Australia will get its own back? Really? I am not so sure about...

Australia will get its own back? Really?

I am not so sure about that given the age of the current side which must be one of the oldest in the world and certainly the oldest in Asia.

Japan was missing five of its best players in the final who would otherwise be considered automatic starters.

The two central defenders in Tulio and Nakazawa, the highly fancied Kagawa and Matsui who runs rings around most oppositions he plays against including the highly fancied Koreans, and Morimoto up front.

Australia is an ageing side and looking forward they have real problems.

Where are the replacements for the likes of Schwarzer, Neill and Kewell etc?

I would have told them there was no place in the Australian squad for them as we have to look to the future. These guys will just keep playing and Australian football will be the worse for it going forward.

We have seen the problems associated with established players playing on for too long depriving the next generation of players coming through the ranks and the consequences of that in other codes. It now looks like football will suffer the same fate but with the added burden of knowing the current crop of ageing but "hugely talented" players have never achieved anything on the international stage.

The Asian Cup would have been a great experience for a new generation of Australian footballers with a view to the future but clearly the powers that be were targeting a title victory rather than rebuilding for the future which was not only the right thing to do but the only thing to do considering the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers are just around the corner.

Having failed to get the title victory they were after, hopefully the right decision will be made and there will be a cull of the squad. The most experienced players have failed so it's time to get some new, young, fresh faces and more importantly fresh and fit legs into the squad, with a real desire to succeed without all the hubris surrounding so many of the current players.

Failure to do so will see Australian football in the doldrums for quite some time to come.

The same cannot be said for Japan who won the tournament with half a team and who have a focus on youth. They went with a younger goalkeeper for instance who ever since his inclusion in the most recent World Cup has proven himself to be one of the best keepers in Asia and one of the better keepers in world football. Yet not long ago he was considered a nobody in the J League. It just shows you what people can achieve if only you give them the chance!