By RUSSELL BENNETT
CASEY Comets under-10s player Arif Husaini got a close look on Tuesday night at the silverware that represents Asia’s biggest sporting prize – the Asian Cup.
The cup made a stopover at Comets Stadium in Cranbourne in the lead-up to the biggest soccer tournament Australia has ever hosted – the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015.
The best 16 countries in the Asia region will compete in a 32-game, 23-day festival of football with Melbourne playing host to seven games at AAMI Park.
The tournament will begin in Melbourne with Australia taking on Kuwait on 9 January.
Other games in Melbourne include a quarter-final plus five group matches involving past Asian Cup champions.
Australia’s sporting capital will provide the stage for defending champions Japan and former champions Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Between them, those nations have won 11 of the 15 Asian Cups.
The Asian Cup is held every four years and is the premier men’s soccer competition throughout Asia.
With a television reach of more than 2.5 billion people throughout Asia and viewed in 80 countries, The 2015 Asian Cup is projected to bring about 45,000 overseas visitors to Australia.
