By NNN-ANTARA
Jakarta : Australia are pushing ahead with am ambitious plan to host the 2015 Asian Cup despite flopping in their first appearance at the event.
Australia went into the 2007 tournament as favourites on the back of their performances at last year's World Cup but were knocked out in the quarter-finals on penalties by Japan.
Football Federation of Australia (FFA) chairman Frank Lowy was in Jakarta on Saturday to meet FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) boss Mohamed Bin Hammam.
Lowy flew the pair to Palembang in his private jet for the third place playoff between Japan and South Korea.
Lowy was quoted by Reuters as saying he was disappointed by Australia's early exit from the tournament.
"How could I say I was happy, of course I'm disappointed," Lowy told reporters. "I expected they would go a lot further and we have got to find out what went wrong.
"But we have learnt a lot about Asia and the future is exciting. We're definitely going to be pushing very strongly for 2015."
Australia want to host the Asian Cup as soon as possible to strengthen their case to stage the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 but are wary about trying to jump the queue in Asia.
Australia only joined the AFC in 2006 after ditching Oceania in search of tougher competition and an easier qualifying route to the World Cup.
Australia had considered bidding for the 2011 Asian Cup but were prevented from doing so when the AFC insisted the host had to come from West Asia.
The announcement of the host nation for the 2011 tournament will be made in Jakarta on Sunday. Qatar was the only country that submitted a formal bid.
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