Interesting blog Adrian, interested by this point:

“As some fans have noted, the response from certain sections of the media to the Socceroos’ progression to the final in Qatar was disappointing relative to World Cup coverage, which says a lot about the Australian media’s failure to grasp the significance of the Asian Cup. Winning in 2011 would have accelerated the perception of the tournament in preparation for 2015.”

I’m not so sure I see it the same way. Australian’s massively underestimate and disrespect Asian Football. We have the mentaility that we’re light years ahead of them and should defeat any nation without too much hassle. That’s the attitude we had in 2007 and it bit us on the ass.

I get the feeling that had we won the tournament at our second attempt it would have validated those thoughts for plenty of people in mainstream Australia.

What I’m hoping is that this highlights just how strong Asian Football is and just how tough it is to win the Asian Cup. This isn’t a Mickey Mouse competition, this is a serious competition and it is not easy to win. Just ask South Korea.

Hopefully that leads to an increased respect for Asian Football and increased interest for 2015.

Afterall, we now have a story for 2015 – revenge! That is what the media will (or should) be pumping up as we get closer to 2015.

As much as losing hurt, there would be something quite satisfying about winning our first ever Asian Cup on home soil.

I’m not a fan of an East-West split either.

I can see the merit behind it, but I don’t think it would be a good thing for Australian football, especially given OFC would merge into East Asia.

It’s not the biggest issue, or even in the top ten, but I agree with the article – it should be moved to the sleeve.

It then allows you to turn it into an actual patch (as it is it’s a very ugly, clumsy looking patch) where you can have a special gold edition for the Champions. It also allows the front of the shirt to look a lot neater.

Unfortunately though I know it isn’t going to change any time soon, in fact the FFA want the logo on the shorts too, but that isn’t going to happen…for now anyway.

Also Football Fan, it is 100% confirmed that the FFA isn’t signing with Reebok again. The three manufacturers mentioned in the article have signed up teams as far as I know, and ISC have signed up Melbourne Heart.

Hopefully it leads to better looking kits and better looking supporter wear. It’s amazing how much of a difference more professional looking gear can make.

Not exactly similar, because Australia hasn’t qualified yet. But if you look at it from that point of view, if we won 2-0 with nothing to play for we should be able to win with something on the line.

Nothing is that easy though.

The weather IS a very valid point though, as is the preparation time.

As you mentioned, last time was hot and humid and 38C in Manama. Today the maximum temp in Doha is 18C with light rain forecast. Chalk and cheese and much more suited to the Australians.

Also the preparation time. IIRC that game was a Wednesday and the players arrived in Manama on the Monday, so had one full day to prepare. This time the players have been in camp for a full 2 weeks.

It is certainly more in Australia’s court this time around.

Of course that doesn’t guarantee anything, however I am more confident of securing a win tonight than I have been before.

Also just like to note that I did mention it was a David vs Goliath battle ON PAPER, and that is purely looking at the stats I presented.

Totally agree that when you throw in a whole heap of factors that gulf is reduced somewhat.

Quite clearly Australia, given we are ranked #26 in the world (#1 in Asia) are the Goliath. Bahrain are ranked #93 (#7 in Asia).

We are the Goliath in every sense of the word.

Was going to make that same point Fussball, even with the Socceroos matches on the ASL, that was only home World Cup Qualifiers. So the Asian Cup could still end up on Pay TV.

With the 2015 AFC Asian Cup to be held in Australia, I reckon there is a good chance a FTA network (likely ONE HD) will pick up the rights to it in conjunction with FOX SPORTS.

ONE HD will then show all Australian matches and all matches from the Quarter Finals onwards, and FOX will show all the other group stage games and delayed coverage of all the finals.

Thanks Fussball, I always thought goal difference came before head to head. That changes things slightly from what I originally wrote.

Not a bad suggestion Roarchild, probably finances dictate that it might not be possible at the moment, but I think it’s something that has some merit.

As for the AFF Cup, I understand how big it is to the SE Asian nations and am wary of Australia just coming in and dominating.

That’s why i think we should send a home-grown U23 side. The only problem with that may come from those nations seeing that as disrespectful to the tournament and that’s a delicate issue we’ll need to work around.

But we’ve seen a full HAL squad draw 0-0 with Indonesia in Jakarta and beat them 1-0 in Brisbane, so their best can match it with our (HAL) best.

So I don’t think a HAL U23 side would dominate it, in fact I’m not sure they’d even win it, but the experience they would gain would be invaluable. The added competition could be good for the other nations as well.

The PSSI agreed, as part of our agreement with them, to help facilitate our full membership of ASEAN. So it is definitely on the cards. Whether that leads to competing in the AFF Cup remains to be seen.

Not sure you can really use that as a measure – Brazil were the only South American country to bid for 2014 FIFA World Cup. Does that, therefore, mean it isn’t a big deal either?

Yeah it is interesting how little media attention this has got. I’m fascinated to see how much attention it gets leading up to and on Jan 6th when it’s announced. I think the fact we’re the only bidder, therefore guaranteed of winning, probably takes a little away from it as EVERYONE already knows we’re going to host it.

