Adelaide are the Manchester United of the A-League

By jimbo
October 8th 2008 @ 1:52am

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In a post-match interview with Aurellio Vidmar, Simon Hill referred to the Adelaide United Football Club as the Manchester United of the A-League. Is that some sort of praise or largely due to Adelaide United’s involvement in the Asian Champions League and their very busy match schedule of the past few weeks?

Adelaide have played six games of professional football in twenty one days and are set to play another five games in three weeks as they try to fit in the home and away semi-final legs of the ACL.

This is not the norm for A-League clubs who usually play once a week for about six months and get the occasional FIFA sanctioned weekend off for international games.

Adelaide United had made a special request to the Football Federation of Australia to have some of their A-League games postponed to lighten their workload and give them a greater chance of success in Asia’s premier club competition.

Federation chief executive Ben Buckley declined and said such a move would have adversely affected teams not participating in the ACL.

“It would not be possible to move multiple games around … if this situation occurred in future,” Buckley said.

Adelaide United chief executive officer Sam Ciccarello said the club would not protest against the ruling. “We’re very disappointed that our request couldn’t be accommodated in what is an increasingly busy and very difficult schedule,” he said.

“We’re delighted to have progressed so far in this prestigious competition, but certainly this is a bit of a setback in terms of our ability to get the best out of our playing squad.

“We know the FFA have looked at this from every possible way and we’re disappointed with the response that we did get, but we need to get on with it and that is what we are doing.”

Buckley did, however, say that the FFA would offer financial support to United to help offset the costs of business class airfares with its main sponsor. Qantas.

It’s disappointing for the Adelaide fans that they didn’t get some help from the FFA, but let’s not forget Adelaide’s achievements in the Asian Champions League to date, without any special treatment.

They finished top in their qualification group and beat the favourites for the ACL title in their quarter-final match.

Adelaide United have sent a warning shot through the rest of Asia with its elimination of Japanese champions Kashima Antlers and proved that Australian clubs can mix it with the continent’s best, despite having only a fraction of their financial resources.

They have every right to expect they can go on and reach the final and challenge for the Asian Champions League title.

The South Australians will now face big-spending Uzbekistan club Kuruvchi in the two-legged semi-final.

Kuruvchi are coached by Brazilian legend Zico and have former World Player of the Year and FIFA World Cup winner Rivaldo in their team.

The home leg is at Hindmarsh Stadium tonight, and will be broadcast live at 8:00pm on Fox Sports.

The all important second away game is played in Tashkent — scene of the Socceroos’ recent World Cup qualifying match victory over Uzbekistan — on Wednesday October 22.

Win lose or draw, Manchester United of the A-League or not, the whole of the Australian football family will be cheering on United with pride in their historic quest for the ACL title.

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jimbo said | October 8th 2008 @ 9:38am | Report comment

Come on you Reds!

chris said | October 8th 2008 @ 11:08am | Report comment

Its great to see Adelaide doing so well. I think Adelaides run will make this tournament the number 1 priority for aussie clubs, especially with the increased prize money next year.

Koala Bear said | October 8th 2008 @ 11:41am | Report comment

I’m not an Adelaide United supporter… Well not in the A-League; but their continued success in the ACL has truly captured my imagination of what an Australian Football Club can achieve.. If the Reds fail to progress further than the semis; it still would be a wonderful success story of Australian club football … Football has taken off, and this concept of progressing through tier stages (Millster’s term) to the eventual FIFA World Club Championships is the ultimate competition thus far, of any code in Australia; or indeed the world.. The world media still have not grasp the enormity of the Sepp Blatter’s initiative of having the World Club Championships, as the UCL and Copa America are still very dominate at present.. However, in saying that, this competition (FIFA World Club Champions) will one day be the most sought after piece of silverware.. The pinnacle of all the World Club Football Competitions.. Go you Reddddddsss !!

~~~~~~~~
KB

Pippinu said | October 8th 2008 @ 12:50pm | Report comment

Considering who Simon supports, one wonders what he may have meant exactly.

The other thing not mentioned here is that an Adelaide paper broke the news the other day that the FFA had told AU to shut up about this whole changing the fixture business.

Sounds about right too.

Redb said | October 8th 2008 @ 1:14pm | Report comment

Until a Melbourne or Sydney get this far in the ACL I cant see it really hitting the radar, at least in a national sense.

Redb

jimbo said | October 8th 2008 @ 2:26pm | Report comment

Redb,
The ACL and the Adelaide game is well and truly in focus for the football family right across Australia and should get a good TV audience.
Understandably followers of other codes may be showing little interest.

The ACL final last year had a live TV audience of about 300 million.
If Adelaide make the final they will certainly be on the world’s football radar.

Koala Bear said | October 8th 2008 @ 2:28pm | Report comment

Australian Football is Asia’s new born baby; given to us by the AFC and it’s our duty and responsibility to nurture it and watch it grow!

