Well, it was quite interesting after all. Allow me to tell the story....
Finished third at the Confederations Cup, with the following results:
1-0 v USA
0-2 v Italy
0-0 v Panama
0-1 v Brazil (semi-final, after extra time, Brazil had 44 shots on goal, we had 2!)
1-0 v Greece (playoff)
And so onto the Asian Cup. Faced one of the co-hosts in our first game, but the match was over after just one minute, with Australia eventually beating Malaysia 5-0. In our next game, Oman resisted for twice as long as the Malaysians, but would also go down 3-0. With qualification all but ensured, we rested a lot of stars in our last game against Iraq. Nevertheless, Australia still coasted to a comfortable 5-1 win, despite playing the last 20 minutes with 10 men after Scott McDonald came off with injury and no reserves available. Things were further complicated when Josif Skoko also left the field with 10 minutes to go.
Our reward was a quarter-final match-up with China in Jakarta. However, we would face them without Harry Kewell, who was playing injured against Iraq. The Chinese opened the scoring shortly after halftime, while Danny Allsopp leveled with nine minutes remaining. Lucas O'Neill came from the field just before the end of regulation time with concussion (once again leaving us with no reserves). Extra-time failed to produce a winner, and so it went to penalities. China missed once; Australia did not, with Luke Wilkshire the hero.
We would be facing the tournament favourites South Korea, who toppled Saudi Arabia 3-0 in the quarterfinals. Tim Cahill opened the scoring in the 13th minute against the run of play. John Aloisi broke the game open in the 57th minute, while Cahill again put the icing on the cake just three minutes later. In the other semi-final, holders Japan put hometown favourites Indonesia out of the competition 3-1.
In Kuala Lumpur, Japan would try to win their fourth Asian Cup in the past five tournaments. Australia trotted out the following team for their first Asian Cup final:
Schwarzer, Neill, Wilkshire, Moore, Laybutt, Sarkies, Bresciano, Cahill, Grella, Viduka, Aloisi
Reserves: Kalac, Leijer, Skoko, McDonald, Milicevic, Kewell, Kennedy
Aloisi opened the scoring in the seventh minute, and to the general amazement of everybody present, Bresciano headed in just two minutes later. One minute before halftime, the journey was complete, with Lucas Neill scoring from a Sarkies cross.
The second half was a coronation lap of honour, spoiled only by Tim Cahill's second yellow card in the ninth minute. Japan used their numerical superiority to tap in a goal, before being reduced to ten men themselves. All to no avail - Australia were the champions, with Bresciano being named player of the match. Straight after the game, Mark Schwarzer announced his retirement from international football.
The next mountain - South Africa 2010
