Aussie juniors vie in Asean meets

MANILA, Philippines - Australian footballers will be plying their trade in Southeast Asia and give the Philippines and 11 other nations a taste of world-class competition.

The Australians, who left the Oceania Zone in 2006 and joined the Asian Football Confederation, were admitted as a full member of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) during the AFF’s extra-ordinary meeting yesterday in Timor Leste. This made them eligible to take part in the region’s tourneys.

With a Fifa world ranking of 46,  the three-time Fifa World Cup participant and qualifier to the 2014 WC Australian Socceeroos are expected to spice up the action in the Asean region. However, the Australians’ participation in AFF bootfests would be confined to the youth categories, leaving the Phl Azkals and the rest in the dispute for supremacy in the AFF Suzuki Cup.

“Australia will not compete in the Suzuki Cup but will join youth or age-group tournaments. That will surely heighten the competition in these tournaments,” Philippine Football Federation general-secretary Ed Gastanes told The STAR yesterday.

PFF president Nonong Araneta and Gastanes attended the AFF extra-ordinary meeting in Dili, Timor Leste, where the AFF officially admitted the Football Federation of Australia as its 12th member.