Sports / Soccer |
AFC President disappointed by Australia's flop(Reuters)Updated: 2007-07-29 17:10 JAKARTA, July 29 - Asia's top soccer official has admitted he was disappointed by Australia's performance at their first Asian Cup. Australia started the tournament as favourites on the back of their efforts at last year's World Cup when they made the last 16, but won just one of their four games at the Asian Cup. They needed a stoppage-time equaliser to draw their opening match against Oman, then lost 3-1 to Iraq before thumping co-hosts Thailand 4-0 to reach the quarter-finals. The Socceroos, who had repeatedly complained about the heat and humidity of playing in Asia, produced their best performance in the quarter-final against Japan only to go out on penalties to the defending champions. Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Mohamed Bin Hammam said he had expected more from the Australians, whose squad was mostly made up of players from the English Premier League. "Australia were very disappointing because I thought they would play at least in the semi-finals but unfortunately that did not happen," Bin Hammam told a news conference on Sunday. "But this was their first time in Asia, maybe they found the standard was not so low...and victories cannot be taken for granted." Bin Hammam, who has been a vocal supporter of Australia's move into Asia, echoed similar complaints from Football Federation of Australia chairman Frank Lowy, who has already ordered an inquiry into the team's failure. The Australians ditched Oceania for Asia last year for the promise of stiffer competition and a direct qualifying path to the World Cup, but have quickly discovered Asia is harder than they thought. "How could I say I was happy, of course I'm disappointed," Lowy told reporters on Saturday. "I expected they would go a lot further and we have got to find out what went wrong." The first casualty of Australia's Asian Cup flop is coach Graham Arnold with officials confirming they were conducting an international search to find a replacement. Arnold was given the job of leading the Australians at the Asian Cup on a temporary basis but the Socceroos' early exit has accelerated the hunt for a new coach.
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