worldcupsoccereuro

legend Craig Johnston opened his heart today to end a quarter century of despair and predict a soccer World Cup future for Australia.

In accepting his induction into the Australian Football Federation Hall Of Fame, the 45-year-old said Australia would host the World Cup and possibly also be a winner.

"I've been forgotten, ignored, snubbed and not had any proper recognition until now. I thought it was time to make amends and get involved," Johnston said.

"The world body FIFA loves Australians and its administrators. I told FIFA when Australia was bidding for the 2000 Olympics that we would put on the best Olympics ever.

Politically, it will be very hard but FIFA knows from the past experience of the Olympics and two World Youth finals that if Australia stages the Cup here it will be the best World Cup ever."

"The way we handle sports here is better than anywhere else and I am very confident."

Johnston, who flew to Sydney from the United States to watch the return match against Uruguay, said the skill level of the Australian team was 30 per cent higher than the side he had seen last year.

"It could be the effect of new coach Guus Hiddink who is rated by many as a football genius. But whatever we're doing now is not enough, although the move into Asia will make us better."

"Playing nations like Tonga, The Cook Islands and West Samoa was a drawback but Japan, China and Korea is a step forward."

"Australia had suffered from geographic isolation and rugby league, union and the AFL had captured the minds of the kids. But now with the Socceroos and the A-League we have given them something."

"In previous years there was always a smirk and a giggle when Australian soccer was mentioned but when Terry Venables took over, people don't smirk anymore because they see Australia as a big threat," he said.

Johnston, who described his time at Liverpool as "the worst player in the world's best team" won 13 trophies during his seven years with the English Premier Club.

He also made the shock revelation that he had been approached to manage the Australian team but told the national officials that he preferred a business or advisory role.

"I said no to the offer but also said that I would get them a manager and Terry Venables was the result. That was a big contribution to Australian football."

"My desire is not to manage grown-ups but to mould kids into a better community and better footballers. I'm a passionate and proud Australian living overseas and I've always had this strong wish to give something back to Australia and soccer."

Johnston revealed his Supaskills program now operating in the United States and England had been endorsed by FIFA and leading English authorities.

He said the introduction of the program in England in big cities like London, Birmingham and Glasgow had taken youngsters off the street, reduced crime and obesity and improved discipline.

"My dream is to have more Australian kids playing soccer," he said.

"It's my mission and the future looks very promising but we must work hard. The Socceroos, if they want to win the World Cup, have to remember there's a poorer nation who wants it more."

Engineers working on a chip-enabled soccer ball are optimistic about the technology being used at the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup soccer tournament in Germany next year.

We've been testing the technology at the main soccer stadium in Nuremberg for some time and more recently in an under-17 FIFA tournament in Peru," said Günter Rohmer, director of performance-optimized systems at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits in Erlangen, Germany. "The technology has performed well, and we're pretty optimistic that it will be used at the games in Germany next year."

FIFA has shown interest in the technology -- largely to help referees make crucial goal-line calls -- but has yet to make a final decision.

The radio-based tracking system could also be used to determine whether or not a ball has gone out of bounds, to compile statistics about individual players and more, said Rohmer, in an interview at the Systems IT exhibition and conference in Munich.

The chip-enabled soccer ball is being developed by German sportswear manufacturer Adidas-Salomon AG, software company Cairos Technologies AG and the Fraunhofer Institute.

The technology is based on an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) chip with an integrated transmitter to send data, according to Rohmer. The chip is suspended in the middle of the ball to survive acceleration and hard kicks via a system developed by Adidas. Rohmer was unable to provide information about the Adidas system.

Similar chips, but smaller and flatter, have been designed to insert into players' shin guards, he said.

At the Nuremberg stadium, 12 antennas in light masts and other locations distributed around the arena collect data that is transmitted from the chips. The antennas are linked to a high-speed fiber optic ring, which routes data to a cluster of Linux-based servers.

The chips use the same 2.4GHz unlicensed frequency band used by Wi-Fi systems, according to Rohmer. "In our tests, we have noticed that although no Wi-Fi systems have interfered with our technology, our technology has caused some interference with Wi-Fi systems in isolated cases," Rohmer said. "We are looking at ways to avoid any possible interference because we know that Wi-Fi will be used at the games."

FIFA aims to test the technology later this year at another tournament in Japan before ultimately deciding whether or not to introduce it in all 12 stadiums in Germany selected to host next year's World Cup soccer games.

"Even if the technology is very accurate, it's not perfect -- no technology is," said Rohmer. "Our technology is meant to be an aide. Ultimately, the decision whether or not to call a goal will still be up to the referee."

The Systems event runs through Friday.