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Plenty of football to watch despite A-League's conclusion

Roar Rookie
5th May, 2014
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The FFA need a new coach to replace Ange Postecoglou. (Image: AAP/Joe Castro)
Roar Rookie
5th May, 2014
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1084 Reads

The A-League season may be done and dusted, but there is still plenty more football to come for Australian football fans.

The Western Sydney Wanderers barely have time to regroup from their heartbreaking grand final loss to the Brisbane Roar before they travel to Japan.

There, they will face off against Sanfrecce Hiroshima in an Asian Champions League round of 16.

The Wanderers will be looking for a good result in Japan to put them in pole position for the return leg at Wanderland, in which they hope to further progress through the tournament and continue to fly the flag for the A-League.

On the international stage, our boys in Green and Gold will look to conquer the world as the FIFA World Cup begins in just over 30 days on June 12. In the meantime, our boys have a farewell match against South Africa in Sydney on May 26, which will be a nice appetiser to the main event.

The Socceroos, who are not expected to get out of their group, start their campaign against South American heavyweights Chile on June 14 at 8:00am AEST. They will face further tests against the 2010 World Cup finalists, Spain and the Netherlands.

Ange Postecoglou’s young team will gain invaluable experience by competing against the world’s best players on the biggest stage of them all, which is certainly an exciting prospect for Australian fans.

And even at the conclusion of the World Cup, the FFA Cup will commence shortly after on July 29.

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The FFA Cup is the new national knockout competition, which will put the best 22 FFA member federation teams (decided by individual state qualifying tournaments) alongside all 10 A-League franchises.

The 32 teams will then fight it out until there is one winner of the inaugural FFA Cup. The possibility of creating new rivalries between the older NSL clubs and the newer A-League clubs is a mouth-watering concept.

How good would it be to see South Melbourne play Melbourne Victory? Or Sydney Olympic battle it out against Sydney FC? These situations are all possible and matches between the sides now have a purpose thanks to the introduction of the knockout format.

Before you know it the A-League 2014/15 season will have begun with a home Asian Cup just around the corner. Enjoy the football!

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