India and Bahrain.
They are expected to advance to the finals and do better than their first attempt at winning the Asian Cup in 2007, when it was knocked out in the quarter finals by Japan. Iraq went on to be crowned 2007 Asian Champions for the first time in a memorable tournament.
Mohamed Bin Hammam, the president of the Asian Football Confederation thinks that Australia’s success in Asia has been a great boost to the region too.
“It has been a win-win situation for the AFC and FFA since Australia joined the AFC in 2006,” Bin Hammam said.
I’d agree that our move into the Asian Football Confederation has been a big win for the FFA and Australian football.
And our Asian football adventure doesn’t look like slowing down either, it just gets bigger and bigger.
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