Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick had every right to criticise Football Federation Australia and the Asian Football Confederation over the AFC Champions League fixture list.

For a tournament that is supposed to represent the cream of Asian football, neither organisation has acted in the best interests of the game when it comes to the scheduling of the Champions League.

“I don’t think there’s any point in dealing with the FFA and AFC, they just don’t move on anything,” Merrick told various media outlets ahead of Victory’s most recent Champions League clash with Korean side Seongnam Ilwha.

Merrick’s choice of words was telling – his suggestion that the two governing bodies are slow to react echoes the fact that both organisations usually deal with problems by ignoring them and hoping that over time they simply go away.

The problematic scheduling affects more than just A-League clubs, with the three big East Asian leagues having either just kicked off – or in the case of the Chinese Super League, not kicked off at all – not that it’s done their sides too much harm so far.

Every season, participating J. League clubs face the dilemma of having to concentrate on their Champions League kick-off while their new domestic campaign clicks into gear just days later.

The idea that all Japanese clubs are out for continental glory is laughable – a source at one Japanese side once told me that they would prefer to miss out on Champions League qualification because the travel required would place a serious strain on their financial resources.

Then there are the matches themselves, which usually descend into farcical hack-fests the minute one side attempts to play some decent football.

His annual rant on the value of the Champions League was as predictable as it was entertaining, but Rising Sun News editor Ken Matsushima was not wrong when he proposed that J. League sides risk life and limb any time they play on the continent.

When Seongman defender Sasa Ognenovski broke Kawasaki skipper Kengo Nakamura’s jaw in a sickening collision in their ACL opener, he rubbed out Frontale’s best player for two months and robbed fans across Asia of the chance to see a genuine star in action.

Ognenovski’s brutal challenge was more clumsy than malicious, but would he have even been half a step behind Nakamura if Seongnam had played more than just one K-League game by the time the two teams met?

Perhaps the answer is to try and move back the start of the tournament by a few weeks, when the A-League and some of the West Asian leagues have wound down and the East Asian teams have had a chance to settle in to their domestic campaigns.

That would at least help to avoid the kind of scenes we saw in Changchun and Kawasaki this week, where subzero conditions and inches of snow either bewildered opponents or made attractive passing football nigh-on impossible.

I want the Champions League to succeed – I think it’s a tournament that has the potential the bridge cultural divides, but at the moment it’s proving more of a hindrance than a help.

And it doesn’t help that many Australians feel like we shouldn’t speak up, as though our entry into the AFC was merely an act of charity and not one that is mutually beneficial to both parties.

Ernie Merrick had every right to criticise the Champions League fixture list, and the deafening silence that ensued says much about the way that Asian football is run.

Nothing will change until the AFC starts to listen to participating clubs, by which time many potential fans may have already lost interest.

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Peruse the various A-League forums in cyberspace, and many fans are claiming that this Sunday’s minor premiership showdown between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory is the most important match in the A-League’s five-year history.

Some supporters have gone as far as suggesting that the Valentine’s Day encounter is the biggest domestic club game ever played in Australia.

I’m sure many former NSL fans will have something to say about that, but there’s no denying that Sunday’s fixture bears all the hallmarks of a classic.

Only two points separate Ernie Merrick’s league leaders from Vitezslav Lavicka’s premiership chasing Sydney FC, and both teams are desperate to sew up the title and the place in the 2011 AFC Champions League that comes with it.

Add to that the fact that Gold Coast United are just a point behind Sydney FC and the seeds are sewn for a tense afternoon in the harbour city – even if the Sky Blues will know the result of Gold Coast’s clash with North Queensland Fury by the time they take to the pitch.

Precisely where they take to the pitch is the question on everybody’s lips, as rumours abound that last weekend’s Edinburgh Military Tattoo did significant damage to the surface of the Sydney Football Stadium.

Whether that forces Sydney FC to move the much-anticipated fixture to Parramatta Stadium remains to be seen, but less than 8,500 fans turned out at the same venue last weekend – albeit in miserable weather conditions.

With showers once again forecast for next weekend, thousands of fans may prefer to stay home and watch the action unfold live on Fox Sports.

That won’t take away from the tactical battle at hand, as the A-League’s stingiest defence aims to keep the most free-flowing attack at bay.

Vitezslav Lavica has undoubtedly moulded a tight-knit unit in his first season in charge, and in Simon Colosimo and Stephan Keller, the Sky Blues possess the sort of hard-nosed central defence that every coach dreams of.

Melbourne are of course missing their self-appointed hard man Kevin Muscat through suspension, but surely of greater concern to coach Ernie Merrick is the absence of injured talisman Archie Thompson.

The dubious signing of Central Coast Mariners striker Nik Mrdja aside – Thompson’s absence hits hard at precisely the wrong end of the season, even if Carlos Hernandez is currently in sparkling form.

The tireless Matthew Kemp could also miss the entire finals series, and the absence of key players may hand the advantage to Sydney FC should the pair meet once again the finals.

Sydney’s major concern this season has been a lack of goals, and marquee man John Aloisi is still looking to silence the critics despite his two-goal haul last weekend.

The stage could be set for the former Socceroo to wreak havoc on a depleted Victory defence, as Aloisi looks to stamp his authority on a Sydney side that his missed fellow striker Mark Bridge for long stretches of the campaign.

It’s a dream match-up for both the marketing men and women and the football purists, as Australia’s two biggest clubs go head-to-head in what what promises to be a fascinating stoush.

Whether it truly is the biggest A-League clash ever played is debatable, but there’s no question that FFA officials have got the final day blockbuster they desperately craved.

The weather might be lousy, a couple of key players are crocked: but this is precisely the kind of Valentine’s Day showdown fans were hoping to fall in love with when the A-League kicked off.

If there’s only one thing left to wish for – besides a decent playing surface – let’s just hope that it doesn’t end in a scoreless draw!

I attended the A-League clash between Brisbane Roar and Sydney FC last weekend, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. It wasn’t the result that bothered me, but rather the heavy-handed antics of the Suncorp Stadium security personnel.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have to deal with security staff up in “prawn sandwich land,” but after deciding to drag my long-suffering wife along to the game, we pitched up in the away stand with the rest of the Sydney FC fans.

Here we were treated to the sight of a crack squad of ‘operations staff’ who spent the entire game harassing away supporters.

From the opening whistle to the minute referee Michael Hester blew for full-time, there was not a single moment when Sydney FC fans were not being pestered by a constant procession of overly obnoxious security personnel.

And before anyone highlights my obvious Sky Blue bias, I’ll point out that I’m well aware of the reputation that precedes Suncorp Stadium staff.

My Brisbane-supporting friend Andrew hasn’t missed a Roar home game for years, and he was quick to warn me about watching games at Suncorp Stadium.

For their loyalty to a club losing fans quicker than Alex Brosque goes down in the box, Andrew and his mates have been told to keep quiet, forced to switch bays and informed that if they carry on like bona fide football fans, they’ll be permanently shown the door.

Things have at least been better ever since the club’s Marketing and Commercial Manager met to thrash things out with them – but it’s still a hard slog for away fans.

At one point during the Sydney game, four members of the local constabulary took up a position near the top of the aisle to join the three operations staff in overseeing just 70 away fans.

One officer stood directly in front of my line of view – despite his job appearing to consist of shuffling along anyone who was hindering another patron’s enjoyment – but do you think he appreciated it when I asked him to move?

My first two requests were summarily ignored, so much so that I assumed my officer friend was suffering from hearing loss.

But my third request – delivered less politely than the first two – was met with sheer contempt, as the officer snarled that he “was moving” before delivering a glare that could curdle milk.

Now, I appreciate the good work police do – they’re one of those services that everyone’s thankful for when you really need them – but the sight of four officers bored witless and seemingly itching to wade in amongst fans was a tad disconcerting.

For comparison’s sake, I celebrated my birthday at the Gabba as Australia cruised to victory over Pakistan in the first of the one day cricket internationals.

Played just four days before Australia Day, the atmosphere was a veritable tinderbox of alcohol-soaked nationalism – or quasi-racism, depending on your stance – fuelled by a hot summer sun.

The police worked overtime in the outer, evicting drunken fans, breaking up feuds and generally keeping the peace in what can occasionally descend into a brutally hostile atmosphere.

Their actions at the cricket were appropriate, but their presence at Suncorp Stadium was over-zealous and largely unnecessary.

It’s all well and good for the FFA to produce advertisements featuring bikini models telling us to “give it a whirl,” but some of us live in the real world, and it contains fans who like to stand and sing boisterously at football games without the aid of multi-coloured beach towels.

Yet the fans lauded on TV for producing an atmosphere are the very same consistently targeted by security personnel for doing so.

As much as it’s frustrating to focus on the negative aspects of the A-League, the treatment of away fans across the country is a clear blight on the game.

Either the FFA should liaise with security personnel in a manner which makes it clear that away fans are a necessary feature, or they can look forward to ever-dwindling crowds as a vital demographic turns its back on the game.

Of all the conjecture surrounding Robbie Fowler’s shock omission from the North Queensland Fury line-up, not much of it has focused on the reasoning behind coach Ian Ferguson’s decision to change his formation and play a lone striker up front.

“We went down the line of changing my formation to 4-1-4-1 and I just needed a big striker up there to try and run at the corners and try and hold it up for us,” said Ferguson – who went on to explain that he felt that Fowler was a “a bit jaded.”

Far be it from me to second guess a man who played more than 400 professional games and who has cut his managerial teeth in the A-League, but surely the visit of Brisbane Roar shouldn’t facilitate such negative tactics?