~~~~~~~~~
KB

Redb said | October 8th 2008 @ 2:37pm | Report comment

Jimbo,

I wasn’t being trite with that comment. There is a small one column width piece in today’s AGE about the Red’s game tonight. This is contrast to a half page peice on the Socceroos game next week against Qatar and a Victory story.

Check out the News Ltd Adelaide Now website and its red all over.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24463750-5006373,00.html

oikee said | October 8th 2008 @ 3:20pm | Report comment

Can someone give me some quick info about how long this acl or afc , game has been played, how many seasons, why was it started, its a nuisence for the a-league comp, and if aderlaide wins even a quater final then this competition is really a joke, does anyone agree.? Of what real benifit will it have for soccer here in australia, lets face the facts, aderlaide are not that good a team, so your man.u pipe dream is just that, i have said before if australia can beat all these other countries in a world cup, then other countries need to hang there heads in shame.

Yes its great for football fans because you all want the money to come flowing into the game so you can brag about it, but what real benifit does it have for players to be playing what? 5-6 games in 3 weeks, even this is just a joke to anyone who thinks its hard to acheive, any other code in the world would not put this sort of pressure on there players, but apparently hal australia dont care, its all for the good of the game, or money as we call it.

Argue all you like but the more i look at what the a-league are doing the more i see “doing it for the money”, its nearly getting as bad as the union boss, flogging games in hong kong to make a dollar. Does anyone ever question your sport, or are you all blind.
Ok ask some questions, so theres 300 million watching the final, do they have any other finals to watch, any.?
There watching there own play the game, thats natural,
Do they really care or want a a-league side in their game?
Do aussies really care, would it not be better to just have a game between the winner of there comp and the winner of ours.
If we can beat them now will that mean we are miles behind other countries.Or miles ahead.

The more you play overseas now the more people are going to get lost in it all. By this i mean why would aussies want to watch the asian league, half of them dont watch the english league. And so on, all these questions to ask with not many answers. And finally, the game is played in summer, haven’t people got better things to do than watch a-league all summer.
These are all questions that need answering, if the sport becomes that popular then maybe a switch back to winter will also help the players. Its bloody hot out there.
And finally, has anyone booked there ticket to Africa yet for the world cup.?

chris said | October 8th 2008 @ 4:19pm | Report comment

Oikee,

Let me explain to you how the afc champions league works. Its a continental competition for the best club sides in Asia. Champions/winners of trophies to be exact. These teams then compete to be the champion club side in Asia. The competition goes from April to November or so. Teams are first broken into groups of 4, the top team qualifies to the quarters. From next year it will be the top two teams. The prize money next year for qualifying alone is rumoured to be around 1 million aus. Thats only for qualifying. The further a team goes the more prize money they receive.

In reference to your ‘quality’ comment. A lot of these sides spend millions of dollars on their players to ensure they have the quality not to only win the domestic competitions but also the champions league. To give you an example, Kashima Antlers who played adelaide in the quarters pays their players around 30 mil a year. The Antlers have a player who played against Adelaide who was playing for a Brazilian side in the World Club Championship in 2002 (i think) that destroyed Man u. To be exact this bloke single handendly destroyed man u. This guy is late 20’s and now playing for kashima The uzbek team that is playing tonight pay Rivaldo 8 million a year and arrived in their own private jet. Therefore the quality is actually quite high.

In terms of caring, last year was the first time an aussie side played in it. I did not care. Although it has really grown on me and I can now see the importance of it. I would rather my team be Kings of Asia then Australia. You will find that 5 years time all A-League fans will say the same. Europe is exactly the same, AC milan fan would prefer to win the the Chams League then the Italian Seria A.

Money is very important. I will not eloborate.

Mate the whole champions league thing is very important. It will only grow in value as time goes on. I think for those who live outside of Adelaide have not been exposed to it properly. Although everyone time will soon come. It would be interesting to know how peoples opinions regarding the champions league have changed over the last couple of years.

chris said | October 8th 2008 @ 4:21pm | Report comment

ps: i dont think tickets for africa have been released yet. the ballot system starts at the end of this year i think. I will try to get my hands on some tickets, although its very hard due to demand.

