Asian-class football team interested in joining tournament in Southeast Asia
According to Mr. Tony Popovic, the AFF Cup is a very attractive tournament and he wants his players to have the opportunity to compete in this tournament. The coach of the kangaroo team said: "I really like the AFF Cup. As for the Australian team, the more matches the Socceroos have in different tournaments, the better. Any international tournament will be beneficial for the players. If professional players have to compete with their clubs during the AFF Cup, we can use the U.17, U.20 and U.23 players for this tournament."
Coach Kim Sang-sik will have more strong opponents if the AFF Cup adds the Australian team.
AFF Cup promises to be even better with the addition of the Australian team
Before coach Tony Popovic, former Australian national team coach Graham Arnold also supported the kangaroo team's participation in the Southeast Asian football championship.
Football Federation Australia joined the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 2006. Then, in 2013, AFC distributed Australia to the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF). The distribution of Australia to the AFF is based on the geographical conditions of Australia, this country is very close to 2 countries in the Southeast Asian island region, Indonesia and Timor Leste.
Since joining the AFF in 2013, Australian football has participated in all youth football tournaments in the region. They are allowed to send their national futsal team to participate in the Southeast Asian futsal championship. However, the AFF has not yet approved the Australian national football team to compete in the AFF Cup for men and women. In the AFF Cup for women, Australia is only allowed to send a youth team to participate. In the AFF Cup for men, Australia is not allowed to send a representative to participate.
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Change to suit development trends
Following the general trend of global football, this could be changed, if coach Tony Popovic had spoken up and if the Australian Football Federation had earnestly requested the AFF to allow them to participate in the AFF Cup.
Coach Kim Sang-sik's team will have more opportunities to compete with very strong opponents right in the regional tournament.
Currently, Southeast Asian teams are eager to compete with high-level teams outside Southeast Asia to improve their own level. Therefore, having an Australian team compete with teams in the region in an official tournament in Southeast Asia is even better for teams from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia or Indonesia.
On the other hand, many teams in Southeast Asia now use many naturalized players. For example, Indonesia has a squad consisting entirely of players of European origin, so the rest of Southeast Asia is now no stranger to competing with physically fit and strong players from countries outside Southeast Asia. Therefore, the appearance of the Australian team in the AFF Cup at this time is probably no longer a big problem for the Southeast Asian football world.
The remaining issue mentioned by Australian coach Tony Popovic in case the kangaroo team joins the AFF Cup is: "It seems that the schedule of this tournament is not in our favor. But we will slowly study the above issue. If there is any chance for us to complete our international schedule, why don't we do it?"
Also related to the AFF Cup schedule, it is not impossible that in the near future, the AFF Cup will change. It is possible that this tournament will take place on the FIFA Days schedule in the near future, in the context that strong federations in the AFF such as Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore all want the tournament to take place in the most favorable time frame so that each team of each football country can gather players most easily, building the strongest national team.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/uc-bat-ngo-muon-dau-aff-cup-bong-da-khu-vuc-bien-dong-lon-viet-nam-ap-luc-185250128104449251.htm
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