THE biggest football tournament to be held in Australia, the AFC Asian Cup, starts tomorrow, and Kogarah Oval is one of the premium training centres for international teams.
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Australia, Qatar, Bahrain, Iran and Uzbekistan will train at Kogarah Oval.
The Socceroos play Kuwait in their opener tomorrow night at AAMI Park, Melbourne.
Former Bexley North Primary School pupil Tim Cahill is one of the key men for Australia in the 16-team, 22-day AFC Asian Cup tournament.
The final will be played on January 31 at ANZ Stadium.
The qualified teams are Australia, Bahrain, China PR, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Uzbekistan.
Football Federation Australia anticipates big crowds, massive television audiences and high merchandise sales.
The FFA posted on Twitter: "A record 800 million viewers set to tune in for Asian Cup."
The A-League competition is taking a 17-day break while the AFC Asian Cup is held.
Rockdale City president Dennis Loether said the Uzebekistan team used the Suns' home ground Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday and Monday for training.
"That was a great thing for our club to have Uzebekistan train at the ground," Loether said.
The Kogarah Oval training schedule is as follows: January 9, Uzebekistan, at 6pm; January 10, the Socceroos at 5pm; January 11, the Socceroos at 11am; Qatar on January 12, at 7pm; January 13, Socceroos at 10am; Iran on January 13, at 5pm; Bahrain on January 16, at 7pm; Bahrain on January 17 at noon and 8pm; and Qatar on January 18 at 7pm.
Can Australia win the Asian Cup?
