A hard nut on a wait: before the battle against Australia at home soil for the first

The first match was over. Well, it was not so unexpected for everyone watching. A game that Vietnam lost. Yes, a 1-3 defeat. The only positive thing, surprisingly, was Vietnam being the first team from Southeast Asia to take the lead against Saudi Arabia... in Saudi soil, never happened before in the past of Saudi Arabia when facing Southeast Asian teams in Asian Cup or World Cup qualifications. And Vietnam led for the entire first half and early 10 minutes of the second one.

For a country that is struggling to combat the deadly third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, this is the only joy we have. Unfortunately, the next game doesn't seem to be so bright either - it'll be against Australia, an opponent expected to be an even harder nut than Saudi Arabia.

Yes, we have been talked about how Vietnam's youth teams played against Australia's counterparts. The edge belongs to the Aussies, still, even though compared to the other major Asian powers, it was slight. And many Vietnamese commentators are trying to rally behind the national team in need, by evoking the good old memories of Vietnam's victories over the Down Under, mostly at youth level, to boost the team's morale following a brave, but unfortunate defeat away to Saudi Arabia. The positive among all is, overall, no Vietnamese fans blamed the team, they said the team was unlucky because it lost a player due to a handball act, resulting in the u-turn.

But there is something most people in Vietnam have been, though I expect them covering, to ignore: this is not youth level - it is senior level. Australia in the senior level is a totally different opponent compared to the youth ones.

When I first mentioned Australia, it was back in 2006, when they took part in the FIFA World Cup in Germany. Of course, I rooted for them just like my team, though I did not even know where was Australia at the time. The Ozzies made it to the last sixteen, where they fell to eventual winners, Italy, by a penalty from Francesco Totti. It was the only time Australia booked a place at this stage. Then, in 2007, to my surprise, Australia took part in the AFC Asian Cup, the edition was held in four countries, Vietnam was one of the co-hosts. It was Australia's first. That tournament was an unsuccessful one for the Aussies, where they ended its campaign in the last eight to Japan, whom they beat a year before in Germany. Interestingly, Australia lost this game in the Mỹ Đình National Stadium in Hanoi, after a penalty shootout.

Speaking about Australia, I think we remember the country as a child of the British colonisers. British troops brought its first prisoners to the colony with the hope to replace the losses of its 13 colonies in North America, which would become the United States of America. Being Britain's penal colony, it became a nation by 1901 with the Act of Dominion that settled the country into one united entity. Since then, Australia has been largely stable, though the threats from WWII were so big that Australian war efforts had been concentrated to deal with the Japanese. Nonetheless, the country was not invaded. Today, it is one of the richest, wealthiest nations in the world.

Australia, being a bastion of the British and European imperialism, and an ally of the United States, enabled a policy known as "White Australia", out of fear of its people being outnumbered by the Asians and Blacks. This attributed to the lack of diversity in Australia until the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, where South Vietnam fell - as a response, the Australian government finally abandoned this xenophobic policy and welcomed the Vietnamese settlers - the first Asian settlers since the Chinese migrants to this country in 19th century. Likewise, Australia's European background also contributed to the genocide of the indigenous Aborigines owning to the same policy, known as the "Stolen Generation", where many Aboriginal children were taken away in a whitewashing campaign. In 2008, the Australian government finally acknowledged the past and apologised for this loss.

The country's very much European background may have explained why it is so different from the rest of Asia. So, when I grew up, I began to question why was Australia taking part in the AFC competitions in the first place when they aren't Asians, to begin with? It'll be long, though.

