While TV screens were tuned into Manchester United v the A-League All-Stars, the Socceroos were playing an important match against South Korea in Seoul.
Australia earned the right to play in the 2013 East Asian Cup after topping the preliminary table with victories over Hong Kong, Guam, and Chinese Taipei.
The Socceroos will be competing with China, Japan and South Korea to become the best team in East Asia.
After one round, all four nations are level on one point. Australia and South Korea fought out a tough nil-all draw, while Japan and China drew 3-all.
South Korea was very impressive in attack, but Australian keeper Eugene Galekovic was brilliant between the sticks.
News reports claim Galekovic’s performance has earned him a right to challenge Schwarzer for a World Cup place.
The Koreans were the dominant force for much of the match, with Australia lacking many chances on goal.
Japan had a much more open match against China. Japan went one goal down after conceding a penalty four minutes in. Kurihara put one away for the Blue Samurais, to enter the break level at 1-1.
After one hour of play, Japan was 3-1 up thanks to goals from Kakitani and Kudo. But another penalty for China and a late equaliser in the 87th minute meant China and Japan had to share the points.
Japan was the better side for the majority of the match. But China held strong and their determination and luck was enough to award them a draw.
The second round of East Asian action begins 9pm AEST on Wednesday when South Korea plays China. Australia and Japan will battle it out 9pm Thursday night AEST.
With South Korea expected to defeat China, Australia will need a victory over Japan to stay near the top of the tournament ladder.
Japan showed against China, and in their recent Confederations Cup campaign, that they are more than capable of scoring goals, and plenty of them.
Australia’s impressive defence and Galekovic’s brilliant keeping will need to continue into their second match if they hope to hold out the Blue Samurais.
The Socceroos will need to improve their performance in attack after they failed to score against South Korea.
Mitchell Duke played up front for the Socceroos during the South Korean match.
Duke claimed that Australian coach Holger Oseiek “was happy with what I did, as much as I could do, so hopefully the next two games I can feature a bit more, get more of the ball and put some in the back of the net too.”
And Japan has shown that they are weak in defence, so hopefully the Aussies can knock a goal or two past them.
Prediction
Australia 1-0 Japan
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