Koala Bear said | October 8th 2008 @ 4:25pm | Report comment

Jimbo wrote: The ACL final last year had a live TV audience of about 300 million.

oikee,
yep it’s about the money, prestige and seeing how far you can go in the “World’s Biggest Club Competition” … I am not sure how long it goes for, about 7 months from the beginning to end.. there are about 46 countries in the Asian Confederation with all domestic leagues to go through to qualify similar to the HAL so you could multiply that by three as some leagues have more team spot than others, due to their larger leagues and standards like Japan and Sth Korea.. Then through group stages, then knock out stages where we are now…

Nonetheless, each set out to win the ACL to allow them the opportunity to qualify for the biggest prize of all; the FIFA World Club Cup Championship, which has had its teething problems in the past to get it off the ground due to geographic team locations and marketing mismanagement not of FIFA’s doing..

However, this time around with the new format and TV deals and the Champions of each confederation and the seeding of the power house clubs of the likes of Man U and Sth Americans; it has made life easier .. In the end there will be about 6 teams (?) in the FIFA world club cup tournament competing.. Made up from each confederation champions .. The winner will receive about a $6m prize purse and if Adelaide Un make it to the tournament are guaranteed $600K … Yes you could say it’s about the money; as the FFA will get $2m (?) if Adelaide make it…

oikee said | October 8th 2008 @ 4:33pm | Report comment

Alright, i still think that the players are not getting a fair go having to back up, now i see the importance for football in this country.

oikee said | October 8th 2008 @ 4:40pm | Report comment

I will tell you what i think tommorrow after the game, i will tape it tonite ( i have that fox system where you can tape straight off the t/v, anyone got that , its brilliant ) and its the 1st game i have watched since the 70’s , so i am going to go outta of my way to do this for you, and i’ll give you a honest answer to where i think the game sits. Cheers.

dasilva said | October 8th 2008 @ 5:04pm | Report comment

adelaide are the Man U. in the idea that both Adelaide and Man U. were the pioneers of european football for their respective country.

Anyway i’m off now to see the match at hindmarsh

Go ADELAIDE
Do us proud

Midfielder said | October 8th 2008 @ 5:19pm | Report comment

Redb & Oikee

Oikee, good to see you on board ………. as others before me have explained about the size and spread of the ACL …… I should tell you the ACL is also relatively new and growing very fast. ……… But what many Australian commentators have picked up is the burning desire by many in Asia to become bigger than Europe…………Asia in football terms has a hunger by many at the top to be bigger than Europe whether it ever happens is open to debate ……. but that Asia will try be of no doubt.

The money in China / Japan / and the Middle East and others is mega and as others have pointed out even smaller nations in Asia are paying massive amounts for their squads. In 10 to 15 years times the ACL ‘has the potential” remember I said “HAS THE” to become one of footballs biggest annual events with weekly audiences of 500 million and finals in the billions ……… this is why so many business people in Australia now want in ……… further it explains why the extra place in the ACL is so important and why there will be an A-League & a B-League. Hardest part for Australian clubs will be making it to 2012, post the next media deal and then the one after that say in ten years there will be some big money floating around …….. but as always we have to get there and that will be harder than most think it will take every bit of skill that Obie One has.

You said ” Until a Melbourne or Sydney get this far in the ACL I cant see it really hitting the radar, at least in a national sense”

I think you are right at the national sense …… but the Reds are getting some headlines, next year with Newcastle & the Mariners you will see a lot of local support and media ……… this will just add to the taste but when the Choppers or Tards do get it with the media profile in these cities plus having to wait to get it …….. will just add to it when the time comes.

Midfielder said | October 8th 2008 @ 5:21pm | Report comment

Dasilva

Good luck the Reds ……… but stop listening to SBS ……… other clubs play football as well and have always done so.

Millster said | October 8th 2008 @ 5:48pm | Report comment

Oikee glad you asked and glad you are going to watch. Remember to keep an open mind if its your first full game since the 70s…

A simple way to put the importance of this game is to translate it into the terms of your preferred code League. Imagine if there were say 30 countries with NRL standard or better comps around the world. Imagine that the top one or two from each of those comps earned the right to play against each other in an international club challenge so that the very best were pitted against the very best. And imagine if the way it was organised was by region. So what Adelaide are effectively doing, having been a leading club in Australia last year, are seeing if they cut it against the continent. If we make it to the final then we go on to see if we can then represent the whole continent against the other best clubs in the world.

