The Asian Cup came to a fitting finale Saturday when hosts Australia beat South Korea to win their first-ever Asian title.

The victory capped a fine tournament that saw large, enthusiastic crowds at games, exciting and attacking play on the field and a few major shocks.

The final pitted two of the AFC's best sides - the host nation against Asia's most consistent side. The Socceroos ­defeated South Korea in a thrilling match 2-1, which went into extra time.

Unlike the tense finals of many ­major events such as the World Cup, both teams went into the game clearly aiming to impose themselves and score goals.

Australia scored first, right before halftime. However, South Korea, who were highly motivated in seeking their first Asian Cup title since 1955, fought hard and scored an equalizer in the dying minutes. Extra time saw both sides tired but still chasing victory. Australia prevailed after a great effort from Tomi Juric who fell twice but kept possession and fired in from the side of the penalty area to force a parry from Korea's keeper into James Troisi who buried it.

Australia had been rocked the day ­before the final by reports that some Gulf State countries wanted them out of the Asian federation.

The reason given was because of Australia's dominance since joining Asia in 2006, which has seen them qualify for the World Cup two straight times and reach two Asian Cup finals. This takes away spots and opportunities from "real" Asian teams, ran the argument. Ironically, Australia's victory might add fuel to the argument that it is too strong.

While that argument has a semblance of truth, it would be a ­shortsighted ­approach to force Australia out. Asia has long been one of the weakest ­soccer ­federations and having Australia competing raises the competition level ­significantly.

Furthermore, a growing rivalry with South Korea and Japan for Asian supremacy makes things more intriguing.

Also, Australia is arguably one of the more diverse countries, with diasporas from many Asian nations, as was seen from the makeup of the crowds at the matches.

The opposite should be considered. Oceania, which is New Zealand and the Pacific island states, should be merged into Asia and an extra guaranteed place awarded to this combined body.

The author is an editor with the Global Times. hiltonyip@globaltimes.com.cn