The Roar are hardly the A-League’s most in-form team, and a quick glance of the table reveals that Brisbane possess the equal second-worst defensive record – with only North Queensland having conceded more goals.

But despite both sides still harbouring a mathematical chance of qualifying for the finals, fans were treated to a tepid encounter littered with heavy challenges and the sight of the A-League’s most recognisable star watching from the stands.

However, if some of the weekend’s other fixtures were anything to go by, Ferguson’s decision to pack the midfield and “run at the corners” makes at least some degree of sense.

In a weekend full of rash tackles, brutal aerial challenges and simmering flash points, physical football was well and truly on the agenda.

It prompted Jason Culina to label the Central Coast Mariners “the dirtiest team in (the) A-League” in his weekend column on The World Game, but many of those who left comments did so to lambast Culina for so frankly airing his views

That’s despite John Hutchinson’s X-rated challenge on Zenon Caravella sparking an unseemly melee which saw both clubs earn misconduct notices from the FFA, as did Perth Glory, Wellington Phoenix and Adelaide United.

Of course, Culina’s admonition of the Mariners should come with a disclaimer, since his Gold Coast team-mates Steve Pantelidis and Shane Smeltz have both been involved in their fair share of illegal challenges this season.

But if the A-League wants to shake off the tag of being overly reliant on the physical side of things, Round 24 was hardly a positive advertisement.

In a sobering editorial for Goal.com, Asian expert John Duerden recently claimed that the A-League “needs Asian technique in order to improve” and went on to suggest that an injection of “Asian technique and pace… needs to be a hefty one.”

Fortunately for A-League fans, the weekend’s final match between Newcastle Jets and Sydney FC at Energy Australia Stadium provided some semblance of attractive football, as both teams knocked the ball around and kept the bone-crunching tackles to a minimum.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with physical football, but I can’t help but feel that it’s a shame Ian Ferguson felt compelled to play journeyman Dyron Daal at the expense of Robbie Fowler because he wanted his team to “hold the ball up.”

And in a competition that has seen the likes of Fred, Nicky Carle and Juninho all come and go, I’d hate to see creative talent turn their backs on the A-League because of an over reliance on ‘hard yakka.’

We all know that A-League coaches need results to stay in the job. But every now and then, surely we’d all like to see a little bit of ‘the beautiful game’ too.

It’s not often that the Carling Cup semi-finals take on major significance in England, but then it’s not often that the world’s richest club takes on the world’s most indebted with a place in a knock-out final at stake.

That the two teams hail from one of world football’s traditional hotbeds makes tonight’s Carling Cup showdown between Sheikh Mansour’s Manchester City and the Glazer family’s Manchester United all the more intriguing, as the nouveau riche of Eastlands face off against their city rivals.

The match – postponed due to last week’s inclement weather – takes on added significance thanks to the growing alarm at plans by the Glazer family to sell and lease back Old Trafford and United’s Carrington training ground in a bid to refinance their mounting debts.

So incensed are some supporters that they’ve asked Sir Alex Ferguson to resign in protest, and whilst the vocal few might represent just a fraction of United’s global fanbase, there’s no doubt that a growing sense of unease is creeping across the English game.

It comes in part because UEFA has vowed to crack down on heavily indebted clubs – a decision that has reputedly earned the seal of approval from Chelsea’s billionaire benefactor Roman Abramovich.

Chelsea are just one of number of top flight English clubs that could see their spending reined in, but the move could come too late for Portsmouth – winners of the 2008 FA Cup final.

Faced with a winding up order and crippled by seemingly insurmountable debts, the troubled southern club have thrice failed to pay player’s wages this season and have now seen a transfer embargo slapped upon them.

They may have once paid top dollar for the likes of Glen Johnson, Sol Campbell, Sylvain Distin, Lassana Diarra, Niko Krancjar and strikers Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe to call Pompey home, but they did so in the Premier League’s smallest stadium, with matchday revenues failing to cover the massive wage bill.

Former Portsmouth coach Harry Redknapp – who moved on to Tottenham and gutted the Pompey squad in the process – now oversees a Spurs side looking to move away from their own 36,000-capacity White Hart Lane home, as they too look to keep up with the big spenders of the English game.

It’s a similar story across the division as Liverpool supporters grapple with their bickering American owners, West Ham United search for new investment and Arsenal continue to pay off their Ashburton Grove home at the cost of the big-name signings fans crave.

English football may be awash with talent, but it’s also burdened by a mountain of debt, and things will only get worse if the next TV rights deal comes complete with a bargain-basement price tag.

Of course, it’s not just English clubs that are feeling the credit crunch, with plenty of sides in La Liga and Serie A poring nervously over their accounts.

But it’s the lure of the Premier League that continues to attract both sponsors and sheikhs alike, keen to cash in and generate funds or fame by association.

How much longer that continues is a question many fans in recession-hit England are now asking, with the bubble seemingly set to burst on the halcyon days of Premier League spending.

It’s often seen as a hindrance, but while the A-League’s salary cap might prevent clubs from signing global superstars, it also ensures that teams won’t disappear overnight.

I doubt there’ll be too many thinking about that when Roberto Mancini’s side run out at the City of Manchester Stadium, but perhaps it’s a point worth considering when the world’s latest “richest club” takes on one now heavily in debt.

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It’s almost a case of “who wants it?” when it comes to league leadership in the A-League, as Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory slug it out in a heavyweight title fight, with an inconsistent Gold Coast United still hoping to pounce as the competition heads into its final rounds.

Vitezslav Lavicka may have delighted Sydney fans by taking up the option to stay on for another year at the club, but his team were largely unimpressive in their recent scoreless draw away at Perth Glory.

Fortunately for fans of the harbour city side, Melbourne Victory were even worse in their 3-2 defeat on the road at ten-men Newcastle Jets, as Ernie Merrick’s men crashed to their second defeat on the trot.

Gold Coast were not much better in their 1-1 home draw with bottom club Adelaide United – and goalscorer Shane Smeltz should have been sent off long before his dramatic stoppage time equaliser – leaving fans scratching their heads as to just who the league’s most dominant team is this season.

If momentum counts for anything, and in a competition as tight as the A-League it surely does, then Branko Culina’s unheralded Newcastle Jets could have a major say in the destination of the title.

Newcastle’s meteoric rise has been matched by Central Coast’s sharp decline, with the Mariners now in danger of missing out on the finals after looking a sure thing just two months ago.

All of this is probably good news for A-League officials, with the league campaign set to go down to the wire as teams continue to jostle desperately for a place in the top six.

I doubt AFC supremo Mohammed Bin Hammam was thrilled to see Wellington Phoenix scale to the dizzying heights of fifth, but even he must have been impressed by Eugene Dadi’s spectacular debut goal for the Kiwi club.

The 36-year-old’s stunning bicycle kick was as good a finish as you’ll see this season, but it was his bustling all-round performance that suggested Dadi could prove a key signing for Ricki Herbert’s team.

One wonders if the Ivorian veteran still had something to offer a Perth Glory side for whom Branko Jelic has proved an injury-plagued addition, not to mention the fact that there’s no guarantee that Mile Sterjovski will stick around until the end of the campaign.

Elsewhere Brisbane Roar and North Queensland remain in finals contention, although the former are seemingly wracked by internal conflict, whilst the latter have been decimated by an injury list more akin to the North Queensland Cowboys.

Only Adelaide United look forlorn at the bottom of the standings, with Gold Coast’s stoppage-time equaliser in Robina essentially sealing the South Australian side’s fate for the season.

It’s tight at the top, and happily for A-League fans we may have to wait until Grand Final day to determine who the best side truly is.

It’s Sydney’s premiership to lose, but even they will have to take a breather once another gripping league campaign comes to a close. After all, there’s still an entire finals series to negotiate!

Congratulations to Gamba Osaka for their latest Emperor’s Cup win, which came at the expense of Josh Kennedy’s plucky Nagoya Grampus and ensured that Adelaide United will play Sanfrecce Hiroshima in this year’s AFC Champions League.

Sanfrecce might not be one of the biggest names in Japanese football, but they played some superb football in 2009 – just a year after winning promotion back to the top flight.

They’ve lost playmaker Yosuke Kashiwagi to Urawa Reds for the coming season, but in Hisato Sato they possess one of the most prolific goalscorers in the J. League.

They also have some of the best young Japanese talent around, after goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa signed on from relegated Oita Trinita to join Japan international Tomoaki Makino, the influential Ryota Moriwaki and midfield lynchpin Toshihiro Aoyama at the core of a highly talented group of youngsters.

Throw in current Bulgarian international Ilian Stoyanov and flying Croatian winger Mihael Mikic and it’s not hard to see why Mihailo Petrovic’s fearless side played some of the most impressive football in Asia last year.

I’m sure Aurelio Vidmar knows all about Sanfrecce Hiroshima and their dynamic brand of football: after all, he played for club in the late 1990’s.

Vidmar’s is just one of a growing number of links between Australia and the J. League, which Nagoya striker Kennedy, new Shimizu S-Pulse signing Eddy Bosnar and Mark Milligan will call home in 2010.

Milligan will do so in J2, after he was signed from Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua as a replacement for the Shimizu-bound Bosnar, with the former Sydney FC and Newcastle Jets man set to start a new life in Chiba at recently relegated JEF United.

The trio aren’t exactly blazing a trail in the Japanese game – there was plenty of Australian talent in Japan before the turn of the century – but their presence offers a welcome glimpse into one Asia’s top leagues.

On that note, it was wonderful to see highlights of the Emperor’s Cup final on “The World Game” on Sunday, with SBS commentator Vitor Sobral providing an excellent call of the game for good measure.

