- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Losing a playoff game for a spot in the main draw of the Asian Champions League has turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise for Adelaide United.
It would have been a crushing disappointment to the playing group and coaching staff at the time, but had they won and been forced to juggle the ACL with the A-League would they have still been able to win the Premier’s Plate? Or even finish in the top two?
There is a massive doubt over that. You only had to witness how difficult it was for Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC over the closing rounds to be reminded of the challenge that playing in the two competitions at once creates.
The positive for Adelaide is that by finishing first at the end of the regular season they have guaranteed themselves a place in the main draw of next year’s ACL. So they don’t have to wait that much longer for a crack after all. They can have their cake and eat it too, if they’re good enough.
When they lost their qualifying game 2-1 at home against Chinese side Shandong Luneng on February 9, they were still in sixth place.
The battle for the plate, the all-important top two and the top four places within the final six was so tight over the closing rounds that any significant positives and negatives had the potential to impact enormously.
Adelaide finished on 49 points, one point ahead of both second and third-placed Western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar. That’s how tight it was.
Had they qualified, United would have played four ACL group-stage games by now, the same as Victory and Sydney have. They would have had to try to cope with the travel, the fatigue, the possible extra injuries and the quick back-ups.
If Adelaide had been able to put up with all of that and still won the plate, or finished in the top two, it would have been a sensational performance. The odds would have been against it.
But they are there now and with the knowledge that they’re in the ACL next year they can give this finals series all they’ve got in the quest for the championship.
Every player wants to win everything possible, but if Adelaide were to complete the plate-championship double and they were just doing OK in the A-League by the time next year’s ACL starts, they could make the continental competition their priority.
It wouldn’t mean they weren’t still trying to win in the A-League, but it is virtually impossible for an A-League club to be at their peak in both competitions at the same time.
They just don’t have the resources to create the depth of strength in their squads that the big Asian clubs do.
Sydney, whether it was subconscious or not, clearly made the ACL their priority during the closing rounds of the A-League. Again, it didn’t mean they weren’t trying to win in the A-League, but they performed better in the ACL, so there is no other way to look at it.
Victory looked like they were trying to stretch their mentality wide enough to cover both competitions, but it’s hard.
Anyway, now that the smoke has cleared we’ve got Adelaide and Western Sydney in the top two positions and right now they do look like the best two teams.
So, as fierce as the battle was between those two teams and Brisbane and Melbourne City for the top two places and as great a run as Perth Glory made over the second half of the season, I’ll be surprised if Adelaide and Wanderers don’t both make it to the grand final from here.
The finals series is a sprint, with the top two teams getting the first week off and then playing at home for a place in the grand final. That is a huge advantage for them, which is why the top two have both made the grand final in each of the three years this format has been used.
Roar look to be the best chance of getting through to the decider from outside of the top two. They can score goals in a hurry if necessary and that is obviously a big advantage in knockout games.
Victory are likely to struggle to get past Roar in Brisbane on Friday, particularly if star striker Besart Berisha is not successful with his appeal to cut a two-game suspension in half.
City have pretty much run their race. They could still get past Perth in Melbourne on Sunday, but I couldn’t tip them away from home against either of the top two teams. Opposition teams have done a very good job of restricting City’s key men recently.
Glory’s chances against City will largely depend on whether injured players Diego Castro, in particular, and Chris Harold recover in time to play, but they could have really done with a home game in the first week of the finals.
Even when you take into account the fact they were without Castro and Harold, they were very disappointing in their 4-0 loss to Sydney in the final round.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.