After disposing of Japan, the best team in Asian soccer may be more European-looking than either England or Germany.
Australia's 3-1 victory at the start of the week was also an unofficial title match of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Arguably, Japan has been the crown prince of Asian soccer -- but the Socceroos joined the AFC at the start of this year.
The rival claims of these two teams for Asian supremacy are now perfectly poised, with four wins each and three draws in their 11 games.
The boys from Down Under wanted out of the Oceania Football Confederation -- despite being a founder member in 1966 -- because it had no guaranteed spot in the World Cup.
Every four years Australia needed to top its group and then beat a lower-placed side from another federation to make it to the finals.
Since this meant playing teams with the caliber of Scotland, Iran and Uruguay, the Socceroos failed to qualify for 32 years.
On Monday, Australia made amends by simultaneously winning its first World Cup match and staking a claim to being the best side in the AFC.
Japan's players are good at running off the ball, one commentator opined during the game, but by the end it looked more like running away and the Aussies were deserving winners.
Australia will bring its power game to Asia and make the continent's soccer more competitive, which may be painful but is necessary because Africa is surging ahead.
Since China could not make it to the World Cup, the only other serious contender for the Asian throne is South Korea, which managed to make a mountain out of a Togo molehill in its first game. Though the Africans did not have a steady manager or even funds to pay the players, they did manage to out-hustle the Koreans for a significant portion of the match.
But striker and savior Ahn Jung-hwan came off the bench in the second half to lift the "Reds" to a hard-fought 2-1 victory against 10-man Togo.
The AFC's Iran has been under pressure to win or be eliminated from the World Cup since losing its opener against Mexico 3-1.
Prospects for advancing look remote as it faces the highly capable Portuguese tomorrow. Expect Iran to join Costa Rica and Poland on an early flight out of Germany.
The other AFC country at the World Cup, Saudi Arabia, was foiled in extra time by a late strike from Tunisia in an entertaining 2-2 draw.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia will have its best chance of making an impression by dealing with Ukraine, which looked awful in its 4-0 flop against a lively Spain.
As for qualification by AFC teams to the knockout stages, South Korea has the tough but not impossible task of finessing the French and Swiss.
Australia needs some points from its two remaining games against Brazil and Croatia. If not, it's possible that Japan or Croatia will capitalize and advance instead. Saudi Arabia will be praying for a miracle.
As for the super sides, nearly all the early favorites have managed to look reasonably competent in the early stages.
Germany got the crowd going with a late winner from Oliver Neuville against Poland that will see the home side go into the next round.
Brazil did not disappoint when Kaka provided the magic in a 1-0 result against Croatia. The samba kings have now put together the longest-ever winning streak at the World Cup -- eight games.
Italy has sparkled and Spain's forward line has dazzled. Argentina looked sound, while Arjen Robben starred for the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic looks strong.
Even England eventually triumphed on Thursday night (it had never previously won its two opening games) thanks to the introduction of its most inspiring player, Wayne Rooney.
Among the big guns, only France has found its powder to be wet. A dismal 0-0 display against Switzerland revived memories of its pathetic showing in 2002 when "Les Bleus" failed to score one goal.
Once again, Zinedine Zidane fluttered around the park. He did perform a few tricks and flight some perfect passes, but he was mostly ineffective.
This will be the French maestro's swan song at the World Cup, and unless he or Thierry Henry can find the back of the net it will be a disappointing way to go.
Surely there is some spark left in the great man?
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