australia

A thrilling, high-quality match provided a fitting ending to a wonderful tournament. To cap it off, the Socceroos captured their first major trophy in front of a sell-out crowd.

Australia confirmed they're playing well, nailing a spot in the final with a comfortable 2-0 win over U.A.E.

A sterling performance from both teams, but there could only be one winner. Australia is through to the semi-finals on the back of a relentless effort and two moments of Tim Cahill magic.

The big test against South Korea ended in a frustrating 0-1 loss. But what does this say about Australia?

The Socceroos played their best match in a long time. They completely dominated this match and dished out a 4-0 hiding. Do we need to recalibrate what they're capable of and how far they can go in this tournament?

From the perspective of results, this was the perfect start for Australia. There's still work to do, not least managing the expectations of supporters, but you'd take this any day.

You can't always read too much into a friendly, but I think we can say that Australia is going to struggle at the Asian Cup.

The Sydney derby has become one of the great sporting highlights in Sydney. This was just the seventh one ever, but it was an absolute cracker (esp. if you're a Sydney FC fan).

An uninspiring match. Australia probably had the better of it, but were wasteful in the heat and humidity. It was nice to keep a clean sheet, but you can't win matches (our tournaments) if you can't score. Still more to do.

Australia broke an almost year-long drought with a scrappy 3-2 win over Saudi Arabia. It was a bit of an odd match. We got off to a flyer, up 2-0 after just six minutes. We improved in some areas, but dropped off in others. Saudi Arabia made a game of it, fighting back to 2-1 and 3-2, but we held on. Our 'keeper can consider himself lucky he wasn't sent off. A penalty was given which suggested a red card, not a yellow card to me. Still plenty more to do, but a win will help the confidence.