The Football Sack

.

Westfield W-League  

Enter your email address:

We will not send you any further emails or spam, just our W-League articles.

Hyundai A-League  

Enter your email address:

We will not send you any further emails or spam, just our A-League articles.

A-League Webcomic  

Receive the weekly Sack Attack Hyundai A-League Webcomic directly to your email.

Enter your email address:

We will not send you any further emails or spam, just the webcomic.

State Leagues  

Hamann: Australia should host a World Cup

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Former Liverpool and Germany midfielder Dietmar Hamann believes that Australia is an excellent candidate to host the FIFA World Cup at some point in the future.

Hamann, who will be in the country next month as part of the latest 5 times Liverpool legends Q&A tour, has been impressed with the development of the game in recent years and hosting football’s biggest tournament would only add to that.


“There certainly is a market [for football] because the A-League has been a success and there’s some very good European players going over there and playing their football,” Hamann tells The Football Sack.

“I think that if Australia had got a World Cup it would have given another boost and taken their game to another level.

“And hopefully before long we will see a World Cup played in Australia because it’s a fantastic market for European teams and Australia has produced some excellent players over the years.”

Hamann will be joined by fellow former Reds Robbie Fowler and Jason McAteer for the tour which kicks off in early January, and he is looking forward to taking in some of the local action.

“It’s good to go there in January and I’ll have a look myself,” he says.

“We will have a look at some of the talent, maybe do some coaching clinics, and experience first-hand what talent there is on show in Australia.”

Liverpool supporters in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth will get the chance to put their questions to the trio, something Hamann looks forward to having ended his playing career in 2011.

“I enjoy it because it gives me an opportunity now that we’ve finished our active playing career to meet a lot more people and maybe have a drink with them afterwards and socialise with people,” he says.

“You don’t get a chance to do that when you play, and we know that Liverpool is a global club and global brand.”

Liverpool are having a very difficult time of it at the moment in the Premier League and Hamann thinks that the biggest problem facing them is the lack of centre forward, with Luis Suarez having departed for Barcelona and Daniel Sturridge’s continued injury problems.

“If you haven’t got a goal scorer it will affect any team,” he says.

“Going forward was a big strength of the team, they scored over 100 goals in the league last season and with Sturridge out at the moment they haven’t got the firepower.

“[Mario] Balotelli has been disappointing, he hasn’t scored a goal in the league, and [Rickie] Lambert wasn’t brought in to play on a regular basis, while [Fabio] Borini hasn’t really featured.”

A Champions League winner thanks to that unbelievable night in Istanbul back in May 2005, Hamann had expected Liverpool to progress from the group stages on their return to the competition this year.

“I think that when the draw was made everybody was pretty pleased with Ludogorets and Basel in the group,” he says.

“I expected them to go through, and I think that everybody else did, so it was a bit of an anti-climax.”

However, he believes that the Europa League may end up being a blessing in disguise for Liverpool with this year’s winner getting a spot in next year’s Champions League and their chances of top four Premier League finish looking slim.

“The Europa League will be a good learning curve and obviously with the change in the rules that the winner gets in the Champions League, it will be a big bonus for the team that wins it.”

Dietmar Hamann was speaking to The Football Sack with thanks to Sydney based DC Sports. The 5 times tour kicks off on 3 January 2015, with events in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth. For further details and ticket info, head to the official 5 times website.