Category — Sport

Tomorrow night, the Socceroos (Australia’s national football team) play Japan in the final round of Asian Confederation qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The socceroos captured the hearts and minds of Australians around the nation (and in Tokyo from my vantage point!) in a stirring penalty shootout to reach the 2006 version of the tournament in Germany, and since then have made significant inroads into a country which long viewed football as a sport for sheilas, wogs and poofters.

Apart from the match tomorrow (which in reality is a dead rubber – with both teams already assured of qualification), what does any of this have to do with Japan? As Australia’s largest trading partner, the world game and the socceroos are creating new opportunities for stronger business and diplomatic ties in the land of the rising sun.

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