So its incredibly exciting. Yes there is the money and the promotion of Adelaide, but also it tells us so much about the standard of the game in Australia… in effect Adelaide are representing Australian club football against the best in Asia. And if they succeed they will then represent the whole of Asia against the best in the world.

So thats the thing. Its not just an Asian league. Its a league of champions… a kind of ‘higher league’ for only the top 2 clubs of each country’s domestic comps.

Brickowski said | October 8th 2008 @ 7:24pm | Report comment

Your first game since the 70s? I’ve got to say that line really surprised me. From your style of writing I would have pegged you as a 16 year old…..

Of course the ACL is important, and of course the financial aspects are very important. Last year it was our first taste of ‘continental Football’. Something the European clubs we all idolise have been involved in for years. It’s the prestige of representing your nation on the international stage. Any money earned in this competition is money your domestic rivals haven’t earned (well, from next season anyway, this season and last actually ran the clubs at a loss), and a big bonus before the next domestic league starts.

I’m not surprised you don’t understand the scale of this, if you are not a fan of Football it would be difficult to comprehend any type of true international competition.

Brickowski said | October 8th 2008 @ 7:27pm | Report comment

Ah, no, sorry, I take the age thing back. Millster explained it all “…..into the terms of your preferred code League”

My apologies.

Millster said | October 8th 2008 @ 8:59pm | Report comment

Brickie - too harsh. Oikee is a passionate league fan and defender of his game, but also willing to have an open mind and listen and learn and debate. Which is more one can say for a number of others on here.

In my explanation though I should have also added the undersog thing. Its one thing to be underdog in the NRL or AFL where everyone has more or less similar budgets and where players are shared around. But what we’re seeing in the ACL is Adelaide - a smaller city club in a brand new league with a limited playing roster and budget maytch it with, and beat, clubs that are Champions of much bigger countries than Australia (eg Kashima Antlers from Japan) or that can buy players who have been top of the world (eg Bunyakspor with Rivaldo) and which both have budgets over 10 times that of Adelaide. So there’s the pride in the club representing the Australian league, and there’s also pride and support in a David Vs Goliath kind of way for a club with limited means that can take it to much bigger, older, richer clubs.

Can you believe the 3-0 result tonight!!! I know the second leg is still to be played but what an unthinkably brilliant result!

Dave said | October 8th 2008 @ 9:15pm | Report comment

Well done Adelaide…the best result by an Oz club side EVER…(apart from when Melb Victory beat them 6-0 in the final) :).
Adelaide United fantastic for the club, the fans, Oz football and for the reputation of the HAL. You did us proud and hopefully will get through the 2nd leg unscathed.
Interestingly the club have chosen to play at Hindmarsh again should they reach the final…and not play at one of the bigger stadiums.

Koala Bear said | October 8th 2008 @ 9:22pm | Report comment

Bricks,
allow me to congratulate you and your new found friend of nearly two years; Aurelio Vidmar .. For a tremendous performance tonight .. Beers all round for us SFC supporter when he next appears in Sydney .. Pass on my congratulations when you next speak .. And I am sure if the late Princess Diana were alive she would undoubtedly do as well .. I don’t know if I could say as much for her cousin, the Princess Pippinu .. However, I do hope that spat of red cards that plague MV has now well and truly blown over.. Marvelous to see your post on the ROAR.. btw who’s watching Petersham Oval if you are here now.. We can’t let our guard down for one minute. You know what these AFTL lads are like; give them an inch and there goes Petersham..

Cheers and well done Aurelio

Koala Bear said | October 8th 2008 @ 9:27pm | Report comment

Dave,
the Reds only had 10 men and the MV had 12 men on the park, fair suck of the savaloy Laddie … D

~~~~~~
KB

Koala Bear said | October 8th 2008 @ 9:29pm | Report comment

Dave,
sorry the failed to appear…

Millster said | October 8th 2008 @ 9:30pm | Report comment

Do you guys realise that with the other semi being contested between two Japanese clubs, we are 90 minutes away from entering the Club World Cup?

I looked it up on FIFA to be sure, and I’m right.

Japan as host country will be represented either by the Champion of the J-League or by the ACL Champion if that team is Japanese. If the latter case occurs the ACL runner up takes the Asian Champ place at WCC.

Gents, an A-League club is 90 away minutes from representing Asia on the World stage, and is goiong into those 90 minutes with a three goal cushion…….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Koala Bear said | October 8th 2008 @ 9:41pm | Report comment

Millster,
at this precise moment I am withdrawing my support for the Reds.. C’mon Sydneeee’ it is our devine right to be the first club into the FIFA world club championship… (only joking)

~~~~~~~
KB

Brickowski said | October 8th 2008 @ 9:41pm | Report comment

I apologise if my post seemed harsh, it was certainly not intended. It is my stated intention on any forum to eradicate Football ignorance and I thought I would just tackle that one head on.

