Magpie's Football Update

The international game (soccer):

Australia against Japan in the Asian Cup final at Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar.
It's the Socceroos sixth game in three weeks. Japan is hot after downing South Korea, though it cost them striker Shinji Kagawa to injury. South Korea will play Uzbekistan, whom Australia defeated 6-0, for third place.

Captain Lucas Neill says everyone is calm. I wish I could believe him.
Either me or my wife is going to be happy. By tomorrow we should know who.


Update January 30th:
Japan won 1-0 in extra time.
"As long the young guys take the hurt from this day and turn it into a positive, I'm sure the future's bright," Neill said.

Political note:

Apparently the Qatari authorities met ticket-holding fans with riot police. Estimates range up to 5000 people being shut out.
These were people from Australia and Japan and elsewhere who were well-behaved and just wanted to see the match, as they had paid for. Rows and rows of empty seats inside Khalifa stadium. People who did get in noted not one person checked tickets and the bar code readers weren't working.

If Qatar can't deal with this properly how the heck are they going to manage the World Cup in 2022?
Tolerance for the host nation just doing it as a investment promo and not taking the game and its fans seriously will be nil... and THOSE fans aren't going to be so calm about it.