It’s a pity Socceroos striker Kennedy couldn’t conjure a win for his gritty Nagoya side, although things could have been so different had he got his boot to Magnum’s cut-back with the scores still level at 1-1.

Gamba’s eventual 4-1 victory was masterminded by recently crowned Asian footballer of the year Yasuhito Endo and gave them back-to-back Emperor’s Cup trophies.

It also propelled fourth-placed J. League finishers Sanfrecce into the Champions League, as Gamba had already qualified via their own league position.

But it’s not just at the top end of the Japanese game that links are being forged, if the experiences of former A-League midfielder Naoki Imaya are anything to go by.

Imaya had a brief stint in the A-League with the doomed New Zealand Knights, although he also enjoyed spells in the National Soccer League and Swiss football in a multinational and multilingual career.

The young tactician has just been appointed head coach at Waseda United – currently based out of one Japan’s most prestigious universities, but eventually aiming to join the professional ranks.

However, the former midfielder hasn’t forgotten his Australian links, and next week he will bring his ‘Touch Of Class’ coaching academy to Sydney for a four-day clinic aimed at exposing Australian youngsters to the high technical standards that have made Japanese football renowned throughout the region.

His aim is to bridge the gap between Japanese and Australian football using his intimate knowledge of both and focusing extensively on technical skills.

Imaya’s vision is a reminder of the burgeoning links between two of the region’s powerhouses, at a time when Asian sides are increasingly looking to flex their muscle on the international stage.

When I was in high school, I dreamed of travelling the globe. I mostly blame Les Murray for this, because his ‘World Soccer’ show became compulsory viewing of a Saturday afternoon.

Every weekend after watching the show, I’d dream of the days when I too could stand on the terraces of world football’s most famous stadia, watching the best players on the planet strut their stuff in front of packed houses.

The reality is that when I was old enough to set out for Europe, I spent most of my time watching dreadful German third division games at Fortuna Köln’s crumbling Südstadion.

Nevertheless, I always appreciated that football offered me a more worldly view than the staid suburban environment I grew up in.

So it was with a sense of excitement that I greeted the news that Australia was to bid to host the World Cup finals, although my joy was apparently not shared by those who call the NRL and AFL their sport of choice.

They argue that the cost of halting the domestic NRL and AFL seasons is too great to bother mounting a serious bid to host the World Cup, but as someone whose love of the round ball game has resulted in numerous trips abroad, I can’t help but feel that such complaints are a tad myopic.

In a country that craves international recognition, turning down the world’s biggest sporting event because it temporarily impacts on local affairs is like denying Rafael Nadal a shot at the Australian Open because hard courts don’t suit his natural game.

That is to say, not a particularly smart idea.

For a nation that has a reputation for being open-minded and cosmopolitan, it seems absurd to sabotage the chance to host the world’s most important sporting event because it impacts on local affairs.

I was at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and I can safely say that the tournament supersedes anything this country has ever seen.

And as someone who not only hails from the rugby league heartland that is western Sydney, but who has also watched the odd game of AFL in Melbourne, that’s a statement I feel qualified to make.

The football World Cup should be right up our alley, so it’s a shame that so many cloak their views in quasi-nationalist rhetoric to claim that football is a foreign sport and that parochial interests must be protected.

They are entitled to their opinions – but so are the thousands of fans whose passion for the round ball game is not intended as a snub to domestic sports, and who support football simply because of a love for the game.

These fans might occasionally be drowned out by the din of newspaper columnists looking to protect their own self-interests, but undoubtedly they exist.

I can understand that NRL and AFL fans don’t wish to see their respective seasons interrupted by a World Cup.

But since the essence of ground-sharing means exactly that – to share – perhaps these fans can take a temporary back seat to a tournament that makes the Olympics look like a village get-together.

We’re talking about a potential $5.3 billion economic windfall – according to the boffins who come up with these figures – not to mention the hundreds of millions who tune into the tournament on TV sets across the globe.

And in a rapidly globalised world, hosting a World Cup would make us truly global citizens.

Whether that’s something the average Australian wants is another topic for debate.

But if the ethos of being Australian is to “get in and have a go,” I’d like to see the Australian government mount an open and honest bid to host the World Cup finals – regardless of whether that puts a few noses out of joint amongst the status quo.

I’m sure that NRL and AFL fans will disagree, but I don’t think I’m alone in that desire.

One of the common complaints of the A-League is that so many decisions seem to be made by non-football people. From odd scheduling to inconsistent suspensions, several of the decisions stemming from FFA headquarters have left fans scratching their heads.

A recurring issue is the failure to consistently accommodate international match-dates into the A-League fixture list.

As one of the first to trumpet Jason Culina’s decision to join the A-League, the FFA has been decidedly mute on Gold Coast’s marquee signing missing key games for his club side when the national team are in action.

More embarrassing was FIFA’s intervention during the Beijing Olympics, after FFA decided that goalkeeper Danny Vukovic could serve a domestic ban in two parts.

The tailor-made suspension was intended to allow Vukovic to represent his country in Beijing, however the world game’s governing body were quick to point out that allowing Vukovic to play internationally was “contrary to the spirit of FIFA regulations.”

So it’s with a degree of trepidation that one approaches an A-League fixture list which includes two matches on Boxing Day and another on New Year’s Eve.

Playing the games on or around public holidays isn’t a new idea.

The A-League’s inaugural campaign featured games on December 31 and New Year’s Day, as well as a clash on Australia Day.

But it was an epic rain-deferred Round 15 match during the 2007-08 season that proved just how successful fixtures scheduled around the holiday season could be.

That clash took place at Bluetongue Stadium, three days before Christmas, and saw 17,514 fans pile through the gates of the atmospheric ground to watch Sydney FC defeat Central Coast Mariners 5-4 in a classic.

So memorable was that encounter, that the following season saw the Newcastle Jets take on local rivals, the Central Coast Mariners on Boxing Day, whilst regional foes Perth Glory and Adelaide United clashed in the west.

Scheduling games between local rivals on Boxing Day makes sense, and follows in the English tradition of local foes clashing so that fans avoid long away trips on the day after Christmas.

This season’s Boxing Day line-up sees Gold Coast United host Brisbane Roar and Perth Glory take on the Newcastle Jets, while Central Coast Mariners and Wellington Phoenix do battle on New Year’s Eve.

It’s unfortunate for FFA officials that Gold Coast have done so much to alienate their own supporters, while Brisbane fans have dropped off in droves on the back of a difficult campaign.

Meanwhile, Newcastle Jets fans are unlikely to travel to Perth in any great numbers, whilst Central Coast’s match-up with Wellington Phoenix sees two of the less entertaining sides in the league go head to head.

For what it’s worth, I’m a big fan of scheduling fixtures on public holidays and I think it’s a tradition that should continue.

But through a combination of bad luck and a lack of foresight, this season’s holiday schedule is largely a ho-hum affair.

It’s neither here nor there in terms of big-name rivalries, and combined with the now familiar lack of advertising, it remains to be seen whether thousands of fans don’t suddenly find something better to do on their days off.

It’s a shame that TV constraints ensure that a full round of fixtures can’t take place on Boxing Day, although there are obviously plenty of other important match days scheduled throughout the season.

One would hope that this season’s holiday fixture list is a success, though, if it is to avoid becoming another negative talking point in what has been a difficult campaign to date.

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Much of the attention on last weekend’s absorbing round of A-League action was focused on Etihad Stadium, but while Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC played out a scoreless draw, elsewhere a couple of clubs were making moves of their own.

One such outfit was Brisbane Roar, with Ange Postecoglu’s side recording their second win within the space of three days to establish themselves in the top six.

Brisbane’s midweek victory over North Queensland proved not only that fans will come out to see the right kind of marquee player – in this case the Fury’s Robbie Fowler – but also that there are plenty of other useful foreign signings to snap up.

Sergio van Dijk may have arrived in Australia as an unheralded Dutch journeyman, but the burly striker has vindicated the Roar’s scouting department with some devastatingly effective performances of late.

Just as impressive is the faith new coach Postecoglu has shown in some of his youngsters, with the pace of Michael Zullo, Adam Sarota and Tommy Oar set to cause constant headaches for opposition defences over the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Branko Culina’s Newcastle Jets recorded their fourth win in succession in a thrilling 3-2 victory over the unlucky Fury, as the Novocastrians moved into outright fourth in the table.

Temperamental club owner Con Constantine must have been tempted to give Culina the flick following Newcastle’s dismal start to the campaign, yet his patience has been rewarded with an impressive surge up the standings.

All of which would be redundant were it not for the A-League finals.

Newcastle’s rise from the foot of the table to top four contenders has been impressive, but few would care were it not for the fact that the Jets can now actually win something.

There are plenty of purists out there who insist that the A-League champions should be decided solely on the basis of first-past-the-post.

That might be how it’s done elsewhere, but doing away with the finals series robs mid-table teams of the motivation to persevere at the back end of the season.

What incentive would Perth Glory have to continue busting their lungs if it weren’t for the fact that they could belatedly sneak back into the top six?

Yes, the current finals format somewhat rewards mediocrity – but if Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC have been as dominant as their points haul suggests, they should be able to account for whomever they come up against in the finals.

After all, Melbourne have twice lifted the A-League title after winning the premiership, and every club is well aware of the pitfalls of finals football.

The first-past-the-post school has merit, but whether it’s a short-term option for the A-League is a matter for debate.

How much longer the Asian Football Confederation continues to tolerate finals football is also open to interpretation – although I’m not sure where their new-found belligerence stems from, given that a few years ago they were about as organised as the Fury’s back four.

But with Brisbane and Newcastle now surging into form, I’d be happy to see them rewarded with the opportunity to play finals football.

