12 March 2024
The 2023 Asian Cup was not the most exciting ever. Hosted by Qatar between 2 January and 10 February 2024, it was originally meant to be hosted by China in 2023. Due to China’s strict COVID-19 policies, on 14 May 2022 the Asian Football Confederation decided China would not host the event, and the AFC searched for a new host. Qatar, who were current Asian Cup champions, were eventually selected as hosts.
While the late change in schedule had minor impact overall in a football sense, and most people would not even know of the change until noticing the 2023 Asian Cup was played in 2024, it did mean that two editions in a row of the tournament were held in the Persian Gulf, with the United Arab Emirates hosting in 2019. The inconvenience for Australian viewers was, due to the time zone, many matches were on well past midnight. While Australia’s group games were scheduled as the first game of the day (late evening Australian time), as was their first knockout game, the quarter final was late, as were both semi finals and the final. Access was also an issue. Channel 10 only showed Australia’s games, and only the knockout games that lay in Australia’s path (whether Australia reached them or not). The remaining games were consigned to their subscription service.
For Australia, the 2023 Asian Cup was mixed bag of results. While individual games produced good results, the tournament ended in disappointment. In the first two games, the Socceroos just did enough to overcome the stubborn defences of India (2-0) and Syria (1-0). In the final group game, a late goal by Uzbekistan saw a 1-1 draw and Australia losing a chance of setting a new Australian record for most consecutive matches in which they did not concede a goal. Still, it’s difficult to pick at the team and coach Graham Arnold for winning the group comfortably, and setting themselves up for a relatively easy run though the knockout phase.
In the round of 16, Australia kept composed against an energetic Indonesia and scored goals when needed. The 4-0 demolition set up an appetising quarter final against South Korea. It’s here where Australia, ironically, had their best game of the tournament. Disciplined and composed for much of the game against a clearly superior Korean team that dominated possession, Australia went ahead just before half time thanks to a classy move that saw eventually Craig Goodwin volley the ball home.
In the second half, Australia missed three open chances, including a header on an open goal by Mitchell Duke, to extend their lead to two goals. Just when it looked like Australia would win anyway, disaster struck. Four minutes into additional time, Lewis Miller conceded a sloppy and completely unnecessary penalty, which Hwang Hee-chan converted. Now into extra time, the same player conceded a foul just outside the box, to which Son Heung-min scored from a direct free kick on 104 minutes. Game over.
Definitely a disappointing exit for Australia, and the second tournament straight they were eliminated at the quarter final stage. A semi final spot was probably the pass mark for most viewers, and had Australia beaten Korea, Jordan, who qualified from the group phase as one of the third best teams, would have awaited in the semi final. Jordan went on to upset the Koreans 2-0 in the semi final, before losing 3-1 to Qatar in the final, where all of Qatar’s goals were penalties. The penalties all looked all legitimate anyway, so no accusations of anything there, only that it would have been nice to see one or two goals scored directly from the field.
The next Asian Cup will return to its usual 4-year cycle, so is only 3 years away. It’s scheduled for January 2027 with Saudi Arabia the hosts. So, again, not a great time zone for Australians or any country in east Asia. Let’s at least hope for some better TV coverage.
Australia – Results
Group Stage
Australia 2 (Jackson Irvine 50′, Jordan Bos 73′)
India 0
Syria 0
Australia 1 (Jackson Irvine 59′)
Australia 1 (Martin Boyle 45+1′ PK)
Uzbekistan 1 (Azizbek Turgunboev 78′)
Round of 16
Australia 4 (Elkan Baggott 12′ OG, Martin Boyle 45′, Craig Goodwin 89′, Harry Souttar 90+1)
Indonesia 0
Quarter Final
Australia 1 (Craig Goodwin 42′)
South Korea 2 AET (Hwang Hee-chan 90+6′ PK, Son Heung-min 104′)
Socceroo Realm 