KB,

Next time I bump into Aurelio I will pass on your congratulations. As for Petersham Oval, I have amassed quite the army to defend it, EFVL (expanded victorian football league) will not gain a foothold in the Inner West’s heartland.

Finally, congratulations to AU and it’s fans for an outstanding first leg victory, it certainly didn’t look like they were 3 goals better in the first half. Big job in the second leg, Kuruvchi, or Bundyokor, put 5 past their opponents in the last round, Adelaide will have to play smart.

Pippinu said | October 8th 2008 @ 9:42pm | Report comment

And it looks like AU will be the first Australian club into the world club championship - how embarrassment!

Brickowski said | October 8th 2008 @ 9:50pm | Report comment

I beg your pardon, Princess?

I believe Sydney FC were the first A League club in the CWC. However, South Melbourne were there before them, and Wollongong Wolves should have been there the following year.

Millster said | October 8th 2008 @ 10:04pm | Report comment

Ah the good old Oceania days. I notice NZ will have an entrant via the “O-League”… which I was not even aware of.

Which begs the question. Were Phoenix to qualify for ACL by having a good season in the A-League, surely they wouldn’t be able to take their place?….

Brickowski said | October 8th 2008 @ 10:08pm | Report comment

No, they can’t represent Australia in the ACL, and at the moment they are not allowed to play in, or play off against, the winning O League team, to then play off against the ACL representative for a spot in the CWC.

dasilva said | October 8th 2008 @ 10:30pm | Report comment

Woo hoo

Great match and great result

I have to say though it wasn’t the most Fozzinho performance by Adelaide. We played pretty direct the entire match and for the first half my friend that I brought along to see Adelaide play for the first time said it was boring. However things picked up after we score the goal against the run of play.

Cassio has shown how much of gun he is. Played a hand in all 3 goals. Very good signing by Vidmar last year. I have a feeling when this season is over he’ll be picked up by one of the Japanese team. Also very classy second goal

Midfielder
I’m the first to admit that Adelaide isn’t the most classiest side in the world in terms of style of football. I think Queensland and Melbourne generally play more attractive football. In fact watching Adelaide play in the group stage of the ACL they were very defensive and dour side. I was actually quite surprise how well Adelaide play during the Quarter final in terms of good passing football. In this match they played direct football which was disappointing and only started playing decent football in the last 30 minutes

But we won so

Woo Hoo

It doesn’t matter how you win when it’s your side

dasilva said | October 8th 2008 @ 10:31pm | Report comment

I just hope that Vidmar will remove any complacency from his side when the return legs occur.

Adelaide slip 3 goal lead against the Central Coast. Bunyodkor also scored 5 goals against Saipa. Adelaide have to be careful and its not over yet.

Millster said | October 8th 2008 @ 10:38pm | Report comment

Dasilva - look at the quote on ABC news. Aurelio told them to play long-ball after half time. Made me laugh given recent discussions on another thread here. But good on them, it worked and they needed to do something different to first half.

Also, just for our info, and maybe getting ahead of myself I looked up what the path was like through the WCC for the AFC representative. If we go all the way it is 3 games:

Game 1 - AFC plays the winner of a prior match between OFC rep (NZ team) and host (Japanese team)
Game 2 - the winner of Game 1 plays against the UEFA rep (Man United)
Game 3 - Final - winner of game 2 versus what the other side of the draw between CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and CAF spits out

There are ‘consolation’ games down to 5th place because the prize purses are sizeable and ranked according to places 1 to 7 in the tournament ($5m, $4m, $3m, $2m, $1.5m, $1m, $0.5m)

dasilva said | October 8th 2008 @ 11:08pm | Report comment

Millster

I will continue to support criticism of side deliberately playing direct football by people at SBS

unless they are criticising Adelaide.

dasilva said | October 9th 2008 @ 1:17am | Report comment

I just want to say Kudos to the Adelaide Fans. When I saw Kashima play I thought the crowds were a bit flat and were outdone by 200 kashima fans but this time there was great atmosphere and we were noisy and created a more intimidating atmosphere for the opposing team. THe last half hour the crowd went mad and it was a memorable night.