Well, very simple, Australia is a special case. It was not even original members of the AFC, and the country's first attempt to create a professional football team began in the 1900s. But a full-fledged national team was sent in 1922 against New Zealand, a close neighbour of Australia (and also shares similar culture as well). The game was won by the Kiwis, 3-1, in Dunedin. Throughout the early phase of Australian football, it only fielded amateur players in the empire's championships. When it became more independent in terms of sports, Australia began taking a task with the 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification but lost to North Korea - who later stunned the World Cup in England by beating Italy 1-0 to reach the last eight. In the 1970 qualification, an incident struck the country: Australia just beat Rhodesia in the qualification after hiring a witch to help them; but when the Australians failed to pay the fees for the witch, he cursed them and Australia missed the tournament, losing to Israel. The curse didn't come to effect immediately, as Australia succeeded in qualifying for the 1974 edition in West Germany - the first in Australia's long, painful journey to the World Cup. Australia lost to West and East Germany, before gaining a point from a draw with Chile, but scored no goal. Subsequently, however, it became a string of nightmares. Australia missed out for 32 years, one of the most devastating failures was the country's loss to Iran on aggregate 3-3 in the qualification for France 1998, with Khodadad Azizi scored the decisive goal in Iran's 2-2 away draw in Melbourne. Iran had scored two compared to Australia's one away, thus entered France instead.

Then, another disadvantage: Australia was a member of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), a federation not known for football successes. Australia was the most successful, but playing against the likes of many small islands dissuaded Australian officials a lot. Its only real opponent was New Zealand, but New Zealand was not even a football-loving nation either. How could it help? OFC was given only 0,5 slot, meaning it had to play playoffs against a team from South America. And South America is mad at football, Australia could not rival against.

In a desperate bid from 2000, Johnny Warren, the captain of Australia is the country's lone 1974 appearance, was looking for Australia to join the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). He argued that the OFC did nothing but make football teams here whipping boys for the remainders, Australia must abandon the OFC to progress. Initially, the AFC was reluctant to allow a country with no familiar history to Asia to join, but after promises about prizes, rewards, revenues and financial boosts, the AFC approved Australia's move in 2005 before FIFA opened the green light. But when Australia joined the AFC, Johnny Warren had died. And what happened, well, Australia was able to capitalise on its advantage, professionalism in Australian football increased, the country crowned Asian title in 2015 at home, yeah. Now Australia is moving a further step to expand the number of clubs, before finally introduce promotion and relegation to differ from the Americans.

Still, Australia has to resent something from the AFC: The confederation's competitions are surely sectarian and hierarchical. AFC competitions like the Champions League and the second-tier Cup are both based on slot decisions and a short-lived series of playoffs. Though Australia was given two automatic slots in the Champions League, the highest league in Asia, it did little to improve the continent's football standard. You can imagine how frustrated Australian players see the tournament: lack of competitiveness, based clubs by countries' financial power rather than by the series of playoffs in Europe. This is why Australian teams rarely considered the AFC Champions League worth watching. Instead, Australia has utilised its European root to send players to play in European clubs - even the Europa League is far more professional than the ACL. In the upcoming 2021-22 season, some Australians will feature in the Europa League, and they won't have any problems with fitness.

Vietnam, however, represents somewhat a special memory for the Aussies.

The nickname "Socceroos" actually came when Australia beat South Korea 3-2 in the Independence Cup held in Saigon, 14 November 1967. It was part of South Vietnam's intensifying anti-communist efforts to show the country's legitimacy against the communist north. However, South Korea's horrible reputation during the Vietnam War at the time and the rampant use of violence by the South Korean military interrogating communist suspects resulted in widespread public hostility against South Korea in the match. It was the first time that the Australian team landed in Vietnam for football games, an experience not to be repeated until 2007.

The win, however, was overlooked, and not many Australians cared about it. The only thing that came after was the nickname I've mentioned above, a combination of the word "soccer" (another word for association football) and "kangaroo" (Australia's national animal). So, nothing came out so awesome, really.

But let's not forget that Australia was not a football-loving country until 2005 when they beat Uruguay on penalties on 16 November, that football found greater incentives in supports. Its success in Germany 2006 was the work of this widespread public supports and working methods of Dutchman Guus Hiddink, who later resigned following the World Cup success. But Australia's first taste with professional football in Asia proved to be rocky, and Vietnam turned out to be where it first ended. In the later time, it improved and became history.

