Australia Amongst Asian Cup Favorites

Australia heads into the 2011 AFC Asian Cup as a realistic chance of winning, with most bookmakers currently quoting it as second or third favorite for the title, behind Japan and South Korea.

The Socceroos have exhibited up-and-down form leading into the tournament that has many observers predicting a repeat of the previous tournament in 2007, when Australia was knocked out at the quarter-final stage.

But the relative strength of the list and the experience that comes from competing against the best in the 2006 World Cup sees the Aussies still rating highly amongst both bookies and punters.

Drawn in Group C in the 16-nation tournament, only South Korea appears to be a major threat to Australia, but Bahrain might fancy its chances of an upset.

The tournament runs from January 7 - 29.

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Odds

And now here are some of the odds from Betfair online sportsbook:

Tournament winner: Japan 4.20, South Korea 5.80, Australia 6.80, Saudi Arabia 8.00, Iran 9.00, Qatar 13.50, all others 14.00 and over.