Not a single player of Macedonian origin has been selected for Australia in the AFC Asian Cup.

The 16th edition of the AFC Asian Cup started today. Host nation Australia beat Kuwait 4:1 in the opening match, letting everyone know that they strive for the trophy. What is interesting for us is that in the Australian squad there is no player of Macedonian origin. There wasn’t even one in the preliminary squad that consisted of 40 players. The only player that we thought might get a call up was Ben Kantarovski, once a highly rated player who last January rejected the offer to represent Macedonia.

In the last edition in 2011, Australia reached the final where they were defeated 1:0 by Japan after 120 minutes of play. Then, central defender Sasha Ognenovski was a key figure in the Socceroos’ defense and even scored one goal in the semi-final 6:0 thrashing of Uzbekistan.