When Rivaldo got stretchered off and got back on 2 minutes later in the blatant play acting display. The crowd sang Fuck off Rivaldo clap clap clap clap clap(you know in the same melody as hadlee a wanker for people who know Cricket)
Everytime he had the ball the crowd was booing.

No respect for a great and that’s the way it should be.

I was tempted to yell out Rivaldo you’re overaged and overpayed.
unfortunately i didn’t have that menace in me.

Though saying that. As a match of football match I enjoy the Kashima match slightly better. Better style of football and had more tension but it was a great night out

Redb said | October 9th 2008 @ 7:01am | Report comment

Thumping win to Adelaide (gee that’s hard to say) well done.

Koala Bear said | October 9th 2008 @ 9:01am | Report comment

Well it must be a wonderful feeling to awake this morning knowing you are a Reds supporter..

I ventured down to the CRSL last night and a few of us ALL STARS were watching the game and thought .. This is the end of the road for the Reds, as the first half was very poor football indeed by Adelaide.. The Uzbeks seemed to be in total control and looking for just wanting to play out for a 0-0 draw .. Interesting to hear that Aurelio was wanting to play the long ball in the second half.. My thoughts were, and the ALL STARS as well, were that he was playing the long ball in the first half without success. Then switched to playing a more measured ball in the second half that, resulted in a more patient build up to get the first goal. By the way it was a well constructed goal from the right flank that crushed the Uzbeks resolve; to end up letting the Reds to dominate from there on .. Let’s not get carried away at this point, and remember that we are only 3nil up at half time, and still the second half to go on their patch of ground; but a wonderful position to be in… The question now is what will Vidmar do .?. Will he park the bus in front of the Uzbek goal (Norm) or will he resort to a counter attack game to really finish off the contest.. I hope he goes tor the latter

chris said | October 9th 2008 @ 9:32am | Report comment

great result, quite amazing Adelaide scored 3 goals in that game. I guess its all about taking your chances though.

First half was a snooze, although you can understand why considering what was on the line. Second half was much better, Adelaide played with more purpose and pace.

The good thing for the Reds is that they have a lot of improvement left in em. That performance was not one of their best this season.

Slippery Jim said | October 9th 2008 @ 9:54am | Report comment

Well done Adelaide, they really are the Manchester Utd of the A-League (Sydney FC are the Arsenal). Great performance, great result. Can’t wait for Tashkent.

dasilva said | October 9th 2008 @ 10:10am | Report comment

Who knows Adelaide may do the treble and really become the Manchester United of Australai
AFC Champion League Champion, A-league champion and ….. Club World Cup champion

Can I dare to dream

Brickowski said | October 9th 2008 @ 10:27am | Report comment

Then who is Chelsea, SJ?

Redb said | October 9th 2008 @ 10:51am | Report comment

I thought we’d already established that Chelsea is in Melbourne and Liverpool, Sydney.

Slippery Jim said | October 9th 2008 @ 11:38am | Report comment

Ah bricks, glad you asked - sadly there is no team even nearing the class of Chelsea as yet to raise its head from the morass of mediocrity. It is only a young compeition after all…we are still awaiting a dynasty of true champions…;)

Ara said | October 9th 2008 @ 1:41pm | Report comment

About 20 of us got together last night after our 0-35 football training to watch Adelaide win 3-0. This is in the outer western suburbs of Sydney (Blacktown) where Rugby League is supposed to be the dominant sport.

oikee said | October 9th 2008 @ 2:28pm | Report comment

Good win. Watched the game this morning, i had the wrong one taped last nite lucky it was on again. Can see where football is headed now and have to say asia is going to make the game massive no dough in my mind. But i have always said this in my reply’s.
Oh well, i will look forward to rugby league being the number 3 code in this country, it does not faise me because its a harder sport to play.
What i do fing interesting is how much affect its going to have in melbourne, being so dominated by afl down there with all the teams, and the ethnic community will be following football in both codes, one is going to suffer, as for league it will just plod along as it has, suffer a bit in sydney as ussual.

The standard was very good, it is this that worries me, are these teams ranked high because i have said that if oz can beat other good teams then its sad to think that its easy to get to the top so quickly, whats been going on with the rest of the world or are we just going to be better than other countries.

