In January 2011, the Socceroos squad all headed out to Qatar for the AFC Asian Cup 2011. It was an amazing experience to get a feel for the culture over there and, as always, we had a great support from the Australians who made the journey.
There were lots of strong teams in the competition this time around, including India, Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia and many others. Iraq were going into the tournament as defending champions, having triumphed back in 2007 when the tournament was co-hosted by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
The draw for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup was made on the 23rd April 2010 in Doha, Qatar, and we were put in a tough group, Group C, alongside Korea Republic, India and Bahrain.