Asian Fever!

With the 2011 Asian Cup just around the corner, most of the Asian Football Confederation's best players are preparing to wing across the world to join their national teams. The tournament will run from January 7 through until the end of the month, with most of the players leaving their European clubs as early as this week to ensure that they're fully prepared for the Qatar-based campaign. There will be a mix of traditional Asian powers like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Japan and South Korea mixed among random entrants such as India, the UAE, North Korea and Australia.

Players from Asia rank among some of the most consistent in the European leagues. In the Premiership Tim Cahill of Everton and Australia robs the Toffees of their best goalscoring threat, while South Korea's Ji-Sung Park has been Manchester United's saviour on more than one occasion this term. Countryman Lee Chung-Yong has been an attacking force on the right for Bolton Wanderers, while Australia custodian Mark Schwarzer is one of the premier shot-stoppers in the league. His backup, Brad Jones, is still a work in progress at Liverpool while David Carney plies his trade down the left of Ian Holloway's Blackpool. Australians are more prevalent in the EPL than any other Asian players because many of them have English or European ancestry allowing Premiership clubs to sign them as Europeans, avoiding hassles with work permits. The last of the Aussies in the English top flight is Blackburn's workhorse Brett Emerton.

The Spanish League restricts the number of non-EU players each team is allowed to field per game, meaning that of the named squads, only Osasuna is sending players to the tournament in Iranian pair Javad Nekounam and Masoud Shojaei. Whereas Italy's quota system for non-EU residents is more complex and as such there are fewer professional Asian players in Serie A.

Because of the difficulty in obtaining these work permits in these most famous leagues for non-EU residents, many of the elite Asian players play elsewhere in Europe. Germany in particular has an affinity for players from the Asian Confederation: North Korea's Jong Tae- Se and Japan's Shinji Kagawa are the two prime examples. Tae-Se's (Bochum) abilities were evident during the World Cup this year and the strong, bustling centre-forward could well be the most important player in his Group - a group that, given their occasional brilliance during the World Cup they should be favourites to win. Dortmund's Kagawa is joined in the Bundesliga by his brethren Hasebe (Wolfsburg), Makino (Koln) and Uchida (Schalke).

Russia has been the first step in the journey towards more lucrative leagues for some time for both African and Asian players. CSKA Moscow boasts probably the Confederation's best player, flame-haired Japan dynamo Keisuke Honda. The best Blue Samurai player - potentially ever - is still young and CSKA will struggle with his loss while cross-city rivals Dinamo will have to cope with with the departure of that most dependable Socceroo, Luke Wilkshire. The "other" back-route into Europe, Turkey, provides four Aussies including star man Harry Kewell and captain Lucas Neill from Galatasary and Besiktas' Ersan Gulum, a 23-year old defender who opted for the green and gold jersey rather than that of his adopted homeland, much to the dismay of former Socceroo coach Guus Hiddink

The favourites at this point must be perennial powerhouses South Korea and Japan, but Iran's squad boasts fewer players than usual playing in Europe and as such are a complete unknown. Unknowns, perhaps, could benefit as in 2007 Iraq surprised the continent with their enterprising play to take the chocolates. With Qatar on a high after winning the rights to host the 2022 World Cup, it would be a surprise not to see them in the second round as well. With many of the top players in the Confederation playing in the top leagues in the world, this year's Asian Cup promises to be an exciting series of matches.

Too late a call-up, too short a season

The story of behemoth Aussie Central Defender Sasa Ognenovski is a curious one. The thirty-one year old epitome of the word "Colossus" was recently selected on the five-man shortlist for the Asian Footballer of the Year award due to his performances for Seongnam in the K-League and made his Full International debut.

After a career in the Australian NSL and it's associated minor leagues - and a cup of coffee with Panachaiki in Greece - Ognenovski was among the earliest players selected for the fledgling A-League's first season in 2006-07 and proved a rock in defence for the Queensland Roar. After eighteen months he moved to Adelaide to compete in the Asian Champions League where his star shone brightly. Given his gargantuan frame and above-average athleticism when compared to his opponents, the Big Fella excelled in Asia and suddenly became the hottest property in AFC football and was the subject of bids from two K-League squads.

He chose Seongnam over FC Seoul and has recently led that squad to the Asian Football Confederation Champions' League title. For some reason though he remained unable to crack the Australian international squad even when that team had to be comprised of only Asian-based players. Recent national managers - yes, Pim Verbeek, I mean you - ignored him despite dominant form and a paucity of other options while searching for a foil for Lucas Neill at the heart of the Australian defence. Given his excelling in Asia, it was puzzling to watch clubless and speedless Craig Moore partner captain Neill at this year's World Cup but by not calling the leviathan up sooner Verbeek had left himself no option. It's no coincidence that Australia was exposed for position in South Africa: without pace Moore couldn't get to the right spots and without the requisite size Neill struggled to deal with opponents in the air.

There's no question that Big Sasa's an Aussie but snub after snub despite his good form brought the 6'5 defender to despair and nearly to accepting a call-up from the Macedonian national team, the country in which his parents were born. Indeed, Macedonia wanted him and he was voted in 2008 that country's second best player behind Inter Milan's Goran Pandev. It took a nomination for AFC Player of the Year to secure his international bow and thankfully new coach Holger Osieck last week stopped the rot to give the 31-year old his first Cap in the Socceroo's 3-0 loss to Egypt.