It really has not changed a hell of alot over the years, a bit quicker passing and i seen one overhead kick towards the end but still seems about the same, the tackling is not as harsh as it was back then. Pretty good overall, will get a good following.

I will keep a better eye on the game after that, its caught my interest just to see how this champions league pans out. Cheers.

Redb said | October 9th 2008 @ 2:45pm | Report comment

Glad you enjoyed the game.

Seeing as you dont know much about AFL or Melbourne I’ll enlighten you. Melb Victory was in the ACL last year, the AFL survived.

Midfielder said | October 9th 2008 @ 2:57pm | Report comment

Ara

You and I both know what is the true heartland sport in WS …….. Put an A-League team in the right place ……..IMO Blacktown Demons if the ground (Gabbie Stadium) could be expanded is the best located ground in WS, with train Bus & road links in place and heaps of public car parking spaces close by, …………..only hold 6, 500 heaps of room tho to expand ……………Clive Plamer where are you.

Redb said | October 9th 2008 @ 3:25pm | Report comment

Midfielder,

Won’t get any arguments from me. Not for a few years anyway.

jimbo said | October 9th 2008 @ 4:09pm | Report comment

I thought Simon Hill went a little over the top when he called Adelaide the Manchester United of the A-League, but after last night you would have to give them a lot of credit.

They fought back really well after being dominated by Kuruvchi and made it look easy in the end. Given all the extra games and pressure and attention, they didn’t tire or give up at any stage.

You’d have to give them a big chance in the second leg even though Kuruvchi scored five in their last ACL game.
They don’t do that every week and Big Bad Sasha Ogenovski is back for the second leg - watch out Rivaldo - so I can’t see them scoring 4 unanswered goals and knocking Adelaide out.

Well done the Reds, really enjoyed the victory on your behalf.

The Link said | October 9th 2008 @ 4:28pm | Report comment

Ara, so you and 20 mates got together for a bit of a knees up for the game. That’s great, hope you had fun, but proves nothing about RL or Football being the dominant sport.

For participation, there’s no contest, its football, with RL 2nd. For any other reasonable measure in WS, RL stacks up and then some.

This may change over time, but best not to get too carried away, alot of work still to be done.

Dave said | October 9th 2008 @ 4:36pm | Report comment

Jimbo

There’s only ONE U-N-I-T-E-D.

However well done to AU and l will be cheering them on for as long as they stay in the comp, even as a Melb Victory, currently top of the HAL table and Pre Season Champs, supporter. In 2010 it will be the great quadruple (ManU, MV, Socceroos, England) with ManU winning the EPL and ECL, MV HAL and ACL and Socceroos making the 1/4 finals of WC in SA (England to win it).

Midfielder said | October 9th 2008 @ 4:46pm | Report comment

RL & Football have co existed together in WS for yonks …………… RL has a strong support base ………. so does football mind you remember their are five former NSL clubs, and presently 6 state teams in WS ………… so if a professionally run A-League club gets based in WS …….. it will do well much better than SFC and do well over all. But Parramatta / Penrith/ Wests plus there is strong number of RL permier league clubs as well, Wenty / Guildford / Mounties so both codes will do well.

Norm said | October 9th 2008 @ 4:47pm | Report comment

KB
just got a text message from Vidi..jimbo & I are to leave Brissy straight after the Qatar match & meet him at the souvlaki & kebab cafe in downtown Tashkent were we’ll discuss a range of defensive tactics…

jimbo said | October 9th 2008 @ 8:56pm | Report comment

Dave,
Urawa Reds are known as the Manchester United of the J-League - so if its an Adelaide v Urawa ACL final it will be a match between the Manchester United of the A-League against the Manchester United of the J-League.

Now if the real Manchester United were to win the European Champions League then the World Club Championship would involve the the Manchester United of the A-League against the Manchester United of the J-League and the Manchester United of the English Premier League!

Millster said | October 9th 2008 @ 8:58pm | Report comment

Jimbo - makes me so, so glad I support crap teams

Koala Bear said | October 9th 2008 @ 9:01pm | Report comment

Norm,
phew that’s a relief; for a time there I thought you may have been taken captive… a ransom note from the Bengal Lancers appeared on my desk … Obviously a hoax.. Norm, stay close to the bus the banks are wanting to for close due to my non repayments..

jimbo said | October 9th 2008 @ 9:09pm | Report comment

KB and Norm,
Doris, Pimbo, Arnie, Holman, Nicky and I are having a dolphin of a time on the Gold Coast and we’ve sold the team bus for a handful of magic beans.

