Socceroos Qualify for 2011 Asian Cup

March 4, 2010

Australia avoided a huge embarrassment when they qualified for the 2011 Asian Cup. After a slow start in which they only managed one point from two games, they took 10 points from their last four games to finish top of the group.

They only required a draw against Indonesia and maybe because of this, the nerves and anxiety affected them in front of goal. Had it been a dead rubber or a friendly, they may have won 5-0. Such was their dominance in the match against a side ranked way beneath them. Nearly all live bets were placed on Australia as Indonesia were simply outmatched. At home they had huge vocal support but away they just couldn’t draw on the same intensity.

So now that this has been negotiated, all of the focus can now turn to the World Cup which is now only three months away.

The good thing about the qualification campaign for the Asian Cup was that Pim Verbeek was able to do it without much help from the European based players. The game against Indonesia was on a FIFA match day but having to get the players to and from Australia all within a couple of days and then having to play on the following weekend was asking a bit much.

To maintain good relations with all of the respective club bosses is a very important part of being the Socceroos boss. But additionally, Verbeek got to see a few of the A-Leaguers in action. Tommy Oar made his debut and looked very good. Shannon Cole impressed until he left the field and Mile Sterjovksi was back to some of his best.

Australia’s next scheduled match is a farewell against New Zealand at the MCG in late May. This will be a big occasion and will be nice that the Trans-Tasman rivals who both will be at the World Cup can have a match against each other.

Australia moving to Asia has been great for New Zealand with the biggest bonus them qualifying for the World Cup. The two don’t play against each other as much as they used to and that is a shame as it’s a great rivalry.

Australia will also have some World Cup warm-up matches once they depart Australia but these as of yet have not been confirmed.

Darren Albert writes for this blog. He also writes about sports betting online.

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