I’m also intrigued whether the bottom four can conjure their own late surge towards the stop six – including last season’s runner-up, Adelaide United.

There are many fans who believe the finals should be discarded post haste – but I don’t think they’re such a bad idea, at least for the foreseeable future.

A run to the finals maintains interest until the final round of fixtures when there’s no relegation battles to mull over, and gives those who miss out on topping the table a second chance to win the main event.

But is that even something the majority of A-League fans want? Share your thoughts here and we’ll find out.

With all the hullabaloo surrounding Australia’s bid to host the World Cup, it’s been easy to overlook the burgeoning A-League title race. But with Melbourne Victory hosting Sydney FC next weekend, it’s time to put league action back in the spotlight.

The clash of the titans is one of the A-League’s genuine blockbusters, and Victory officials will hope to see fans pour through the Etihad Stadium turnstiles in season-high numbers.

Melbourne will be burning for revenge after Sydney dished out a 3-0 win at the same venue back in Round 10, and Victory are currently in form.

Since an uncharacteristic 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Central Coast Mariners in Round 14, Ernie Merrick’s men have taken ten points from their subsequent four games and scored nine goals in the process.

Sydney have been less conspicuous, recently snapping a recent three-game losing streak with back-to-back wins over North Queensland and Wellington Phoenix, although they’ve won the same number of games as Melbourne this season.

They haven’t always done it in quite the same cavalier style as the free-flowing Victory, but Vitezslav Lavicka’s team have shown that when the going gets tough, they’re capable of grinding out results.

Undoubtedly one of their best displays came in the thumping of Melbourne back in October, but their two-goal hero from that game Mark Bridge is still under an injury cloud.

The Sky Blues will also appeal the red card handed out to Simon Colosimo in the win over Wellington last weekend, but should the veteran defender miss out, former Victory man Sebastian Ryall could line up against his old club.

There are plenty of other intriguing match-ups, not the least the head-to-head duel between evergreen combatants Kevin Muscat and Steve Corica.

The latter has been in superb form this season, so much so that Fox commentator Robbie Slater recently claimed the harbour city side rely too heavily on the 36-year-old.

It’s not hard to see why, with Corica in sparkling form of late, and Sydney fans will hope to see the popular midfielder reprise his sterling efforts in the heart of enemy territory.

Now that Football Federation Australia has officially submitted documents to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, there’s no better time for a crowd of more than 30,000 fans to turn out for this high-profile encounter.

There’ll be fewer fans inside Energy Australia Stadium the following afternoon for Newcastle’s meeting with North Queensland Fury, but bizarrely Branko Culina’s side could conceivably move into third – despite having languished near the bottom of the table for most of the season so far.

It’s testament to just how tight the finals race is, with sixth placed Perth Glory now looking nervously over their shoulders – not least because Chris Coyne, Jacob Burns and Mile Sterjovski could all head out on loan in January.

Meanwhile Central Coast Mariners will be looking to put struggling Brisbane Roar to the sword at Bluetongue Stadium, as the Gosford side look to put behind them their recent defeat to Melbourne.

But this weekend is all about another must-see clash between Melbourne and their old foes Sydney, with the bubbling animosity between Australia’s two largest cities set to overflow against the backdrop of one of the A-League’s biggest grudge matches.

My money is on Sydney to do the double over Melbourne in their own backyard, although that probably has more to do with my place of birth than any non-partisan analysis!

Whatever the outcome, it should be a cracker – as the A-League gets set to shake to the sounds of its own version of ‘El Clásico.’

When The Roar asked me to compile a World Football XI for 2009, I thought to myself, “great, a few Japanese journeymen and some German third division hackers will finally get their dues!”

But my initial enthusiasm was tempered by the fact that I don’t watch all that much of the world’s favourite competition: the English Premier League.

Nor do I always keep completely abreast of the UEFA Champions League, that supposed highest echelon of European club football – despite the ironic presence of Rangers.

Instead, the advent of the A-League and the fact that I spent the past three years in Japan means that I no longer bow to the gods of European football the way I once did.

Fortunately for the exercise at hand, I’m still shamelessly self-indulgent and this week coincidentally marks the first anniversary of my involvement with The Roar.

So without further ado – or consideration to journalistic objectivity – here’s my World Football XI, laid out in a nominal 4-4-2 formation.

GK: Mark Schwarzer (Fulham and Australia)
There may be more talented goalkeepers out there, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more consistent shot-stopper than Fulham and Australia’s finest.

RB: Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers and Japan)
Supremely talented, Kashima’s 21-year-old defender is equally at home in defence or marauding up and down the right-hand touchline for both club and country.

CB: Craig Moore (Brisbane Roar and Australia)
One of my favourite Socceroos, the tough-as-nails defender has been as uncompromising as ever despite the turmoil surrounding his beleaguered club.

CB: Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Urawa Reds and Japan)
I’ve often been accused of being ‘anti-Urawa,’ but it’s hard to come up with a more influential centre-back than the erstwhile Reds defender – who looks set for a January move to Wigan Athletic.

LB: Taye Taiwo (Olympique Marseille and Nigeria)
Woe betide any opponent who gives away a free-kick within forty yards of goal, because Taiwo will be there to smash it like an excocet missle. Defends like a headless chicken at times, but his presence enlivens even the dreariest of games.

RM: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid and Portugal)
When he’s not flogging off products in creepy monotone for Castrol Oil, the Portugese midfielder is a pretty handy goal scoring winger, even if he usually fails to shine for his national team.

CM: Andres Iniesta (Barcelona and Spain)
Occasionally overlooked for his slightly flashier team-mate Xavi, the pale-faced Iniesta is the fulcrum of Barcelona and Spain’s star-studded sides – a keep-ball midfielder who can actually distribute forward.

CM: Tim Cahill (Everton and Australia)
The bane of TV interviewers and the scourge of corner flags everywhere, but when the going gets tough, Cahill always puts his hand up in the finest tradition of the great Aussie battler.

LM: Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina)
Often useless for Diego Maradona’s piecemeal Argentina, on his day Messi is still the most unstoppable player in world football. If only we could sneak him into the A-League as a ‘marquee player.’

S: Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dortmund)
Yet to be capped by the Argentine national side, Barrios scored a mountain of goals for Chilean outfit Colo Colo last season, before signing for everyone’s favourite Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund.

S: Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid and Uruguay)
How is it that this guy scores so many goals for club and country, yet is always overlooked when the big awards are handed out? Let’s see if he can maintain his form well into the World Cup.

So there you have it folks: my totally biased, hopelessly attack-minded World XI.

I’m sure it will have Messrs Rooney, Drogba and Torres gnashing their teeth with indignant outrage, whilst resident Bayern fans will no doubt be frothing at the injustice of it all.

But you know what they say about opinions – everybody’s got one – so if you’re planning to write in to point out just how wrong I am, don’t forget to be specific, support your answers and we’ll see if we can’t sneak Leo Bertos in there somewhere.

It’s official, Australia will face Germany, Ghana and Serbia in the group stage at 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It’s already been labelled a “group of death” by some, but nobody said it would be easy for Pim Verbeek and his side.

Things could have been worse: the enigmatic Korea DPR look to have next to no chance of escaping from a group containing Brazil, Cote d’Ivoire and Portugal.

But there’s no doubt that Australia have been dealt a tough draw in South Africa, although Verbeek will be pleased to get the clash with the Germans out of the way first.

Sneak a point against Germany in Durban, and Australia’s clash with Ghana in Rustenburg takes on monumental proportions, leading into a final group stage game against a gritty Serbia in Nelspruit.

The opening clash continues Australia’s historical links with Germany, after the Socceroos met both West and East Germany in 1974, before facing off against the unified version at the Confederations Cup in 2005.

Australia have, of course, beaten Ghana in a recent friendly – but a World Cup meeting on African soil represents a far more difficult prospect.

It also means that the Socceroos could once again face another make-or-break final day clash against a former Yugoslav state, as Australia follow up their 2006 encounter against Croatia with an equally daunting meeting with Serbia this time around.

The Serbs topped their qualifying group from France and possess one of the meanest defences in European football – even if their U-23 side failed to impress in Australia’s group at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Despite being handed a tough draw, Verbeek was nevertheless upbeat about Australia’s chances of progression – where England almost certainly await in the second round.

If Australia have drawn a “group of death,” then the English must be rejoicing over their “group of life,” after Fabio Capello’s side landed USA, Algeria and Slovenia, in what must be one of the easiest draws ever handed to an English side.

Should England top their group – as expected – and Australia finish second, then the Socceroos will face off against Capello’s men in Rustenburg on June 26.

It’s a dream scenario for Australian fans, but first comes the tricky task of negotiating a group containing a genuine European heavyweight and one of Africa’s most exciting sides.

The Socceroos now have six months to prepare for their group stage opener against the Germans on June 14, with a number of high profile friendlies set to be scheduled in the build-up to the big event.

It could have been an easier draw, but the Socceroos are nothing if not determined, and they will relish the chance of coming up against some of the world’s best.

The opponents are known, the fixture list is in place – now it’s up to Pim Verbeek and his side to get the job done in a tough-looking Group D.

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What a month of football December has lined up for us. We’ve got the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, the final match day of the UEFA Champions League group stage and holiday fixtures in both Australia and the United Kingdom to look forward to.

But rather than any action on the pitch, it’s the World Cup draw in Cape Town on December 5 (3.45am AEDT) that has fans anxiously awaiting the fate of their respective national teams.

Pim Verbeek probably won’t be too concerned – the experienced tactician acts like the sort of bloke who’d order another round on the Titanic – and he knows full well there’s a good six months to prepare for the tournament’s big kick-off.