Bad news for you though, it’ll be an East Coast Asian Cup – only Brisbane (Suncorp Stadium), Gold Coast (Skilled Park), Sydney (ANZ Stadium, SFS & Parramatta Stadium), Canberra (Canberra Stadium) and Melbourne (Etihad & AAMI Park) have been put forward as potential stadiums. See link below:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/east-coast-cities-bid-for-2015-asian-cup/story-fn63e0vj-1225898695107

Given we only need, I think, a minimum of 4 stadiums to host the Asian Cup I hope we cross Etihad off the list and make sure it’s played at Football specific venues. I’d go for Suncorp, Skilled Park, ANZ (Aus games & final only), SFS and AAMI Park.

Yep, I am aware of that The Special One but I still don’t agree with it. Should’ve made mention of that in my blog.

How is a one-legged final hosted by one of the finalists any better? It still massively disadvantages one team and provides a massive advantage to the other.

A two-leg system is the only thing that is fair for Asia given it’s vast size.

You’re obviously a glass half full kind of guy Eamonn.

Who says I am expecting them to become an Okon or Kewell or Neill? Most of those guys formed part of the “Golden Generation”, I think most people know we probably wont see a generation like that again in a while, but it doesn’t mean the players coming through can’t do the job.

Who’s the say Spiranovic won’t go on to become the next Lucas Neill? The kid is only 22, at that same age Lucas Neill was at Milwall in League Two!!! Would you have suggested then he would go on to become what he has today?

Spiranovic is now playing regular football in the J.League in front of 40,000 fans each home game. I’d rate the J.League higher than League Two. Who knows where he will be in 5-6 years time when he is 27-28 and at his peak. Don’t write him off just yet though.

Brett Holman is playing at one of the leading clubs in Holland, also playing in the Champions League and UEFA Cup. He has the potential to be a star for Australia, and he is showing that now.

If you’re expecting another Golden Generation then of course you’re going to be disappointed, but for those realists out there who have been told that the future is bleak for the Socceroos post-Golden Generation, we’re now seeing that it’s not as bleak as you’d have us believe and that players like Spira, Holman, Federici et al are capable of filling those roles.

But at least allow them a good run in the side before writing them off. We’re seeing now with Holman what you can get with perserverence.

I can’t imagine there would be more than 3 or 4. Stage 3 of WCQ begins in September and the Asian Cup finishes at the end of January.

I’d imagine there would be one or two FIFA dates in March/April and then again in June/July, then WCQ begins the first weekend of September. It wouldn’t be any more than 4 games I reckon, maybe 5 if there are double dates, but that’s not a lot.

I agree the players need to do their bit, Vidosic needs to move on and get game time, same with Holland. I’m happy with Oar, he has just moved across there as an 18yo and is already getting substitute appearances and getting 15-20 mins game time. That’s a good starting base.

I guess I’m in favour of giving these young guys a taste of it and getting them exposed to it, rather than just saying Neill or Cahill or Emerton are better. Of that there is no doubt, but we don’t want to be in a position where all these guys are 34-35yo and we’re still wondering who’ll replace them because no one was ever given that opportunity.

It’s a catch 22, people say they’re inexperienced so we can’t play them because we need experience, but at the same time there is only one way to get experience and it’s not by leaving them out of the squad.

That’s good in practice, but he’ll have about 3 or 4 friendlies from the time to Asian Cup ends to the time WCQ begins in September. Is that enough time to rebuild the squad?

If he started now, he’d get these two friendlies plus the Paraguay game, probably two Asian Cup warm-up games and a minimum of three (hopefully more) games at the Asian Cup. Then he’s got 10+ games to mould the side using the “next gen”.

I don’t want to get to September next year, not have the “next gen” ready and have to fall back on the older guard to get us through, because then we will have achieved nothing.

As Andy Harper said the other night – we don’t want to get to Brazil 2014 with another ageing squad and complain we just didn’t have enough time to blood them.

I admire him for wanting to win the Asian Cup, because we all do, I just don’t want it to come at the expense building the team for the future.

Tommy Oar has made a few substitute appearances for FC Utrecht, which is more than we can say for Jade North.

I’ll cut him some slack because he has only been in the job a few weeks so he won’t have had a chance to gather an opinion on everyone yet, or even see them in action.

But after we were told of a changing of the guard from the FFA (remember, this is one of the reasons they chose Holger in the first place), what we got served up was a squad just as old as that selected by Verbeek.

Still, hopefully the young players that have been selected (as listed by Ben) actually get a decent amount of game time.

Davstar,

Who says they aren’t as good? Luke Wilkshire might play in a lesser league in Russia, but I’d argue he’s one of the best and most consistent Socceroos we have. In fact, I’d like to see him take over from Lucas as captain in the new few years.

It’s that attitude of “they’re not good enough, we won’t worry about them” that lead to my blog.

Got the city right Luke, but he plays at Dynamo Moscow.