There Is A Role For The J.League In Australia's Qualification To The Qatar 2022 World Cup

JAKARTA - The Australian national team has officially become the sixth country in Asia to successfully qualify for the most prestigious football championship in the world, namely the 2022 World Cup and the J.League or the Japanese League is considered to have contributed to its qualification.

Are Adam Taggart and Mitchell Duke. The two players who have been playing in the J.League with Cerezo Osaka and Fagiano Okayama were part of the Socceroos during their last qualifying match against Peru at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar, 13 June.

In the decisive match, the Australian national team had to undergo 120 minutes of action and ended with a penalty shootout. Finally, Graham Arnold's team won 5-4 after a normal 0-0 draw.

In our centenary year, we're ready to #GiveIt100 at another @FIFAWorldCup The Socceroos have done it. #AllForTheSocceros pic.twitter.com/eakA3X0SOT

— Socceroos (@Socceroos) June 13, 2022

Quoted from Antara, Friday, Mitchell Duke in that match became the sole striker playing for 69 minutes before being replaced by Awer Mabil. Meanwhile, Taggart did not play in this match, but he contributed three goals in the eight qualifying matches played by Australia.

Indeed, this is not the first time Australia has qualified for the World Cup, but the passage of the Socceroos made history for Asian football because it could send six representatives to the biggest soccer championship in the world.

Previously, five Asian countries had already qualified for the four-year championship, namely Qatar, Iran, South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia.

Based on data from the J.League, Thursday, it was recorded that there were at least 39 players from the Kangaroo Country who had played in the J.League from the top to the third tier, including the current coach of the Australian national team, Graham Arnold, who defended Sanfrecce Hiroshima from 1997 to 1998. .

Arnold played 28 times in the J1 League and scored seven goals during that time, before then returning to the Australian League and is now a coach. At that time, Arnold joined compatriot, Anthony Popovic, who was the first Australian player in the J.League.

After their era, there were many Australian national team players who played in the World Cup and also competed in the J.League such as Andrew Nabbout (Urawa Red Diamonds), Milos Degenek (Yokohama F. Marinos), Joshua Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus), and Mark Milligan ( JEF United Chiba).

Now, traces of Australian players in the J.League can not only be found in Mitchell Duke and Adam Taggart, but there are other names such as Mitchell Langerak (Nagoya Grampus), Thomas Deng (Albirex Niigata), Stefen Mauk (Fagiano Okayama), to Mohamed Adam (FC Imabari).