- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Australian soccer’s powerbrokers have hailed the Socceroos and are predicting their Asian Cup triumph will deliver priceless rewards from the elite level to the grass roots.
Football Federation Australia chief executive David Gallop expects Saturday’s 2-1 extra time win over South Korea to stimulate commercial interest in the Socceroos, while also boosting numbers in the all-important junior participation rate.
“I think the knock on affect will be across a number of levels,” Gallop told AAP at the public celebration for the Socceroos in the Sydney CBD on Sunday.
“Really importantly I think we’ll see a spike in junior registration as we go into a new grass roots season.
“Obviously commercially we’re looking for a partner for the Socceroos, hopefully this opens some doors there.
“Many of the things that come out of this are priceless.
“There’s going to be a great feeling around Australian football as we go into the concluding weeks of the A-League and generally people are feeling good about the game.”
FFA chairman Frank Lowy expected the impact of the Asian Cup win to reverberate well beyond Australia’s boundaries.
“I think it’s a fantastic boost for us in Australia in Asia and around the world, everybody will take notice of us,” Lowy said.
“This wonder team is going to be going places.”
The Socceroos’ next assignment is a friendly away to world champions Germany in March, with qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup starting later in the year.
Lowy expects Australia to qualify for the he World Cup for a fourth straight time and has targeted making it to the second round.
He urged caution when it was suggested Australia should aim for the quarter finals of that tournament following Saturday’s triumph.
“Let’s have some surprise, let’s not have expectations too high,” Lowy said.
“But of course we’ll take it (the quarter-finals) if we can get it.”
Australia were thrashed 6-0 by Brazil and France in successive matches in late 2013, but Lowy dismissed those dark days as history and hailed the contribution of coach Ange Postecoglou, who was appointed after the second of those maulings.
“We’ve got a genius of a coach and not only his football, but he senses how the players feel,” Lowy said.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.