Time has changed, oh boy, and everything has also changed in the following. Australia has now further established itself as a major Asian power, though attempts to replicate the success of 2006 have yet to bear fruit. Yet I noticed that Australia has been struggling for World Cup in the two latest seasons: 2014 and 2018 qualifiers, Australia finished second and third, respectively. The 2018 one was extremely harsh when Australia took part in four playoffs to reach Russia. It was that nightmarish moment of almost missing out, not once but twice, that scared the Oz. This time, they became increasingly cautious. It worked out: Australia for the first time bypassed Jordan and Kuwait, both are Oz's kryptonite in previous tournaments.

Australia's first game in this third round also happened to be a bit smooth, though problems remain: it won 3-0 over China in a game in Doha, Qatar. When I said problems remain, it was:

1. The Australian government refusing to apply for bubble travel had crippled Australia's necessary home advantages in September despite the country's well-organised infrastructures. It's not clear will Australia play home in October and November. This has also prevented A-League players from joining the team.
2. Most of its players gathered very late: European competitions only ended by 30 August, it took a few hours flight to gather around in Doha. As I remembered, the Australian team did train on the beach of Qatar to relax before trying to grab the feelings of the ball.
3. Its coach: Graham Arnold has been criticised for his conservative approach, and there has been criticism, as well, for appointing such a coach to take charge of Australia.
4. The losses of some important personnel due to contracting COVID-19. This was the case of René Maulensteen, the once assistant to Alex Ferguson in Manchester United. He could not take part with the Socceroos.

I can't say anything else. Sometimes, advantages gone too far can become disadvantages, as in the case of Europe-based players Australia has possessed, and its staff.

Unfortunately, in an interview with the press before the encounter against Vietnam, Graham Arnold was bold but blunt: Vietnam has a home stadium but no fan supporting due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. That meant Australia could easily gain three points, it is a must-do job for the Aussies. Definitely, he had seen how passionate Vietnamese fans can be, the second round has demonstrated that: the UAE lost 0-1 to Vietnam for the identical reason. Without supporters, Vietnam is severely weakened. Not sure if he is aware that the current V-League season, unlike Australia's A-League, has been cancelled. To add to the misery, Vietnam lost key defenders, something I have mentioned in the previous post.

And Arnold has more reasons to be confident: his unique tactical buildup. Instead of building an energetic but not well-organised Australian team, which was responsible for Australia's almost near misses in two previous qualifiers, he's decided to create a Socceroos with discipline. This has explained why Australia was able to beat Jordan away, twice, in the second round. Let's remember that Australia has lost to Jordan three times, both in the Middle East, Arnold has successfully discovered that missing pillar and fixed it.

The current Australian generation doesn't have the charisma of the previous generation, I still remember the likes of Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Lucas Neill and Mark Schwarzer that once rocked Europe. Yet compared to Vietnam, they're still ahead on everything. These players are nurtured in European leagues due to tacit cooperation between the A-League and many football leagues across Europe - it shaped the team's abilities. Moreover, in contrast to Vietnamese typical judging of Australia being a sole team playing an English/Scottish/Irish type of football, many Australian players have Balkan roots, drawing them closer to the teams like Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Romania, Greece and Turkey - these Balkan states typically have a lot of gifted footballers, with powerful stamina to stand for over 120 minutes without fatigue, adding with these Balkan-origin players physically among one of Europe's tallest and strongest, a contribution to the harsh living standard they get. The Balkan teams aren't the best, but their resilience is out of the question.

Given the situation after the first matchday, who could imagine Australia would be on the top despite a somewhat sluggish perpetration plan. And in disbelief even more so that, Japan failed at home to Oman in spite of having a capable squad, putting its campaign at risk. This could be a test Vietnam will need to find how to overcome. Sadly, the current state of Vietnamese football is not helping it either, tripled by the cancellation of the native league due to the pandemic, widespread corruption returning to the VFF and injuries of many key players. Only God knows if Vietnam can create a miracle, something maybe far from expectation...