Socceroos must rise to new challenges facing the traditional Asian heavyweights

Australia were one of multiple Asia powerhouses to be eliminated from the Asian Cup before the final in Qatar. Photograph: Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

As Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei came to terms with another Asian Cup exit at the semi-final stage, on a day he described as the worst of his life, he noted that his side wasn’t the only heavyweight to be eliminated.

South Korea, Ghalenoei observed, had been bundled out by Jordan the night prior, while his own Team Melli had accounted for Japan in the quarter-finals.