Third time lucky for Japan-bound Reds?

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By Mike Tuckerman, 4 Dec 2008 Mike Tuckerman is a Roar Expert

Tagged:: A-League, Adelaide United, Asian Champions League, Aurelio Vidmar, Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo, football, Japan, Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, South Australia, Sydney FC

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Adelaide United may be second in the A-League, but Reds coach Aurelio Vidmar could be forgiven for having his mind on other matters. In just under a fortnight, Vidmar’s team will take to the pitch at the National Stadium in Tokyo, as Adelaide United get set to clash with the might of world football in the FIFA Club World Cup.

The Reds qualified despite a 5-0 aggregate hammering at the hands of Gamba Osaka in the two-legged Asian Champions League final, and standing in Adelaide’s way of a rematch with the Osakans are Oceania champions Waitakere United.

The Kiwis will be battle hardened after their participation in last year’s tournament, where they were beaten by Iranian side Sepahan in a play-off to decide who would go through to the quarter-finals.

One post-match remark proved just how much of an unknown quantity the New Zealand side were, with a member of the Japanese press suggesting to Waitekere captain Danny Hay that his team had lost because Tokyo was “too cold” for them!

It’s not quite the same as a trip to Iceland, but the National Stadium – or “Kokuritsu” as it is affectionately known in Japan – is certainly a cold place to be in mid-December.

United’s Brazilian quartet had best pack their favourite pair of gloves, and with only 25,000 fans turning out in the Japanese capital to watch the same qualifying play-off last year, they should also prepare to play in front of a half-empty stadium at the cavernous home of the 1964 Summer Olympics.

There will be more fans in attendance at Toyota Stadium on December 14, with Adelaide hoping to book another showdown with Gamba Osaka at one of Japan’s most stunning sporting arenas.

There’s no doubt that the South Australians were outclassed in the Asian Champions League final, but they could face a Gamba side on the brink of exhaustion.

Akira Nishino’s men started their season at the Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii back in February – Gamba won that friendly tournament – and since then they’ve featured in the J. League, the Champions League, the League Cup and the Emperor’s Cup, as well as hosting the inaugural Suruga Bank Championship in July.

Last year Nishino complained that young defender Michihiro Yasuda returned from the mid-season FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada suffering from fatigue, and key man Yasuhito Endo is a high-profile sufferer of Hepatitis C, leaving the mercurial midfielder at constant risk of exhaustion.

Fellow midfielder Takahiro Futagawa is racing against the clock to be fit for the Club World Cup, and with Gamba facing an Emperor’s Cup quarter-final clash against Nagoya Grampus on Christmas Day – knowing that the winners of the cup earn a place in next season’s Asian Champions League – the Osakans could be ripe for the picking in Toyota.

Adelaide United are not the first Australian team to take part in FIFA’s intercontinental jamboree, after NSL club South Melbourne represented Oceania at what was then known as the FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil in 2000.

More recently Sydney FC were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Costa Rican side Deportivo Saprissa at Toyota Stadium in the 2005 edition, before turning in one of the best ever performances by an Australian club side to beat Egyptian giants Al-Ahly 2-1 in the 5/6 play-off in Tokyo.

Adelaide United would dearly love to register at least one win at the FIFA Club World Cup, although United fans will hope that the tournament does not derail their current A-League campaign.

If United fans thought their potential quarter-final opponent looked daunting, they should spare a thought for Aurelio Vidmar and his coaching staff.

Should the Reds beat not only Waitakere United, but also Gamba Osaka, they will then run out in front of 70,000 fans at Yokohama International Stadium on December 18.

And who will stand in their way in the historic port city?

None other than Sir Alex Ferguson, Cristiano Ronaldo and a certain Manchester United.

Follow Mike on twitter @Mike_Tuckerman

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The Crowd Says (20) | Page 1 of Comments

dasilva said | December 4th 2008 @ 3:26am | Report comment

Welcome to The Roar.

It’s good to have someone who specialise in Asian Football writing here (and I notice SBS as well). I can only think of two other Australian journalist who write about Asian Football. Scott Mcintyre and occasionally Jesse Fink. The future is in asia and we don’t know much about it.

Thanks for giving me some hopes for the CWC. I was pretty pessimistic about Adelaide’s chances and was afraid that we might become a laughing stock of the world by losing badly to Gamba again and the 5th place playoff.

