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Asia Cup

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Hamster

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Anyone been following it? Australia has been doing poor. Need to beat Thailand to advance to the finals stages.
 
Australia managed to scrape a 1-1 draw with Oman in the 90th minute.

Oman.

They have a population of 2.2 million. Of which approximately 9 and a half actually play football.



I think that speaks volumes about the quality of the competition.
 
Been watching a few matches and I must say some of them has been quite exciting. Always fun to check out some new nations and hopefully learn some new names in the football world.
 
Apparently they've found their form netting 4 against thailand, so we shall see...

I'm rooting for Australia, I'd hate to see the most overrated Winning Eleven 9 side beat the roos. :p
 
i don't think they have i chance against Japan if there cant beat Iraq
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Are you even Australian? What happened to the bloody Aussie spirit, bloody hell man....I'll be working during both the Bledisloe and the Asian cup and when I come back, I expect a night of golden triumph!
 
I am a bit shocked that Australia are out in the QF's. I wasn't necessarily expecting that Australia would win - although I honestly thought that as long as they could deal with the heat and with the unknown factor of some of the teams that would play they would be tough to beat and should be there in the finals.



On paper there aren't may sides in Asia that can compete with Australia.



I wonder how much Graham Arnold's questionable coaching ability came into play. It was obvious that during the world cup Hiddink had to take big risks in certain games and it was probably Arnold's lack of experience and ability that meant that his risks didn't come off as well as Hiddink's did.



Although I was questioning why Arnold didn't demand that the FFA make his position permanent or that he'd walk. I guess it is because Arnold has no other place to go.



The aftermath of this tournament will be that Arnold will go before the qualifying for the World Cup begins and players such as Mark Viduka will probably look at heading into retirement.



I wouldn't really think that this is too much of a failure though but rather a learning curve. Getting dumped out of the tournament by a side that will probably go on to win is never that bad but better that this happens now and not when the next tournament starts - qualifying for South Africa in 2010.
 
Now bring on a good coach...I am a little distraught however because there is no follow up 'star' generation to your Viduka, Kewells, Cahill and Swarzer....we could soon be back in the doldrums when these guys are gone....although some are closer to retirement then others still...a little bleak...
 
Yeah there has been a bit of a golden generation of Australian footballers.



But the good news is that there are a lot of silent achievers doing their stuff week in and week out and they don't get a lot of media coverage.



Also the A-League is going from strength to strength and will help build the future stars.



And remember that Australia may never be amongst the very best world but they should always be able to qualify for the world cup and have the potential to cause any team trouble.
 
As thorough as the planning was the Aussies still underestimated the tenacity of the Asian nations, the passion shown by the likes of the Thais and Indonesians was inspiring.

Graham Arnold should be kept in some capacity but his skills have not helped enough
 

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