Strong support for Australia to advance in World Cup
LILYANA RIZAL
SHAH ALAM - There is strong support from football fans for Australia to advance in the 2022 Qatar World Cup
Sinar Daily’s Footy Forum at 10pm on Nov 30 saw two panelists who showed strong support for Australia to advance in the ongoing World Cup.
Argentina fan Sivan John, said his reason for supporting Australia was midfielder Aaron Mooy, who played for another favourite team of his, Huddersfield Town.
However, he also highlighted the more remarkable story of Australia’s rise against adversity.
“They weren’t given a chance to qualify and only managed to when they got caught up with Peru in the playoffs,” he said.
Sivan also points out that the Australian team, or Socceroos’ coach, Graham Arnold was not very popular among the public.
“Many were predicting that it would be the end of his chapter with the Socceeroos,” he added.
Another panelist and former Football Association (FA) of Malaysia Assistant General Secretary, Abang Zulkarnain Abang Abdurahman, listed two reasons he supported the Socceroos.
“Australia is part of AFC (Asian Football Confederation), so we can consider them Asian, at least in terms of football,” he said.
Abang Zulkarnain stressed that he finds it only right for him to support Asian teams, as an Asian himself sporting a China football jersey on the Footy Forum.
Another reason he chose to support Australia in the World Cup was that as a Sarawakian, he recalls when his state started to make an impact in Malaysian football.
“Sarawak football started to have an impact in Malaysian football history, the year that Alan Vest was elected as a manager-come-coach,” he said.
Alan Vest is an English-born former footballer who later joined the Sarawak Football Association (FA) in the early 1990s as a manager and coach.
In light of this history with Australia, he hoped that the Australian team would advance in the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Now, the Socceroos have come close to the Round of 16 matches, having just defeated Denmark with one goal in their most recent World Cup match.
