By ADAM TROXTELL
For the first time since switching from the Oceania region, Australia is a continental champion.
The Socceroos triumphed 2-1 in extra time against heavyweights South Korea to win the Asian Cup on home soil. James Troisi scored in the 105th minute to make Australia the first men’s national team to win two different continental titles.
It was an exciting end to an entertaining final. The teams split possession and combined for eight shots on target.
Massimo Luongo had his long-range effort sail into the net for a 1-0 Australia lead just before halftime. It looked like his strike was the crucial one in a very even contest, but Heung-Min Son’s 90th minute equalizer for South Korea sent things into extra time.
Australia found that extra gear in the added period. Tomi Juric, who was substituted on for Tim Cahill in the 64th minute, muscled his way past a defender before sending a shot on goal. Troisi was there to poke home the saved effort, sending more than 76,000 fans at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney into a frenzy.
New York Red Bulls attacker Cahill was part of an exciting first half. His snap-shot from just outside the penalty area was saved, but it played a part in building momentum ahead of the opener.
In the win, Australia denied South Korea a first Asian Cup win in 55 years. They also became the first host nation to lift the title since Japan in 1992.
Australia will now play in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia as Asian representatives.
So will this triumph (1) leave Cahill with a great sense of accomplishment and relief, so that he can focus on his responsibilities to RBNY, or (2) just whet his appetite for more Aussie success, and cause him to focus instead on a possible role in qualifying for WC18? Or is this all a moot point, because he’s not returning to RBNY under any circumstances? I am curious to see whether and how Marsch can re-integrate him into the team, because when he’s good, he’s very good.
So what formation did Australia play? What position did Cahill play?
Striker of course. Only at rbny do they try to turn him into a holding midfielder and then wonder why he isn’t productive.
in all of asia, there isn’t one other country better than australia???
they’re not THAT good.
are they???
in my mind, i compare australia to canada. and i can’t imagine canada being asian champs (hypothetically). or am i way off there? is australia better than i think?
Australia is much better than Canada. They are arguably Top4/5 in Concacaf. Canada is not very good at all.
South Korea and Japan are both better than Australia. In the game South Korea was heavily favored. Australia just went on a good run. They are also not horrible. I would argue that they might be top 4 in CONCACAF. The move a few years ago to improve the quality of their competition by moving from Oceania to Asia has worked for the national team and the A-League (who have to face better competition in the Asia Champions League – which is a higher level of competition than the CONCACAF champions league).
Very helpful perspective. Thank you, anthony. I guess i imagined that dwight yorke was kind of a fluke for the socceroos.
Dwight yorke was a fluke for the socceroos? What are you on about, son?
i apologize. i dont think yorke is a fluke. my words came out badly and no way to edit or remove my comment after. sorry!
Regardless who is to blame in the NYRB/Cahill fiasco, he still should have been professional and cared more about NYRB than meaningless friendlies. I hopr they can him and get a better DP as a replacement.
Cahill is gone but this cheap ownership isn’t getting an adequate replacement. We aren’t going to see a legit DP at RBA until current ownership sells. For instance it looks like their replacement for Henry is kljestan.
76000?!
Mr.cahill thank you for the “memories” but you were here because of Henry and the money. If you really like or “love” USA and MLS, then get traded to another MLS team.
For instance, I would have love for Henry to stay another year in MLS in another team that would have given him the chance to win MLS cup. Not only him but Donovan could have tried red bull, nycfc, tfc and given them their first MLS cup.
So practically tfc could have gotten Bradley, altidore and Donovan and that could have been awesome for tfc fans and made a powerful MLS team.
Or, red bull could have gotten Donovan for Henry and added altidore by letting Cahill go and not given Phillips a dps deal.
Only if we had a salary cap and free agency and 4 dps per team.
Maybe a dumb question here, but why is Australia in the Asian continent now, as opposed to Oceana?
I believe they felt they had a better chance to qualify for world cups threw Asian qualifiers and avoiding the playoff from Oceana, that only get 1/2 qualifying spot
The Aussies swicth because the Ocenia conference was too weak and they wanted to take their game to a higher level. So they switch to the Asian conference so they can compete more regularly with the likes of Japan, South Korea, Middle east countries. By no means does it guarantee them an easier path to WC but it does help the region elevate their game,
Maybe the US should move to UEFA or COMNEBOL for the reasons stated above.
I was at this match, it was amazing. I was really disappointed how Korea played though, the only time they weren’t on their backs was when they were a goal down.
It’s nice to see that Cahill is willing to contribute something on the field…..he sure as hell doesn’t do it with NYRB anymore.
Maybe because he felt that e was being jerked around by the organization
Considering the current situation….. its very hard to tell who deserves more blame.