Doris has thrown them out the window (as per the instructions) and we wait till morning to see what becomes of them.

Cheers lads

Come on ye Reds!!!

Socceroos Oi Oi Oi!

Cpaaa said | October 10th 2008 @ 8:07am | Report comment

3-0 a great result but i still dont feel comfortable. i will be rejoicing with a o-o draw come tashkent. no doubt counter plays by aurellio, i still cant believe im supporting adelaide, makes me ill.
dasilva congrats on the adelaide voice ive always thought adelaidians were weak in the choir department.
can someone please explain who are we playing? SBS call them Bunyodkor and Fox call them Kuruvchi, as far as i know the name had been changed from kuruvchi to Bunyodkor and yet on their website they still use both….anyone know something i dont?

dasilva said | October 10th 2008 @ 9:30am | Report comment

I agree considering Adelaide conceded 3 goals against Central coast and Bunyodkor score 5 against saipa

Now with Kuruvchi and Bunyodkor. Kuruvchi means builder as they were a working class amaturer club. After they got out of the group stage as well as doing well in the Uzbeks league they change their name to BUnyodkor which means creator. They believe the name change reflects their growing stature and class in Asian football (Strange, why would you abandon the roots of your club?). Kuruvchi was the name of the club when they were in the ACL group stages. They later change their club to Bunyodkor in the knock out stages. THe reason why FOX calls the club Kuruvchi is because ACL still recognise the club with that name as they were registered with the ACL by entering the ACL competition with Kuruvchi. I guest next season if they qualify they will be called Bunyodkor. So there official name is Bunyodkor but ACL name is Kuruvchi.

Cpaaa said | October 10th 2008 @ 10:06am | Report comment

thanks man, thats two words i now know in uzbec.
hey dasilva, your an adelaide boy, you going to japan for the cwc if adelaide advance?
im considering going even if they dont. tickets on fifa start at 2000yen aussie 30 bucks.

dasilva said | October 10th 2008 @ 10:12am | Report comment

No too sure yet
Being in Uni doesn’t pay well

We’ll see

Millster said | October 10th 2008 @ 11:00am | Report comment

Cpaaa - i certainly will. Have some opportunities to justify work trips to Tokyo over next 12 months and you may just find me making sure that the work and the football dates are strangely aligned…

Cpaaa said | October 10th 2008 @ 11:32am | Report comment

damm it millster, i need a job like that. travelling for football is a good excuse but its always better when someone else pays….. but we still might cross paths in tokyo. 2be continued..

Millster said | October 10th 2008 @ 12:17pm | Report comment

I’ll be the one dancing on the bar at the Gas Panic Club in Roppongi

jimbo said | October 10th 2008 @ 1:47pm | Report comment

Speaking of refereeing decisions and conspiracies, having a closer look at AU’s big win, if we had a different referee, like one that favoured Western Asia, the result may have been different.
For the first goal the ball seemed to strike Diego high up on the arm near the shoulder and the referee could have given a hand ball and disallowed the goal.

For the second goal Dodd climber all over the back of the Uzbek defender before the ball fell to Barbiero. Could’ve been a free kick the other way.

And of course the third was a penalty, but how many times have we seen defenders bump into the attacking players in the box and not given a penalty.

Like most, I thought the referee had a good game, but a different referee might have meant a different result.
How would the Manchester United of the A-League have felt about going to Tashkent after a 0-0 home leg.

If it was Victory and Breeze refereeing they would have had players sent off and lost.

peter_ga said | October 11th 2008 @ 4:21pm | Report comment

I think Adelaide play the most “tactical” football in the A-league. I don’t believe other A-league clubs would have done as well as they have in the ACL. I do not think man-u play tactical football, because their fans hate it. Sometimes lower-order EPL clubs play tactically against a top-4 club, otherwise EPL clubs go for all-out attack. OTOH all Italian Serie-A clubs play tactically, unless they are really down on form.

Koala Bear said | October 11th 2008 @ 5:28pm | Report comment

peter_ga,
I think Man U were very tactical last year; especially in the UCL and the matches I saw them play away to Barcelona and against Chelsea in the UCL final … Oh yes indeed, they were very defence minded and counter attacked with C. Ronaldo as the lone ranger up front, with Rooney playing very deep…

By jimbo
October 8th 2008 @ 1:52am