For the rest of us, the draw ramps up the anticipation ahead of the world’s biggest sporting event, with old rivalries renewed and new ones potentially forged.

However, with the achievements of Verbeek’s team in qualifying largely downplayed by the Australian public, one wonders how Australians will react to the World Cup draw.

That includes a mainstream media largely obsessed with meeting Fabio Capello’s England, and broadly dismissive of just about every other team in the competition.

For their part, the English will be “happy to meet” the Socceroos if a piece by The Independent’s Steve Tongue is anything to go by.

Of a potential encounter, Tongue writes: “One sport in which England should beat Australia (don’t mention Upton Park 2003). Without Mark Viduka they lack an experienced striker.”

But while a meeting with England would be the culmination of just about every Australian fans’ dreams, there’s a chance that Verbeek’s side could line up against some of world football’s less glamourous opponents.

What price a meeting with Slovenia or Honduras? Or North African side Algeria?

One wonders what the Australian tabloids would make of a match-up with some of football’s lesser lights, even if it afforded the Socceroos a decent chance of progression.

The truth is that our 2006 draw gave us every chance of reaching the second round, not the least because Australia crucially met Japan in the opening game.

It also ensured plenty of sustained fan interest, courtesy of the presence of Brazil and our close links with Croatia.

Once again, the luck of the draw will play a vital role in Australia’s chances in 2010, but with South Africa likely to produce one of the most open World Cup’s in years, there’s no reason to presume that the Socceroos will be on the first plane home.

Indeed, Australia may just find conditions in South Africa to their liking – even if the recent trend of playing friendlies in exotic lands means that old chestnut of homesick teams needing to adapt becomes less relevant with each passing World Cup.

One thing is certain: the South Africans may only enjoy a lukewarm home advantage, with Bafana Bafana fans preferring to snatch up tickets to watch England play, rather than attempting to see their own side.

Regardless of who goes in as favourites, the Socceroos will be looking to sneak in under the radar, and they’ll be hoping that a kind draw helps their cause.

It all adds up to a fascinating occasion in Cape Town, and ensures that football tragics the world over will be glued to their television and computer screens.

Dream draw or group of death – which would you prefer?

We’ll know Australia’s group stage opponents soon enough, with the World Cup draw just around the corner.

If the AFC wanted to highlight just how pointless the Player Of The Year award is, they should have nominated Shane Smeltz for the gong.

The big Kiwi striker was in fine A-League form throughout 2009, scoring goals galore for both Wellington Phoenix and Gold Coast United.

Nevermind that Smeltz represents a non-AFC nation at international level, since logic appears to have little bearing on who is named the region’s best player.

If it did, we might be toasting the success of Tim Cahill given his outstanding form for both club and country, or perhaps celebrating the form of Mark Schwarzer.

We could otherwise be lauding the exploits of young South Korean striker Park Chu-Young, scorer of the opening goal against the Socceroos in Seoul last September.

The Monaco hitman has already registered strikes in wins over Paris Saint Germain, Marseille and Boulogne this season – no small feat for a 24-year-old from Daegu.

Instead, it was Gamba Osaka midfielder Yasuhito Endo who claimed the crown, and few could argue with the merits of rewarding one of the most dominant players in the J.League – even if his influence on the national team is limited.

Those who insist that the award is open only to players plying their trade within the AFC are mistaken, as the nomination of Hong Yong-Jo from Russian club FC Rostov attests.

North Korean skipper Hong was nominated to a fifteen-man shortlist on the back of his stellar form for the national team, but his cousins from down south had no such luck.

By finishing third at the 2007 Asian Cup, Korea Republic qualified automatically for the 2011 finals alongside reigning champions Iraq and traditional heavyweights Saudi Arabia.

With no Asian Cup qualifiers to contest, players from all three nations were at a disadvantage when it came to accruing enough MVP points to win the AFC Player Of The Year award.

Yet even the simple task of playing well appears to hold little relevance to the award on offer.

Bahrain defender Sayed Mohamed Adnan finished equal second in the rankings – despite missing a crucial penalty in Bahrain’s World Cup playoff against New Zealand, while his club side Al-Khor currently sit rock bottom of the Qatari League.

However, it’s the decision to lock European-based players out of the running that makes a mockery of the AFC Player Of The Year award.

And it’s a farce compounded by the fact that the decision was made on a whim because Manchester United star Park Ji-Sung couldn’t attend the ceremony in 2005.

The AFC wants it star players to turn out in the flesh to accept their awards, yet their scheduling hinders even Asian-based players.

I’m sure title-chasing Gamba Osaka were thrilled to see Endo in Kuala Lumpur just days before their J. League clash with leaders Kashima Antlers, although he at least had Kengo Nakamura from fellow high fliers Kawasaki Frontale to keep him company.

The whole thing reeks of a lack of professionalism at a time when the AFC’s mantra is to modernise the Asian game.

It doesn’t help that some fans in the region can be frustratingly shortsighted.

Those who insist that a lack of players in Europe means that Asian footballers are ‘substandard,’ are often the first to suggest that only Asian-based players should be honoured by the AFC.

If the AFC is so hell-bent on honouring the locals, they should create a separate category for overseas-based players so that the likes of Osasuna talisman Javad Nekounam and Venlo midfielder Keisuke Honda are not forgotten.

Otherwise the AFC Player Of The Year award is destined to end in an annual debate on which players were overlooked, instead of becoming the celebration of personal achievement it’s intended to be.

Let’s get one thing clear: I think Thierry Henry is a cheat. So do about 200 million others who expressed their moral outrage at the French striker’s blatant handball. But it won’t change the fact that France are going to the World Cup finals and Ireland are not.

Leave it to Roy Keane – of all people – to add some perspective to Ireland’s contentious World Cup defeat, in that brutally candid style that makes him loved and loathed in equal measure.

“If that was my team, I’d go into the dressing room and I wouldn’t even mention the handball, I’d just say, why didn’t someone put their head on it?”

“There’s only one ball, just go and head it” said Keane in typically blunt fashion, before blaming old adversary Shay Given for much of Ireland’s woes.

“Where’s my goalkeeper? The ball bounced in the six yard box from a free-kick just inside the halfway line,” added Keane acerbically on the goal that knocked Ireland out.

“That’s what I’d be asking. Nothing to do with handball.”

Personal agendas aside, much of what Keane says in regard to the now infamous William Gallas header rings true.

And it makes a mockery of defender Sean St. Ledger’s assertion that Ireland were the better team over two legs.

If that were the case, why could they not defend a set-piece that one would expect a bunch of school kids to deal with?

And how come they only breached the French goal just once in 210 minutes of football?

It’s not like Raymond Domenech’s side set the group stage alight, with ‘Les Bleus’ finishing second behind eventual group winners Serbia.

What irks me most about the reaction to the sarcastically-named “Hand of Frog,” was how quickly the debate descended into quasi-nationalist Franco-bashing led fervently by the English-speaking world.

When Uzbekistan were ‘robbed’ of their 1-0 win over Bahrain in the first leg of their 2006 playoff because of a refereeing error – with the replay yielding a 1-1 draw that ultimately helped Bahrain win the tie – did the English language media launch into hours of invective to condemn the result?

Of course not.

The fact is, much of the moral outrage surrounding Henry’s handball was contrived to sell newspapers and have fans phone in to radio polls in both England and Ireland.

And it helped immensely that the former Arsenal star is a household name in both countries.

That’s not to say that Henry’s handling offence wasn’t a case of blatant cheating, or that FIFA should once again dismiss the use of video technology.

It simply highlights the fact that when it comes to crimes against football, it helps when the villain is a recognisable star – not a Japanese referee such as Toshimitsu Yoshida – and it’s even better when the culprit hails from a group traditionally demonised by the Fleet Street press.

It’s only natural to react with disappointment to such an obvious injustice, and Thierry Henry’s reputation will be forever tarnished by his failure to admit guilt on the pitch.

However, if we’re going to replay high-stakes games over every contentious incident, we’ll be lucky to see any tournaments ever take place.

I feel the utmost sympathy for Irish coach Giovanni Trapattoni, his players and Irish fans the world over. I wouldn’t wish their fate upon anybody.

But Ireland had a golden opportunity to knock Raymond Domenech’s forgettable French side out of the running, and they failed to grasp it over 210 minutes of football.

They may have been fleeced by a villainous piece of gamesmanship, but if the Irish are to avoid a repeat in Euro 2012 qualifying, they’d best work on their defending and leave the moral hysteria to the tabloids.

If the point of hosting a World Cup on African soil was to highlight the rich diversity of international football, mission accomplished. It’s not only the unusual venue, but also the teams involved that will make next year’s tournament a markedly different World Cup.

As Adrian Musolino wrote recently, several nations will be making belated returns to the World Cup finals, including the likes of Korea DPR, Chile, Honduras and, of course, New Zealand.

They will be accompanied by the long-awaited return of either Algeria or Egypt, while Slovakia make their first appearance at the World Cup since the Slovaks went their separate ways with neighbours the Czech Republic in 1992.

It’s not just that several unfamiliar faces will crash the party but rather the fact that some of them could actually do some damage, that ensures next year’s World Cup could diverge from more recent scripts.

We saw in 2002 how co-hosts Japan and Korea Republic were swept along by a wave of popular support – with the latter only falling to a late Michael Ballack winner in the semi-finals.

South Africans will naturally hope to see their national team escape the group stage, but with Bafana Bafana one of the more enigmatic sides in the draw, local fans could be in for a nail-biting opening to the tournament.

Korea DPR will expect to do some damage, and not just because it’s one of the few nations that still approaches international relations with the fanatical zeal of a Cold War veteran.

