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
Robbie
Roar Pro
Yes I am sick of these Arab nations giving the round ball game a bad name with their diving antics. The standard would be the same if we segregated Asia into east and west and, arguably, the Socceroos might even play harder opposition. We will still the big teams of Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Japan that way, as well as nations like Thailand for whom the future looks very very bright indeed
Robbie
Roar Pro
+1
cliffclavin
Guest
good call post-hoc - would love to see this happen too [east/west] but one thing to keep in mind is that West Asia -despite the heat - is very close to our euro-roos meaning they can get there from Holland, England or Germany much easier for matches there than in Korea/China/Japan .... but i am still in favour of your idea. I have no doubt that Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia will become much stronger in future and great competition for us ... and of course vice-a-versa
Robbie Mase
Guest
It is a one off for us yes. On another note I think Holger and the players will be satisfied with a draw (no one likes not winning) considering the circumstances. we have twenty a-league players who have not played in two months besides maybe a roos training camp. Meanwhile all the other nation's leagues are mid season with their players at peak fitness
cliffclavin
Guest
thanks oly and ben. would love to see the matilda's and our youth more engaged in our direct region - even though i think football wise north east asia offers better competition for the men and especially the women.
Franko
Guest
EAFF is great, but isn't this tourney a one-off for us? I thought we were in this one on invite only. A bit like Japan competing in the Copa América? Am hoping we get an invite to that one day also.
Post hoc
Guest
I am loving the East Asia cup as well, I would like to push further with it and split off East Asia from the Asia Confederation. East Asia (including China, South east Asia and merge them with Oceania to form an Asian Pacdific confederation, and leave west asia/middle east as a confederation (numbers stay the same) and we don't have some of the "administrative" issues of the petro leagues
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
Correct. We would only detract from the AFF Suzuki Cup. The EAFF Cup is an appropriate venue to give our local and regionally based players a hit-out.
oly
Guest
Yes we've joined ASEAN but I think part of the deal was the Socceroos not taking part in regional competitions. But it should help our women's and youth teams.
cliffclavin
Guest
i agree with the first two changes Jack, but would like to see Duke given another run ...but would not be upset if Juric got a start. Looking forward to this Japan game ... and i must say i am loving the concept of East Asian cup - if not our performance against Korea. Did i read somewhere we have joined ASEAN football as well ... does this mean we might finally see some more regular games against indonesia or Vietnam ... I would love to see this - even if it was our 3rd-4th string team.
Jack
Guest
Sainsbury in for Twaite or north. An mooy for zackovich And jurich for duke we may be ok
Franko
Guest
Certainly a big call, I think we'd be fairly pleased with a draw the way things have been going?
whiskeymac
Guest
Big prediction if reports of the last game are accurate.