The Australian Football Association (AFA) has long lobbied the government for a "bubble quarantine" model for the upcoming September 12 tournament on home soil and for a waiver of the 14-day quarantine required for foreign nationals to enter the country. However, the Australian government has not yet relented. As of August 6, the AFL had no choice but to give up hosting China. Although the AFA has not yet announced its final choice of home ground, all indications are that the match could be played in Doha or Dubai, with China having to travel to West Asia for the first round of matches.
Since the announcement of the results of the 12-team tournament, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has been paying close attention to the choice of the Australian team's home ground. In fact, Japan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam in China's group have all announced their home venues and at least the first two rounds of matches have been finalized, except for the Australian Football Association, which has been slow to release information. There have been rumors that Australia will face China on Sept. 1 at Sydney's Banks West Stadium (home of the Western Sydney Wanderers), but this is only an Internet rumor. The CFA has also been in close contact with the AFL as Australia is the first opponent of the national soccer team.
However, on August 6, the AFL wrote to the AFC informing them that they would not be able to play the first round of matches at home. The Australian media, News Corp, also released an official statement on the evening of August 6, saying that the Australia-China match would "lose its home field advantage". According to the report: "Despite ongoing negotiations with the federal and state governments, the AFL has acknowledged that it cannot guarantee a 'bubble' travel regime that would allow players who play overseas to return to Australia without a two-week quarantine. This means that the September 2 match can only be played at midday in Asia."
In fact, it confirms the speculation in the reporter's report the day before. In Australia Olympic champions also need to quarantine 12 strong match can still play at home? As mentioned in the article, Australian athletes who have just finished the Tokyo Olympics competition program must also enter the government-designated quarantine hotel for a 14-day quarantine after returning to the Australian territory, and athletes who have won gold medals are not exempted from the quarantine. Under such circumstances, it is undoubtedly impossible for the Australian national team to play at home.
The Australian Football Association (AFA) is negotiating with government departments to seek special authorization on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also implementing alternative programs. The Australian Football Association had hoped to set up the home stadium in Europe, due to the high probability that the team will be playing in the European players, hoping to facilitate the players to return to the team to participate in the competition, but this program has been firmly opposed by the AFC. After all, the 12 strong tournament by the AFC is responsible for, if you choose to play in the middle of the time, can only be selected under the member associations of the AFC location. Therefore, the Australian Football Association has contacted the United Arab Emirates Football Association and the Qatar Football Association. Unsurprisingly, the home of the Australian team will be in Dubai, UAE or Doha, Qatar.
"Our home games in September will have to be played away from home, which will be a major disadvantage from a competitive sporting point of view." Speaking to Australia's News Corp, AFL chief executive James Johnson said, "At this level of the game, if you look at the results of home versus away matches, you know the decisive role that playing at home plays in that - it's almost equivalent to having an extra man on the pitch. That will be our biggest challenge at this stage."
Johnson said the AFL would continue to engage in further consultations with government departments in the hope that when the outbreak improves in Australia, particularly in New South Wales, the Australian team would be allowed to play at home, i.e., have the benefit of home ground when they play Oman at home in October and Saudi Arabia at home in November. "If we can get the outbreak under control, especially in Sydney, I am confident we will be able to play at home. We have consulted with government departments to implement a similar approach as some other countries have done so that our sports teams can play at home. Of course, this should be done using a strict bubble-type quarantine method where players will not interact with anyone in the community and there will be zero transmission of the outbreak virus. Players will be tested daily in their respective club teams and monitored on a daily basis as well, in effect, they are already in a bubble-type quarantine."
Now, Australia's head coach, Arnold, is stranded in Dubai, where he flew in directly from Tokyo after the Aussies were eliminated in the group stage of the men's soccer tournament at the Tokyo Olympics. He will also remain in Dubai for some time to come, rather than return to Australia for a two-week quarantine. "It's probably tougher for Arnold. The match against China is less than four weeks away, so there is no time for him to return to Australia for two weeks of quarantine and then travel overseas."
While the AFL has not specified where the September 2 match will ultimately be played, the current state of affairs suggests that the choice of Doha, Qatar is relatively more likely. Due to the fact that the climate in the West Asia region is quite hot after September, Dubai in the UAE has almost no air-conditioned stadiums, while Doha has built several air-conditioned stadiums in preparation for the World Cup. Australia's players, who play for European clubs, would have little chance of adapting to the high temperatures and humidity in Dubai if they traveled from Europe. But with Doha's air-conditioned stadiums, the players will obviously be able to play well. Although the matches will be played in empty stadiums, at least the players will be able to play properly in air-conditioned stadiums.
Once that happens, it means that the Chinese team will once again travel to West Asia for the first round of the 12-team tournament after completing the 40-team tournament. After experiencing the high temperature and humidity of June's Top 40, I believe that if they continue to play in the UAE, the internationals will be better adapted than they were in June, and even more adapted than the Australian players. If they traveled to Doha, they would be in relatively good shape due to the air-conditioned stadium.
In the process, however, the Chinese team is afraid that they still need to consider one more problem: how to return home to face Japan on September 7 after playing the match against Australia on September 2nd. Returning home from West Asia, wherever that may be, will present a problem of jet lag and the journey will take almost 10 hours or so. This is undoubtedly a huge challenge. Moreover, given the current situation of epidemic prevention and fight against the epidemic in the country, it is still to be further confirmed whether it will be possible to successfully play the Final 12 match at home at that time.
If the Australian team finally confirms that they will play their home matches in West Asia, the Chinese team can also consider playing their first home match against Japan on September 7 in West Asia. On the one hand, the domestic epidemic has rebounded, whether it can be successfully played at home is not yet confirmed; on the other hand, the Chinese team if the successive West Asia can wait for a long time, the final two rounds of matches between the time interval is relatively short, the choice of West Asia can also be prevented from being affected by the journey, and the second round of the rival team, the Japanese team on September 2 at home to end the match with Oman, if to West Asia to fight against China, then you will need to face the time difference and the actual problem of the journey. If you go to West Asia to play the Chinese team, you need to face the actual problem of jet lag and travel, which can be more or less favorable to the national football team. Of course, in October and November, the national football team can continue to choose to return to the real home, in front of the door to face the opponent, which is also in line with the AFC "one month a report home" relevant provisions.