Relatively little is known about the North Koreans, although they possess a well-disciplined defence and an experienced skipper in FC Rostov striker Hong Yong-Jo.

They can also call upon one of my favourite players in world football, the human wrecking ball that is Chong Tese.

What price the North Koreans coming up against an ex-Communist state in the form of Slovakia, whose qualification hinged largely on two men named Vladimir Weiss.

Weiss Sr is Slovakia’s all-conquering coach, and coincidentally the son of a former Czechoslovakian international.

It’s safe to say that football runs in the family, since his teenage son Vladimir became a key component of the Slovakian midfield during the qualifiers, despite only making his debut for the national team in August this year.

Oceania representatives New Zealand and Central American side Honduras both made their only other World Cup appearance in 1982, and both return with the mantle of potential whipping boys hanging over their heads.

In New Zealand’s case, they’ll be desperate to put behind them their 2009 Confederation’s Cup nightmare, where Ricki Herbert’s side failed to even get on the scoresheet.

In 2002, heavyweights Brazil and Germany both adapted seamlessly to the first World Cup held on Asian soil, but the two giants of the world game approach the coming tournament from opposite ends of the spectrum.

Dunga’s Brazil qualified for the 2010 World Cup at a canter, but they did so with a more defensive-brand of football than is usually attributed to the carefree Samba Kings.

How Germany recovers from the tragic suicide of goalkeeper Robert Enke remains to be seen, but with the squad understandably devastated by the passing of their popular teammate, they may find the burden of honouring his memory a heavy one to overcome.

Usual contenders Italy and Euro 2008 winners Spain will also be in the mix, but with the African continent gearing up to host the world’s biggest sporting event, there could be one other major point of difference in this most unusual of World Cup tournaments.

For the first time in eons, England may actually go into a World Cup with a genuine chance of winning it.

If that doesn’t mark the 2010 World Cup as a radical departure from its predecessors, nothing will!

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The story of Pim Verbeek being hired to steer Australia to the World Cup finals has been done to death. We all know that the Asian Cup was originally somewhat of an afterthought for the laconic Dutchman.

Qualification for the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar may not have been high on the agenda when Verbeek put pen to paper in December 2007, but it’s at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts going into Australia’s clash with Oman on Saturday.

The Socceroos can breathe easier following their laboured 1-0 win over Oman at Etihad Stadium last month.

Indeed, another win in Muscat would virtually seal qualification – barring unforeseen disaster – to Australia’s second successive Asian Cup finals.

Yet, the match is unlikely to reveal anything particularly new, at least in terms of tactics, with Verbeek set to field his tried and tested 4-2-3-1 formation.

We’re likely to see Bruce Djite receive at least some game time up front, with Josh Kennedy ruled out by a back injury, while on-loan Plymouth Argyle defender Shane Lowry and Sydney FC striker Alex Brosque are late additions to the squad.

Vince Grella is still missing through his thigh injury, but the big news of course was the decision to drop Celtic striker Scott McDonald.

Whether that means McDonald’s dreams of going to South Africa are over is anyone’s guess – although it doesn’t look good for a striker yet to open his account for the national team – but why Verbeek didn’t select the pacy Nikita Rukavytsya is a frustrating source of mystery.

Much could rest on the talismanic shoulders of Harry Kewell, who has been in goal scoring form for club side Galatasaray of late, while the usual crew of big names will also be expected to leave their mark – including the fit-again Brett Emerton.

How much longer Australia can rely upon the likes of veterans Emerton, Kewell, Chipperfield et. al. remains to be seen, and the squad that travels to Qatar in 2011 is likely to be much different from the one that finishes the tournament in South Africa twelve months earlier.

But the loss of target man Josh Kennedy in Muscat could prove a more immediate blow, in what is only Australia’s third Asian Cup qualifier on foreign soil.

Missing their usual target man, Australia may need to find another source of inspiration – including, one would imagine, a source of goals not derived from knock-downs and winning second balls in dangerous positions.

It would be marvellous to see some fluid interplay involving Brett Holman, not to mention some accurate set pieces from Mark Bresciano, and no doubt we would all love to see Jason Culina pass the ball forward every once in a while!

But with coach Verbeek sticking steadfastly to his “results-first” mantra, we may just have to settle for another dogged performance against a team that didn’t necessarily sit back as expected in the corresponding clash in Melbourne.

I just wonder whether this trip to Muscat might not prove somewhat of a banana skin for the Socceroos.

The win over Oman last month was professional, but it was hardly a showcase of attacking football, and the Omani’s will be fired up following last month’s Gary Moretti debacle.

It’s a long trip to the Gulf, conditions will be hot, and the Socceroos may just have to take the game to the Omani’s if they are to come away with all three points.

So far he’s ticked all the boxes, so there’s no reason to doubt that Pim Verbeek can get the job done once again in Muscat.

But he may just need to be on guard, as an Australian team that likes to talk the talk, looks to finally walk the walk in another tricky-looking Asian Cup qualifier.

Let’s get the negative stuff out of the way first: hosting the final of the Asian Champions League as a one-off clash at the National Stadium in Tokyo is a mistake. No matter how much officials wish otherwise, Asia and Europe are not the same.

The Asian Football Confederation’s decision to revert to a one-off Champions League final at a neutral venue – based mainly on the fact that it’s how things are done in Europe – smacks of an inferiority complex.

Blind Freddy could have pointed that out, but for good measure I did likewise in an editorial for Goal.com way back in December of last year.

However, apart from the decision to switch from a two-legged final to a one-off Tokyo showdown, the match itself has all the ingredients for a fascinating affair.

For all the recent talk of Japanese teams dominating Asian football, perhaps it’s time to credit Saudi side Al-Ittihad, who are making their third appearance in the final of the rebranded AFC Champions League.

Led by the redoubtable Mohammed Noor, Al-Ittihad charged into the final on the back of an 8-3 aggregate thrashing of Nagoya Grampus in the semi-finals.

Admittedly the complexion of that tie changed dramatically when Nagoya defender Akira Takeuchi was sent off just seven minutes into the first leg in Jeddah, but Al-Ittihad still had the wherewithal to make the tie safe by trampling ten-men Nagoya in the second half.

Meanwhile, few expected Korean Republic side Pohang Steelers to reach the final – although as regular Roar reader Ryan Steele has pointed out, perhaps that was a harsh assessment.

Pohang are regular trophy winners in South Korea – lifting the K-League as recently as 2007 – but with the likes of big-spending FC Seoul, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and regional heavyweights Suwon Samsung Bluewings all possessing star-studded squads, Sergio Farias’ team have slipped under the radar.

With seven-goal Brazilian striker Denilson up front and tenacious skipper Hwang Jae-Won at the heart of the defence, the club from the coastal town of Pohang aim to become the second South Korean side since Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to lift the new-look Champions League crown.

Much has changed since Jeonbuk won the Champions League back in 2006, in a year in which they originally tried to pull out of the competition – citing the high cost of competing.

The Champions League still has plenty of critics, with the sheer distance teams are forced to travel for midweek fixtures the most obvious complaint.

Nevertheless, there’s little doubt that the tournament has grown in prestige, and the inclusion of Australian teams has played its part.

It’s a shame that so much of the focus of this year’s final will be on the attendance, although that’s no surprise given that only around 5,000 tickets had been sold at the time of writing.

Officials will also hope that the pitch holds up for this showpiece occasion, after the National Stadium hosted not only Australia’s Bledisloe Cup match against the All-Blacks on October 31, but also Japan’s domestic League Cup final on November 3.

Whatever the playing conditions, Al-Ittihad will be out to restore some local pride – after the Saudi national team missed out on qualifying for the World Cup finals for the first time since Italia ’90.

They won’t have things all their own way against a battle-hardened Pohang, in what could prove a classic case of east versus west, as the industrious Steelers look to match up against their physically imposing Saudi opponents.

The nature of knock-out football ensures that it’s not always the most consistent sides that reach the final.

But in this case, few could argue that At-Ittihad’s match-up with Pohang represents a fitting finale to this season’s Asian Champions League.

It’s difficult to empathise with one Florentino Pérez. When his team are not losing to a poor Milan side in the UEFA Champions League, the current president of Real Madrid is busily scheming the downfall of those hated separatists from Barcelona.

Pérez is a Wile E. Coyote-type figure on the European scene – constantly conjuring hare-brained schemes that seem destined to fail, but always willing to dust himself off for another go.

After his first spell in charge at Real Madrid between 2000 and 2006 yielded the grand total of two La Liga trophies and one Champions League crown, Pérez departed – admitting that his Galácticos policy had failed to pay dividends, at least on the pitch.

But when the billionaire businessman pitched up at Real again in 2009, you just knew he wouldn’t keep quiet for long.

“We have to agree a new European Super League which guarantees that the best always play the best – something that does not happen in the Champions League,” Pérez told Spanish TV earlier this year.

What he would have made of Barcelona’s recent Champions League defeat to Russian side Rubin Kazan is anyone’s guess.

Fresh from turning La Liga into a boring two-horse race, chances are that Pérez wouldn’t have a bar of Kazan playing in the Champions League.

Instead it’s familiarity that the spotlight-loving ‘presidente’ craves, and apparently he won’t settle until Real are losing to Milan again and again… and again and again.

But if we wanted to watch a predictable title race, we could tune into the English Premier League.

Or La Liga or Serie A. They’re all pretty much the same these days, at least in terms of being dominated by a select few.[

Watching Siena go around against Juventus in Serie A yesterday morning was a demoralising experience.

The tiny club from Tuscany are always going to struggle – the town of Siena lies just fifty kilometres from Florence and the powerful Fiorentina – but the Robur have a stubborn knack for sticking around in the top flight, despite regularly being forced to sell their best players.

