World Cup future golden for Asian Cup champions Australia?

Asian Cup champions Australia can boast unprecedented success as both first-time winners and hosts of the competition, with football fever having officially swept the nation.

Critics and spectators worried that sport fans would fail to embrace the pan-Asian tournament, but the Socceroos’ swashbuckling performances soon put paid to any trepidation.

How far they have come since the Asian FA made the controversial decision to allow Australia to switch confederations back in 2005, with that paying dividends for both parties just 10 years later.

However, with the old guard and last remaining representatives of a so-called ‘golden generation’, such as Tim Cahill and Mark Bresciano entering the final phases of their careers, what next for the Socceroos?

Having swept past regional giants South Korea in the final to make strides in their bid for Asian football domination, surely all eyes will now turn to the World Cup.

National coach Ange Postecoglou has etched his, and the Socceroos’ stars, names into Aussie sporting history, but had to contend with many pundits questioning his methods in the build-up to the Asian Cup. Had the energetic James Troisi failed to find the target with his extra-time winner, the future could look very different indeed.

A policy of blooding new players has, however, been key to silverware success, and Postecoglou has his sights set on moulding a new wave of starlets to “break the South American and European monopoly on the World Cup”.

Speaking recently, Asian Cup winning coach Postecoglou said: “We should not rest on our laurels just because we have won this tournament here. This is not the end of the journey, in many respects for us it’s the beginning. I think we have given this game a kick along in this country.”

With Russia 2018 in mind, crafty Postecoglou will be aware that a tournament run which, although it did see the Socceroos cross swords with the Taegeuk Warriors twice, offered a fairly smooth passage to the final against opponents such as Oman, Kuwait and China, will not be enough to prepare for a World Cup.