How Australia Made History in the Asian Football Cup

South Korea supporters taking a selfie before the match finals against Australia. Manuel Ribeiro

South Korea supporters taking a selfie before the match finals against Australia. Photo by author Manuel Ribeiro.

The Socceroos of Australia became “champions of Asia” after a 2-1 win against The Red Devils of South Korea in the 2015 Asian Football Confederation held in Sydney.

Twitter was flooded with supporters from all over commenting on the exciting final that took place in the land of cricket. Selfies were also a trend before and after the match.

Even the players wanted to register this moment with a selfie: 

More than 76,000 fans went into a sold out Stadium Australia in Sydney`s Olympic Park. Organisers requested everyone to use public transport, especially trains:

The #ACFinal is a SELL OUT today! Make sure you take advantage of the free transport & get down early! #AC2015 pic.twitter.com/oWlCAAtr0e — AFC Asian Cup (@afcasiancup) January 31, 2015

How both teams got into the finals

Captain Tim Cahill led the Australian squad to this year´s finals after beating UAE by 2-0 in the semi-finals. South Korea, led by its star Son Heung Min, also reached the finals after beating difficult Iraq with a 2-0 victory in Sydney. The Iraqis previously defeated Iran in a dramatic game during the quarter-finals held in Canberra. Koreans were looking to conquer their third AFC Asian cup. However, Australia took the lead in the final match after Massimo Luongo scored the opening goal of the match:

Massimo is already considered the Socceroos’ new star:

Wow. Great contest. One moment of genius from the new prince of Australian football — Craig Foster (@Craig_Foster) January 31, 2015

The Red Devils lost four Asian Cup finals since their last victory in 1960 (1972 to Iran, 1980 to Kuwait and 1988 to Saudi Arabia) and now against Australia, which took home its first Asian Cup after joining this confederation in 2006. The Socceroos were beaten finalists at Qatar in 2011. They lost 0-1 to Japan after extra-time.

Fans find it hard to believe but Australia is currently leading soccer in this part of the world:

Who would have guessed Australia would be reigning AFC Champions League & Asian Cup (?) holders twelve months ago? #ACFinal #AC2015 #KORvAUS — Javier Queiroz (@StuffedShoulder) January 31, 2015

After 90 minutes into the game when everyone was already convinced victory would go to Australia, South Korea drew the score to 1-1 when the team's star player Son Ming scored a goal, leaving the Aussie fans despairing and taking the match into extra-time:

During extra-time James Troisi toom the lead, scoring Australia`s second goal after a great play from Juric in the right corner:

The game became a dangerous one for people with a heart condition. On Twitter, fans desperately say:

If Korea equalise again i'll cry… I'm not even Australian #GoSocceroos #AC2015 #ACFinal — Cara Conboy (@carabonara11) January 31, 2015

After this great win by Australia many believe soccer will become more popular especially among young kids from down under. The highlights of the match were also available on Twitter a few minutes after the awards ceremony:

1 comment

Join the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.