A mistake, surely, and one that's now been rectified, at least in part. But given 33 year-old striker Kevin Davies made his debut for England last month and The Leviathan's relatively late start in the big-time, there remains hope that Ognenovski will prove as effective in International Competition as he has in Asia. His hope - and probably the Green and Gold Army's - should not be to just play in the 2011 Asian Cup but to to emulate Moore and partner Matthew Spiranovic or Rhys Williams at 35 years of age to the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

Holman adds another string to Australia's bow

When I first saw Brett Holman play for the Socceroos several years ago against Uruguay, I thought he was lucky to have made the team. If he and Carl Valeri represented the “new” generation of Australian footballers, the post “Golden Generation” Socceroos could well be in serious trouble. Touted as Australia's attacking hub for the the coming era, he ran around like a crazy person yet was ineffective off the ball, didn't threaten with either pass or dribble and it appeared he was taught his finishing skills by Gary Neville. What was evident however was his stamina and enthusiasm as he played off primary striker Scott McDonald, then of Celtic, another talented “skippy” yet to make his mark on the international stage.

But since that warm-up match for the 2007 Asian Cup in Sydney, Holman has moved clubs (to AZ Alkmaar) and through persistence achieved a solid international footing. One can argue that with Luke Wilkshire, the headless chicken of the past was one of Australia's best at the recent World Cup and provided the highlight of South Africa 2010 for the Green and Gold Army with his 25-yard goal against Serbia. His only drawback for the tournament was then-manager Pim Verbeek's reluctance to pair him and Tim Cahill together, fearing a duplicity of talent.

His record for Australia still isn't great statistically but Holman has scored in three of his last five matches – including against Poland in a startling cameo on Tuesday – bringing his international goal tally up to 5. Against Asian competition who won't have his combination of power, pace and stamina he looms alongside Cahill's aerial ability as Australia's trump card going into the 2011 Asian Cup. This in turn allows new coach Holger Osieck to add a second string to an Aussie bow which under Verbeek consisted only of high crosses into the box by the Socceroo “bomb squad”. Australia will for once have a creative dynamo with the ball on the floor as well as the dominant box presences of Cahill & Joshua Kennedy. The key now is to ensure that these three are suitably ready and meshed to provide that combination.

The re-retirement of old stager Scott Chipperfield robs Australia of a forward threat that replacements Tommy Oar & David Carney may initially struggle to match. This means a squad replete with staid midfielders may again need a spark – one which Holman is now perfectly capable of providing on a regular basis.

Holger Osieck: Who?

The Socceroos have a new coach in German Holger Osieck. He comes with experience, having managed both internationally and at club level and armed with a remit to develop youth throughout the country to encourage growth in the sport and replenish the ageing top-line talent in the Socceroo lineup.

In Austtralia not much is known about him and it certainly seems at first glance a bit of a step down considering the names bandied about as potential Australia managers; names like Ruud Gullit, Dick Advocaat and Leo Beehakker recently several of the high-profile coaches linked in the past. But on closer inspection, Osieck's background is impressive in itself – spells as Fenerbahce and Bochum boss in Europe intermingled with spells in charge of Canada and most notably as the guy at Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds and as assistant to Franz Beckenbauer during Germany's 1990 World Cup triumph. That he took a – and let's be fair – footballing backwater like Canada to a major trophy (the 2000 CONCAAF Gold Cup) is a significant achievement in itself.

It certainly appears as if the FFA has made several statements with their selection. The criteria laid down by the board were straighforward enough: the new man had to have experience at rebuilding, come with Asian experience, while being supportive to any move by players to depart the fledgling A-League into larger and better football competitions, be they European, Asian or American. In itself, these criteria ruled out perhaps the more high-profile choices but this may well be for the best. The FFA has practically announced their priorities for the next half decade, which is youth, youth and the potential World Cup hosting role in 2022. With an Asian Cup campaign in the offing and a roster chock-full of thirtysomethings, one can be quite confident that a Frank Rijkaard-type isn't the best fit for the position in which Australia finds itself. After billionaire property-developer Frank Lowy bankrolled the Guus Hiddink era and the treading water that defined Pim Verbeek's reign, that the FFA has decided to firmly place down what they are looking for in a manager rather than trying to eke out one last major tournament from the careers of Cahill, Moore and Chipperfield is a major positive.

All this is really encouraging for the grassroots supporter of Australian football and potentially a big win for the nation as a FIFA decision on the 2022 World Cup host looms. Hopefully the key performance indicators in Osieck's job for the next two years aren't results-based, but about having Australian talent in the most appropriate bigger leagues for that talent. Rather than finding Aussies in one of two locations – Britain or the A-League – Socceroo hopefuls have recently found more success and money in lesser-publicised leagues like the K-and-J Leagues in Asia, the highly-paid Emirati leagues in the Middle East and second-tier Euroleagues such as Turkey and Holland. The best example of this could come from any of Carl Valeri, Matthew Spiranovic or Joshua Kennedy: sitting on the bench at Inter, Nurnberg or Karlsruhe is no good for a player's club or international prospects, so a step sideways to Sassuolo. Suwon or Nagoya is a great step to secure regular, high-level first-team action. Growth in player pathways is the next big step in developing the nation as an Asian footballing power and the extent of that power will be measured as the 2011 Asian Cup warm-up campaign begins. Osieck's first matches in charge is against stiff opposition – Sweden, Poland and Paraguay – and will give the local football cognoscenti a chance to examine and hopefully embrace the players sliding into key roles within the team. A mass exodus of the old guard would be foolhardy and Osieck's first squad selections has confirmed he feels likewise, but with a gradual feeding in of youth and the start of a new regime, optimism and excitement should be the order of the day for the Green and Gold army.