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Graham Arnold must enjoy the seaside lifestyle, because he is about to swap Gosford for Sendai and a coaching gig at one of Japan’s most passionately supported clubs.
Following a day of fervent speculation, the late-night mail around Arnold’s impending exit from A-League champions Central Coast has the former Socceroos coach set to join one of the J. League’s most popular clubs, Vegalta Sendai.
If ever there was a cult club in Japan, it’s Vegalta – a northern outfit which routinely attracts full houses to its football-specific Yurtec Stadium home, regardless of the division they’re in.
Lately Vegalta have spent more time among the upper echelons of J1, than they have playing the second tier football their loyal fans had been used to. And with a fourth-place finish in 2011 followed by an unprecedented runners-up spot last year, it seems they’ve grown accustomed to success.
A first ever J. League title is in Vegalta’s sights and happily for the Australian football community, Arnold is viewed as the man to capture it.
That the former Socceroos coach is thought of so highly in the Land of the Rising Sun should come as no surprise.
Brought to Japan by the late Eddie Thomson to play for Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 1997, Arnold featured alongside Tony Popovic and Aurelio Vidmar at a time when Australian players were very much in vogue in the J. League.
Fast forward almost 15 years and Australian football has gone from strength to strength, with the Socceroos beating Japan at a World Cup and finishing second in an Asian Cup, while A-League sides have made at least some headway in the AFC Champions League.
And while Australian teams haven’t quite reached the pinnacle of Asian football just yet, plenty of teams in Japan have taken note of the strides being made Down Under.
Clubs like Shimizu S-Pulse, Urawa Reds and the aforementioned Hiroshima are known admirers of the Australian game, however it’s Sendai – whose coach Makoto Teguramori looks set to take charge of Japan’s Olympic team – which appears to have secured Arnold’s signature.
Football in Australia is all the better for it. Not only will Arnold’s presence in Japan open doors for other Australian coaches, it will vastly enhance Arnold’s own managerial experience.
It’s one thing to win a national championship in your own country, but entirely another to compete in a foreign nation with a different language, different cultural practices and a vastly different skill-set.
If Arnold thought he knew pressure in Gosford, just wait until he stands on the touchline for his home debut in Sendai, as throngs of yellow-clad fans chanting in unison throw their impressive support behind the team.
No doubt the Rakuten Eagles’ shock win in this year’s Nippon Professional Baseball league has further inspired the citizens of Sendai – and arguably thrown down the gauntlet to Vegalta, in what has traditionally been a football town.
And given that Arnold helped transform a dour Mariners outfit into an easy-on-the-eye attacking unit, he’ll be expected to do the same – and rein in some tempestuous Brazilian egos while he’s at it – at a Vegalta side currently known for its physical brand of football.
Whether Arnold succeeds or fails in Sendai is somewhat of a moot point – at least from a broader Australian perspective – because his appointment proves that Australian football is finally earning its dues in Asia.
He may find the going tough in a cut-throat 18-team division, but if ever Arnold wanted to test himself, then Sendai is an ideal place to do so.
And with a Socceroos coach who keeps a close eye on the J. League, not to mention a Western Sydney Wanderers tactician who brought over one of the A-League’s best ever imports in Shinji Ono, we could soon be seeing a lot closer links between the two countries.