Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hammam has admitted he was disappointed by the performance of Australia at its first Asian Cup. He said had expected more from the Australians, whose squad was mostly made up of players from the English Premier League. The former dominent Oceania Confederation-member, Australia started the tournament as favourites on the back of their efforts at last year's World Cup when they made the last 16, but won just one of their four games at the Asian Cup.
"Australia were very disappointing because I thought they would play at least in the semi-finals but unfortunately that did not happen. But this was their first time in Asia, maybe they found the standard was not so low...and victories cannot be taken for granted," he told media. Football Federation of Australia chairman Frank Lowy, concurred. "How could I say I was happy, of course I'm disappointed," Lowy told Julian Linden of Reuters. "I expected they would go a lot further and we have got to find out what went wrong."
"Australia were very disappointing because I thought they would play at least in the semi-finals but unfortunately that did not happen. But this was their first time in Asia, maybe they found the standard was not so low...and victories cannot be taken for granted," he told media. Football Federation of Australia chairman Frank Lowy, concurred. "How could I say I was happy, of course I'm disappointed," Lowy told Julian Linden of Reuters. "I expected they would go a lot further and we have got to find out what went wrong."