Playing at home in Australia the Socceroos were stunned when in the 15th minute Thailand took the lead when striker Teerasil Dangda finished a 70 metre counterattack.

It took until the 58th minute for Australia to level the scores when Josh Kennedy tapped home off a rebound from a Matt McKay shot.

With time running out the Socceroos were looking likely to face an embarrassing 1-1 draw before Alex Brosque saved the day scoring with just four minutes left to play.

“It feels like a loss,” admitted Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer post-match. “It was one of our worst performances for a long time and there are no excuses. We weren’t good enough at times, but at least we won which is the positive.”

The Socceroos now head off to the Middle East where they will play Saudi Arabia on 6 September.

The other teams in Group D, Oman and Saudi Arabia played out a 0-0 draw.

Kewell and Emerton are some of the biggest names in Australian football and to see them returning to Australia to play in the A-League is bound to give the competition a huge boost.

All going well we will see just how big this is when the two Socceroo stars face off in the opening round.

There is much debate over who will provide better value to their respective clubs. Kewell of course will attract much interest as he is perhaps the biggest name in Australian football although many would disagree.

Emerton joins Sydney FC after cutting short his English Premier League career when he still had a year to run on his Blackburn Rovers contract. Despite not having as much of the spotlight over the years he is a top performer and will boost interest in the Harbour City.

However the season goes you will have to say the return of Kewell and Emerton will give the A-League a much needed boost.

I have to say I am excited to see Kewell and Emerton to make the move to the A-League. I have always love to follow the career of Kewell and remember when I first saw him play in the heart-breaking loss to Iran in 1997. As a Liverpool fan I was so excited when he signed for the Reds however we all know what happened there.

Football fans would love to read your views, you can leave your comments below.

Mohamed Bin Hammam was a member of the FIFA Executive Committee and before the bribery allegations surfaced was looking to challenge Sepp Blatter as FIFA President.

The former head of the Asian Football Confederation played a key role in guiding Qatar in their successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA world cup.

FIFA also banned Debbie Minguell (Caribbean Football Union official) for a period of one year and Jason Sylvester (Caribbean Football Union official) also for a period of one year.

Read more at bbc.co.uk – Fifa bans Mohamed Bin Hammam for life over attempted bribery claims.

The loss for Birmingham City meant they are relegated to the Championship along with Blackpool and West Ham United.

Manchester United won the title with 80 points ahead of Chelsea and Manchester City on 71, Arsenal were fourth with 68 and then Tottenham with 62 points.

Chelsea not long after the season ended parted ways with manager Carlo Ancelotti.

In the just completed 2011 Premier League season Chelsea has ended the season in second place on 71 points, nine adrift of champion Manchester United. The team did not collect any trophies this season.

The club said this in a statement on the Chelsea FC website.

“The owner and board would like to thank Carlo for his contribution and achievements since taking over as manager in July 2009, which included winning the Double for the first time in the club’s history.

“However, this season’s performances have fallen short of expectations and the club feels the time is right to make this change ahead of next season’s preparations”.

The club also said there is no word on who will take over as manager.

Blackburn’s Brett Emerton had put the hosts in the lead after 19 minutes but United hit back to end the match 1-1.

The 2011 title makes it 12 in the Sir Alex Ferguson era.

In what was a good day for Manchester, cross town rivals Manchester City won the FA Cup 1-0 against Stoke City.

Read more at the Premier League site – Match report Blackburn Rovers v Manchester United
Read more at SI.com – Man United seals 19th English title with 1-1 draw at Blackburn
Read more about Manchester City v Stoke City in the FA Cup Final – Man City end trophy drought

Read more at ninemsn – Barcelona through at Real’s expense
Read more at UEFA.com – Barcelona keep Madrid at bay to reach final

Read the full match report for Chelsea v Tottenham at Premier League’s official website.

That makes him one of only four players to received the award for his contribution to the Australian game. The others to receive the honour are Johnny Warren, Joe Marston and Craig Johnston.

Viduka now 35 has not previously announce his retirement but now it seems official.

He says he is enjoying time out of the spotlight. The career highlight for Viduka was captaining the Socceroos at the 2006 Football World Cup in Germany.

UEFA said on thier site “Gattuso, who was also cautioned in the 76th minute of the game, is already suspended for the return leg of the UEFA Champions League tie against Tottenham after receiving three yellow cards. Consequently, the four-match suspension applies to the next four UEFA club competition matches for which he would be eligible”.

UEFA ruled that Gattuso had assaulted Jordan and as such he was subject to a minimum of a three-match ban.

Gattuso has since apologised, but his agent, Claudio Pasqualin, stated that Jordan called Gattuso an “Italian b******”.