It’s nice to know that Gamba Osaka are struggling with injury and fatigue, Adelaide Utd will have a full strength team (with Alemao and Salley able to play) and this will be the best chance of Adelaide beating them and securing themselves a once in a lifetime moment of facing Manchester United in a competitive match. This is exciting stuff.

If Gamba does beat Adelaide at least we are beaten by a team that plays attractive football in the right spirit of the game. I would be supporting them against Man U if adelaide fails. It’s a shame that such a talented football side is not considered a major club in Japan when they are such a joy to watch.

Endo has hepatitis?
First Harry Kewell with autoimmune hepatitis and now Yasuhito Endo with Hepatitis C. I’m pretty shocked that a professional footballer is able to perform at the highest levels with this conditions.

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Midfielder said | December 4th 2008 @ 6:10am | Report comment

Mike welcome to the Roar question in AU do get to play Man U … who gets to wear Red

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Kazama said | December 4th 2008 @ 6:50am | Report comment

Welcome Mike.

All this talk of Gamba struggling is good news for us, but it’ll all mean squat if we can’t knock off the Kiwis to begin with. And dasilva, perhaps playing Man U will be a poisoned chalice – if any team is going to humiliate us it will be them. Surely more people will be watching that than our possible rematch with Gamba as well.

I’d suggest we should all be supporting whoever makes the semi against Man U, as it will be a battle between the have nots (us) and the football aristocrats. Maybe if one of the three teams were able to knock off Man U the rest of the world would start to pay attention to football in this region. Fat chance of that happening though.

Midfielder, I’d imagine Man U would wear red. Surely they wouldn’t let the nobodies from Adelaide have our way against the “Greatest Team in the World” (c).

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dasilva said | December 4th 2008 @ 7:25am | Report comment

This is a FIFA event. It should be a coin tost like it was in the world cup. I imagine FIFA don’t care much about whether Manchester United get to where red or not and that it will treat Manchester United as any other team in the rule book and are subjected to the same laws including the rule of who wears the home jearsey in a neutral match.

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dasilva said | December 4th 2008 @ 7:33am | Report comment

Funny about the poison chalice. I have more confidence that Adelaide will play well against Manchester United then against Gamba. I think Australia will always kick above their weight as underdogs and will inspire themself to play well and not embarrass themselves. 6-0 brazil aside. Australia don’t get flogged even by the best team in the world. It’s the side that’s only one class above us that’s not a star studded team that’s the problem.

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dasilva said | December 4th 2008 @ 7:41am | Report comment

If Barnsley can beat Chelsea. Gamba and Adelaide can beat Manchester United. Especially if they bring their football aristocrat mentality to the match. In tour matches to Asia Manchester United generally lose a couple of matches against the japanese club. They have been humilated by teams like Urawa reds before. If they going to treat Club World Championship as an exhibition match to further there interest in ASIA and have no meaning in the football term. It happen before in the Club World Championship back in 2000 so there are precedence of Manchester flopping at these types of events.

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Kazama said | December 4th 2008 @ 7:45am | Report comment

Maybe Man U will wear a special one-off away strip that they’ll sell to the locals for about $200 each.

Didn’t we lose 7-0 to Croatia about 11 years ago? Anyways, the thing about football is you can never tell what will happen. I know though that if we do end up playing Sir’s boys I’ll cringe every time they get within 50 yards of our goal.

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Kazama said | December 4th 2008 @ 7:49am | Report comment

You have to wonder also what sort of a team Man U will field against us if we played them. Would they play their best XI, or would it be more likely that they’d field a reserves team? Probably the latter you’d think.

Not that they wouldn’t be favourites either way of course. If their reserves can put 5 past Blackburn like they just did this morning then I’d hate to think what they could do to us if they tried.

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Adrian Musolino said | December 4th 2008 @ 10:07am | Report comment

Great article. It is going to be a fascinating little tournament with so many sub plots. Adelaide certainly has its plate full in terms of fixtures over the Christmas period and they really do need to find some winning form. Hopefully they do Australia proud again.

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Mike Tuckerman said | December 4th 2008 @ 10:36am | Report comment

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, it’s great to be on board.

As to who wears which colours, as dasilva said it should come down to a coin toss.

It would be nice to see a rematch between Gamba and Adelaide in Toyota but obviously the Reds have to take care of business against Waitakere United first, and as we all know the Kiwis are rarely a pushover in anything.

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