New York Red Bulls midfielder Tim Cahill (17) celebrates his goal against the against the New England Revolution during the first half of the Eastern Conference Championship at Gillette Stadium.
New York Red Bulls midfielder Tim Cahill (17) celebrates his goal against the against the New England Revolution during the first half of the Eastern Conference Championship at Gillette Stadium. Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Spor

Australia will host the 2015 AFC Asian Cup for the first time. The tournament will be played from Jan. 9th to Jan. 31st 2015 in five host cities. The cities to host the competition will be Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Newcastle. The final match will be played in Sydney.

Can Australia win the tournament at home soil? Yes they can but are not the favourites by any stretch of imagination. In the last ten matches that the Socceroo's have played they have lost seven of them, drawing two and winning just one. This is a terrible run of form heading into a premier tournament. Australia will play just one more international friendly against Chinese Taipei before starting the actual tournament.

Australia will have Asian power house South Korea, Kuwait as well as Oman to play at the group stages. South Korea is a much higher ranked side and should be able to defeat the hosts if both play to their potential. Between Kuwait and Oman Australia have two sides that are ranked around them in the official FIFA rankings. They must defeat both of them to be sure of qualification to the knock out stages. This will be easier said than done.

Should Australia advance to the quarter final stage they are likely to face a west Asian side in Uzbekistan or Saudi Arabia. Chances are that Australia should be able to negotiate this hurdle better than the group stage. In the semi-final stage they might face another Asian powerhouse in Japan. Another team ranked much higher than the hosts. Odds are that they might succumb at this stage of the competition.

Previously Australia have played at the AFC Asian Cup twice. In the 2007 tournament they lost to Japan in the quarter final stage in a penalty shootout. In 2011 they lost in the final match, again to Japan. A lot will depend on captain Tim Cahill. At 35 he is still the talisman that the team will look up to for inspiration.

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