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.
jimbo
Roar Guru
AUSTRALIA have won the 2010 AFF under-19 Championship thanks to a late goal from Melbourne Heart's Eli Babalj which secured a 1-0 victory over Thailand in the final in Ho Chi Minh City. Australia dominated the match and should have scored more. Good signs for our Socceroos future WC Qualification through the Asian confederation in years to come and our chances in the next FIFA U-20 WC.
jimbo
Roar Guru
Fabio, If the AFL wants to brag all the time, then you need to accept other codes pointing out their achievments as well. Get your facts right. The A-League grand final was watched by 79 million hoseholds in over 100 countries. http://www.tribalfootball.com/league-grand-final-be-beamed-live-across-globe-704241
Fabio
Guest
Why bring AFL into this? Enjoy the game as it is instead of always comparing, making comments, name calling etc. AFL, NRL, ARU and whatever other acronym; who cares? Let each code thrive & survive on its own. And big deal if the Asian Cup will be watched by 500m people!! It has a much larger population, so of course it'll be greater. Remember Aust has only 20m people so the raings is all relative. The A-League GF is only watched by a small core group of fans!! Does that arguement stand up? Why not celebrate the fact in Aust we have a vast array of sporting codes to choose from & accept that people can follow more than one code as well. Cheers
Realfootball
Guest
These kids will all be 21-22 in 2014. I really do think our 2014 team could be very exciting and unlike any other Socceroos team we have put on the park. Considerable cause for optimism.
jimbo
Roar Guru
Thanks Cpaaa, as the only one bidding, I guess we should win it. It will be great just to host it anyway. Although, if Demetriou starts asking for $1 billion compensation becasue the Aussie Rules pre-season training matches will be disrupted, then we might have to withdraw our bid. :) I wonder if Buckley got Andrew's permission before he submitted Australia's bid for the 2015 Asian Cup?
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
Lucky he didn't have to watch Dunga's Brazil run around though :)
jimbo
Roar Guru
Yeah, Johnny Warren was one of the first to advocate a move out of Oceania and into a bigger confederation like Asia. He would be very pleased. Asia is actually the fastest growing football region in the world and the Asian Cup will get audiences of over 500 million for the tournament final - that's about a 160 times bigger audience than the Aussie Rules or NRL GF.
jimbo
Roar Guru
Thanks Mid, very impressed with Mustafa and he only just turned 17, so he is eligible for the next two AFC U-19 tournaments as well as another two U-20 World Cups. I hope the Mariners can hold on to him for a few years yet, but likely he will be snapped up to go overseas after the next FIFA U-20s WC. Tommy Oar didn't play in this tournament but he and a few other up and coming stars will join the squad for the next U-20 World Cup and we should do a lot better next time.
Cpaaa
Guest
I three, terrific read. Enjoyed this version more so than Mikes this week. Congrats Jimbo and I loves the new balls. ...Even though Australia was the only ones bidding, its just brilliant that things are constantly happening in the Football scene. Fussball "I TOLD YOU SO! What a shame he never got to experience these heady times". Im sure hes watching us with a smile, and I believe its the sacrifice he made, so we can have what weve got today.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Terrific column, jimbo ... These are certainly exciting times to be a Football fan in Australia. The 2015 Asian Cup will be fantastic - smack bang in the middle of Summer and School Holidays. Then, if/when we get the nod on December, the final piece of the jigsaw is in place and that Great Aussie Football Man would be saying from up high ... I TOLD YOU SO! What a shame he never got to experience these heady times.
Midfielder
Guest
Jimbo Excellent article mate.... lol at the Kevin Sheedy.... Poor old Fozzie and the doom sayers are slowly being shown up for all the sky is falling stuff.... the kids coming tho are just great heaps of talent... Jimbo give Mustafa time on the ball and space and he is deadly... he is a huge talent...