Aussies' Asian Cup aftermath

Already the football haters in my neighbourhood have started again: 'Losing in the quarter-finals? The Socceroos have blown it. They're back to where they were before the World Cup.'

Australia's painful exit from the Asian Cup - losing to defending champions Japan on penalties - has given much-needed ammunition to those who want to keep the world game in its place.

After the Socceroos' inspirational performance at last year's World Cup, the last thing the followers - and some administrators - of the country's other major sports needed was a triumphant run in Asia at the first attempt.

Even former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh, a self-confessed soccer fan and former gifted schoolboy player, told the squad before the tournament that it had a chance to become the country's most popular national sports team.

The reality is that the Asian Cup performance is probably a neutral result that will neither advance the Socceroos' profile nor see it regress.

Had they failed to advance from the group stages, which seemed likely after failing to win the opening two games, the Australians would have gone home in disgrace.

But a 4-0 thumping of Thailand and a gutsy quarter-final display against the Japanese, in which they played 45 minutes with 10 men in a Hanoi heatwave, means that Mark Viduka's side can hold their heads high.

And even people like my loud-mouthed neighbour probably know that they're stretching the truth by suggesting that Australia's love-affair with the Socceroos is over.

As well as around 5,000 travelling fans, the Asian Cup pulled some remarkable figures on cable television, out-rating established Aussie sports like Rugby League and setting a new subscription TV record.

The quarter-final against Japan attracted a total audience of 1,029,000 including an average of 419,000 viewers and a peak of 515,000 for the heart-wrenching penalty shootout. Not even one-day international cricket has been able to achieve those kinds of figures.

The Socceroos have been a hot TV property since signing a lucrative deal with Fox Sports in 2006 worth an estimated $105million over seven years. Football fans pay an annual subscription of $528 to watch World Cup qualifiers, Asian Cup matches and friendlies involving the national team.

During my travels to the group stages of the Asian Cup in Thailand, I was interested to observe an emerging, new breed of Australian football fan.

In years past, the core of Socceroo supporters seemed to be either ex-players - from competitive or recreational level - or immigrant families and their children.

Those fans still exist: for the game against Thailand I sat with Dutch and British immigrants wearing Australian colours. But they're joined by many others, who've neither played football nor had parents born overseas.

And that doesn't include organised supporters groups like the Green and Gold Army - which follows football only - and The Fanatics who support Aussie teams in anything from Tennis to Rugby Union. Both the Green and Gold Army and The Fanatics had a presence in Thailand and Vietnam.

The soccer haters are usually strong followers of Australia's other football codes - Rugby League and Australian Rules and, to a lesser extent, Rugby Union. Rugby Union fans usually have a more international outlook and are sometimes in silent admiration of soccer's truly global community.

My neighbour is an ex-Rugby League player who admits that he was brought up at school to detest the round ball game. He's unsure of many of the rules and tactics and seems intimidated by some of the exotic, foreign names associated with it.

A generation ago, the Australian sporting fraternity was filled with people like him. Today, as reflected in the latest TV ratings, they might be part of a dying breed.

Another sign of rising expectations and awareness is the fact that head coach Graham Arnold's future has become such a hot topic of debate. Visit any Aussie sports bar and you won't need to go far to find someone offering an opinion about what's best for the Socceroos future. A decade ago, it would have been inconceivable that anyone would have cared enough to circulate a national petition calling for the coach's removal with almost four thousand signatures (www.sackarnold.com).

Regardless of what my neighbour says - and despite Australia's Asian Cup under-achievement - people still do care about football and will be watching closely when the Socceroos begin 2010 World Cup qualifying next year.

Sydney-born Jason Dasey (www.jasondasey.com) is a host of Soccernet SportsCenter and SportsCenter on ESPN.

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