Yet, if their football is anything to go by, it’s no wonder the locals never bother to turn out at the piecemeal Stadio Artemio Franchi.

Sitting deep, stacking the defence and desperately attempting to hold their shape, Siena only ventured forward in the most counter-attacking of circumstances.

Sound familiar? They’re the same tactics employed by practically every ‘minnow’ against the big guns in Italy, England and Spain.

Meanwhile, a plodding Juventus only triumphed against their apparently petrified hosts thanks to sheer weight of chances and a late Amauri header.

And when they’re not recording pedestrian domestic wins or stacking their expensively-assembled benches with international talent, the so-called giants of Europe are scheming a way to make the Rubin Kazan’s and Siena’s of the world redundant.

It begs the question: would a European Super League drastically alter the football landscape as we know it?

We’ve already seen the European Cup turned into a quasi-Super League, but if familiarity breeds contempt, it’s hard to see how fans won’t eventually tire of seeing more of the same old teams go around in Europe.

It’s upsets like Rubin Kazan’s defeat of Barcelona last week or Romanian upstart Unirea Urziceni’s thrashing of a diabolical Rangers that enliven the Champions League group stage.

But they’re upsets the likes of Florentino Pérez wish to do away with, as cashed-up oligarchs with scant regard for fans continue to turn the people’s game into their own ego-stroking playground.

With current UEFA supremo Michel Platini at the helm, some of Europe’s lesser lights have still got a sporting chance.

But you can bet that with Florentino Pérez circling around, a European Super League will never be far from the agenda.

It was Karl Marx who claimed that religion is the opiate of the masses, but in this day and age, he may as well have been referring to sport. No matter the catastrophes that befall us, from financial crises to terrible acts of nature, many of us perk up when the topic returns to sporting endeavours.

Not surprisingly, Australia’s plodding 1-0 win over Oman in last week’s Asian Cup qualifier conjured a complex set of emotions.

From vexed consternation to a spot of hand-wringing to good old fashioned white-hot rage, Socceroos fans were treated to the whole gamut of frustration.

No one was more frustrated than ex-Socceroo midfielder Craig Foster, who rued the style of football on display in a withering piece for the Fairfax Sunday papers.

Foster is an easy target for the boo boys, who dislike his seemingly hectoring tone and penchant for negative appraisals.

Yet, as far as analysts go, he’s our most vigilant watchdog – constantly willing our team to success, desperate to see the Socceroos reach a higher plane.

He’s perfectly entitled to claim that “(p)assable results do not hide the fact this team (is) destined to fail.”

But by whose definition of failure are we reckoning with?

Talk to Pim Verbeek, and he makes it perfectly clear that his job description was to steer Australia to the World Cup finals in 2010 – and what’s all this hubbub about the Asian Cup?

Unfortunately for the results-driven Dutchman, we Aussies are a determined lot – more “in it to win it” than “just happy to be here,” and at the moment we look like a team struggling with Plan A, let alone one that has an obvious Plan B.

Australia may have qualified for the World Cup finals at a canter, but as Foster suggests, currently the Socceroos don’t look like controlling the game against the kind of top-class opposition they’ll meet in South Africa, let alone supposedly weaker Asian teams.

However, all this desire to control games and subdue perfectly capable opponents makes me wonder if we’re not suffering from some kind of major superiority complex.

Of all the good-natured jibes used to describe Oman’s veteran coach Claude Le Roy – did he look like the sort of foppish cartoon villain you might find in one of Hergé’s classic “Tintin” comics to anyone else? – not much was written about his CV.

Here was a coach who has achieved success with a variety of African nations, has coached at club level in his native France and England – to say nothing of stints in the UAE and China – and who knows a thing or two about qualifying for major tournaments.

Should we really have expected to trample all over an Oman side looking to qualify for its third successive Asian Cup?

Judging by the outpouring of frustration from fans, of whom just over 20,000 bothered to show up at Etihad Stadium, the answer appears to be an unequivocal “yes.”

If that’s the case, how will Australian fans react to another dogged but technically limited performance in South Africa?

Will it be recognised that a team of purportedly honest grafters has done well to be mix it with football’s elite once again, or will we pine for the days when we played England off the park in 2003, and dominated Nigeria in 2007?

Or will a nation so used to international sporting success, often in fields dominated by only a small handful of countries, demand style as well as substance in our quest for international glory.

In short: what do we want from our Socceroos?

If football is as much about philosophising as it is about on-field action – and let’s face it, there’s only so much one can say about that performance against Oman – what do Socceroos fans, both committed and casual, think about the current state of the national team?

I’m interested to hear what you think.

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As a contributor to SBS website The World Game, I often find myself perusing the site’s long-standing and mildly infamous forum. A hodge-podge of nationalist flag-waving and juvenile humour, it can be a diverting way to spend a couple of hours.

They’re an unforgiving lot on the forum, quick to highlight mistakes, ready to pounce on any divergence of opinion.

Over the years I’ve been nicknamed “the dumbo,” accused of hating the A-League, labelled a racist towards Asians and, most frequently, have been said to be suffering from “a cultural cringe.”

I suppose things could be worse. At least I haven’t been called a Schalke fan!

But all giggles aside, there’s one debate – or better said, schism – that leaves me pondering the fate of domestic football in this country.

It’s the split between so-called ‘new dawners’ and ‘bitters’ – derogatory terms given to supporters from opposite sides of the football fence.

‘New dawners’ are labelled as such because they supposedly jumped on the bandwagon circa 2005, ie. when the A-League kicked off and the Socceroos qualified for the World Cup.

The term ‘bitters’ is used – at least to my understanding – to denigrate those who preferred the good old days before the A-League, when the National Soccer League was still king and the Socceroos couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag.

Many of those labelled as such are long-term supporters of European national teams.

And on a forum that would make racial sensitivity training about as useful as filling a petrol tank with sand, both terms come with ethnic connotations.

Like any childish name-calling, both are used carte blanche to vilify anyone whose opinion one disagrees with.

Problem is – as insulting as both terms are intended to be – there’s an element of truth to them.

We’ve seen it in the struggles many A-League clubs have had trying to increase crowd figures once the novelty of the new league wore off.

And while Branko Culina’s 1996-97 Sydney United side was perhaps the most skillful Australian club team I’ve laid eyes upon, I’m hardly the first to suggest that the NSL was no longer sustainable.

All of this would be utterly trivial were it not for the fact that two new A-League clubs will soon attempt to make inroads into a couple of football heartlands.

The acceptance of Sydney Rovers FC into the A-League may have been as murky as the Georges River, but the club now has an official name, club colours and a badge to call their own.

That’s great, but will they have any fans?

High player participation rates in the western suburbs of Sydney didn’t exactly make Parramatta Power a box-office hit, and many of the families who play and run the game in the region already have allegiances to decades-old clubs.

Meanwhile in the nation’s south, the question is whether Melbourne Heart can draw upon supporters who feel disenfranchised by Melbourne Victory, or whether the new team will simply fracture the Victory’s established support base.

Either way, both clubs could do with extending an olive branch to the proponents of ‘old soccer’ – who have coached and educated those players now making a name for themselves in the A-League and for the Socceroos.

Time will tell whether the A-League ever countenances admitting so-called ‘ethnic clubs’ into the fold, perhaps into a national Second Division, or whether more hard-nosed supporters of the old NSL will ever venture through an A-League turnstile.

But one thing we could perhaps all do with is some more tolerance of each others’ points of view.

Otherwise the joke is on us, and we’ll be sitting around squabbling about who is a ‘new dawner’ and who are the ‘bitters’ while professional football in this country is played out in front of increasingly disinterested and ever-stagnant home crowds.

Plenty of well wishers have dropped me a line recently in light of a fairly startling turn of events. For the first time this season, Shimizu S-Pulse have moved to the top of the J. League standings.

That the provincial outfit should currently find themselves on top of the standings is of itself no great surprise.

Under former S-Pulse striker Kenta Hasegawa, Shimizu have transformed themselves from relegation candidates into one of the most respected sides in Japan.

What is surprising is the fact that the country’s best team – Kashima Antlers – had failed to put clear daylight between themselves and their challengers.

Mind you, many would argue that a ten-point gap is advantage enough!

But no sooner had Kashima managed to streak clear of main rivals Kawasaki Frontale when something transpired that has become a regular occurrence in the J. League.

Quite suddenly, Kashima started losing games they were expected to win, while their nearest challengers began clawing back the gap on the Ibaraki side.

All fairly innocuous stuff, you would think – were it not for the fact that J. League fans have seen it all before.

Ever wondered why so many of the past few J. League campaigns have been decided on the final day of the season?

I haven’t, because I’ve seen enough sympathetic J. League refereeing to know that a tight and tense title race is exactly what league officials crave.

You don’t have to take my word for it.

Matsu of The Rising Sun News has seen enough J. League tomfoolery to last a lifetime – and I’m not just saying that because he once forced me to wear a Ventforet Kofu poncho, and I’m scared he’ll make me do it again!

Late last year former Kyoto Sanga and Urawa Reds defender Ned Zelic joked to me – with a wink and a smile – that he wasn’t surprised to see Eddy Bosnar’s JEF United avoid relegation on the final day of the season.

Cue nervous laughter all round.

But while there’s no irrefutable evidence that J. League results are manufactured – and I want to make it clear that that I’m not suggesting games are fixed – what is certain is that referees in Japan are far more lenient on teams looking to peg back a runaway league leader.

So when I hear fans in Australia suggest that we should be “more like the J. League,” I certainly hope that doesn’t include a title race that is unduly influenced by referees.

I’ve also seen plenty of talk about J. League crowds bouncing back after experiencing a lull some five or six years into the competition.

That may be so, but what the assessment fails to take into account is the fierce fan reaction to the merger of Yokohama Flügels and Yokohama Marinos.

The creation of Yokohama F. Marinos led J. League fans everywhere to realise that should they fail to take ownership of their club – that is to say, vote with their feet and start turning out en masse – it could be all be yanked out from underneath them.

The arrival of Yokohama F. Marinos on the scene wasn’t the only catalyst for improved attendances, but it was certainly an important one.

That is to say nothing of the fact that Japan has a population of just under 130 million – more than a large enough pool for the J. League to draw upon, even allowing for Japan’s favourite pastime, baseball.

I’m delighted that Shimizu S-Pulse have moved to the top of the J. League table, even though I question whether the Shizuoka side have the mental fortitude to stay there.

But as much as I admire Japanese football, I for one don’t think that it holds all the answers to the A-League’s current woes.

What to make of another tumultuous round of A-League action? There’ll be plenty of column inches devoted to dwindling attendance figures, while the thorny of issue of refereeing has once again hit the headlines.

It seems we can’t go long in the A-League without refereeing standards coming into question.

Last season’s Grand Final was marred by an early dismissal, and the cards are flowing freely once again as we settle into the new campaign.

We recently saw Shane Smeltz handed an early bath for giving the assistant referee “a Marcel Marceau” – as Fox commentator Andy Harper labelled it – in Gold Coast’s shock Round 7 defeat to the Central Coast Mariners.

Now referee Peter Green has assumed the spotlight following his controversial decision to allow Melbourne Victory to retake a penalty for encroachment in last weekend’s 3-2 win over the Gold Coast.

Kevin Muscat skied his first effort, as we all know, but stepped up to slot home at the second attempt.

That prompted a predictable outburst from Gold Coast’s bullish benefactor Clive Palmer – who, strangely enough, responded by paying United players a win bonus.

I’m not sure Palmer would pay his resident yacht builder a bonus should his latest schooner sink like a stone to the bottom of the Gold Coast Seaway, but you can nevertheless understand his frustration.

After all, it’s Palmer who puts his money on the line, and he will have been as irate as anyone after seeing United battle for over an hour with ten men following the dismissal of Steve Fitzsimmons, only to come away empty-handed.

As much as I can empathise with Palmer, at least in this instance, and as much as Green’s decision to allow Muscat to re-take the spot-kick looked harsh, I don’t think our man in the middle deserves public condemnation.

After all, it’s the remit of A-League referees to apply the letter of the law – something Green clearly felt he was doing.

That said, it’s true that our refereeing standards could be improved.

However, having spent considerable time in Japan – where inexplicable decision-making seems to be somewhat of an art form – I personally think things could be a lot worse.

Former English Premier League referee Alan Wilkie’s recent assessment of J. League whistle-blowers was measured compared to some of the terrace antics that accompany poor officiating.

I’ll never forget referee Minoru Tojo trudging stoically from the field, police protection in tow, as furious Shimizu fans rained down beer cans on the hapless official following another diabolical refereeing display in a 1-1 draw with Omiya.

But while Japanese referees struggle with the relationship between deference to authority and the need to communicate with players, they are at least employed in a full-time capacity.

That’s not something that A-League referees can claim, and it’s an issue that should be high on the FFA’s agenda.

Considered by many to be the country’s top referee, Ben Williams recently revealed that he is forced to sacrifice potential earnings just to officiate in the A-League.

It’s easy enough for players and coaches to snipe at A-League referees, but they do so on the back of generous pay packets commanded in a relatively secure job market.

If A-League referees were allowed to concentrate on the job full-time, it might be the first step towards improving standards of officiating in this country.

Otherwise, we may just have to accept the fact that the age-old adage is true: referees are only human.

Like tax collectors and ticket inspectors, they may be easy to dislike.

But without them we wouldn’t have a game – or at least one judged in a fair and impartial manner – and for that reason I’ll take the odd error of judgement over any potential for a football-free weekend.

It’s been a bit of a gloomy start to the new A-League campaign. Crowds have stagnated. Certain pitches are a disgrace. And now the mainstream media has a new show reel of ‘crowd violence’ to dredge up every time football threatens the status quo.

The so-called ‘clashes’ between Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory supporters last Friday night were the usual storm-in-a-teacup stuff.

Footage of police dragging prepubescent teens away from rival supporters kept the cameras rolling outside the ground, whilst the sound of chanting fans apparently had some Adelaide citizens scared witless.

It was all reminiscent of those stupid “World’s Worst” TV shows – grainy stock footage, a shaky camera operator and the lingering sense of disappointment that what you’d just seen wasn’t half as shocking as first promised.

But while genuine A-League fans can sit and snigger at the benign nature of what the mainstream press calls ‘crowd violence,’ the fact is that such imagery strikes at the heart of the A-League – no matter how inane it is.

Yes, we can gnash our teeth at the injustice of it all. 29 fans ejected from an A-League game seems to herald the breakdown of Australian society, but large-scale fan violence at the cricket is a mere example of Aussie larrikinism.

But what we can’t ignore is the fact that morons who lob projectiles and fans who scuffle with police give the A-League a reputation it can ill-afford.

Any regular A-League fan knows that a football game in Australia is a safe and relatively fun place to be. Trouble is, many members of Australian society do not.

It is they who are left tut-tutting at the back page headlines and sensationalist media reports – concerned for the safety of loved ones and friends should they ever run into an A-League fan in a dark alley.

Without an accurate basis of comparison, they often take at face value reports of hooliganism and mistake active, vocal support for the threat of imminent violence.

More importantly, many have young sons and daughters who play the game, or run businesses that might otherwise plough money into football were it not for the spectre – real or imagined – of crowd violence.

In his fascinating account of Italian fan culture “A Season With Verona,” English novelist Tim Parks reveals that many Italian ‘Ultras’ give up their unique version of active support the minute they acquire a love interest.

Forgive the crass generalisation, but it looks like one or two of the cretins who drag the A-League’s name into the gutter could do with a hair wash and a good old-fashioned girlfriend.

And – lest I be accused of such – I’m not some prudish version of a football wowser either.

I’ve stood on the terraces at high-security games in Germany on countless occasions, and once had the unenviable pleasure of being in the Swiss capital Bern the night visiting Feyenoord fans turned the city centre into their own version of “Kristallnacht.”

I’ve just never understood the point of ripping a flare in support of my team. If you want to play with distress signals, why not join the Navy?

The fact of the matter is that the A-League does not have a major problem with fan violence or crowd safety. A few isolated incidents and some scruffy-haired Elijah Wood-wannabes does not a Taylor Report make.

But with the A-League battling gallantly to muscle its way into the consciousness of the wider Australian public, the last thing it needs is a bunch of fringe-dwelling lunatics ruining it for everyone else.

I’m not the first to say it, and I doubt I’ll be the last – but I wish some of the boneheads within our ranks would find a new hobby.

Otherwise we run the risk of the A-League being remembered for everything that it’s not – an unsafe and unfriendly environment in which to watch football.

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Manchester City and Tottenham fans may disagree, but the English Premier League table already has a familiar look to it. Meanwhile there’s an altogether different outlook in what is, in my opinion, the most exciting league in Europe: the Bundesliga.

Traditionsverein Hamburger SV are locked in a dogged duel with the relatively unloved Bayer Leverkusen at the top of nascent Bundesliga standings.

Hamburg were forced to replace coach Martin Jol at the end of last season, after the Dutchman decided to join Amsterdam giants Ajax in his homeland.

However, Hamburg remain unbeaten under new coach Bruno Labbadia – who ironically joined the northern club from Bayer Leverkusen.

Leverkusen’s most recent 3-2 win away at reigning champions VfL Wolfsburg was a typically frenetic Bundesliga affair.

It featured two red cards, two converted penalties and a superb free-kick from Wolfsburg playmaker Zvjezdan Misimovic.

It’s just a shame that the match wasn’t screened live on Channel Ten’s High Definition channel One – with AFL finals and motorsport knocking the Bundesliga out of the live schedule.

But it was at Borussia Dortmund’s incredible Signal Iduna Park where most of the attention was focused in Germany last weekend.

A capacity crowd of 80,552 fans crammed in, but the home fans were left shattered after arch-rivals Bayern Munich came from a goal down to trounce Jürgen Klopp’s side 5-1.

Bayern’s comeback was perhaps not surprising – they can, after all, call upon new Dutch arrival Arjen Robben, French wizard Franck Ribery and $50million man Mario Gómez.

But they can’t match Dortmund in the spectator stakes, with the Borussen attracting a league-best average of 73,802 fans during the 2008-09 campaign.

Across the board the league attracted an average of more than 42,500 fans – thanks in part to the cheapest average ticket prices found in any of Europe’s four major leagues.

So attractive are Bundesliga fixtures that hundreds of English fans fly over to Germany every weekend, rather than shell out their hard-earned on watching English football.

The 2006 FIFA World Cup undoubtedly helped – long gone are the days when I stood on the crumbling terraces of 1.FC Köln’s Müngersdorferstadion to watch the last ever Cologne derby against local rivals Fortuna.

Now Köln call the rebuilt 50,000-capacity Rhein Energie Stadion home, and it’s packed every weekend, despite the fact that the “billy goats” have been relegated three times this decade.

The unpredictability of the Bundesliga is arguably what makes it so special.

While the “big four” in England have usually jostled into position come the first week of October, the Bundesliga is notorious for upstart sides winning the league.

Borussia Dortmund came from nowhere to win on the final day of the 2001-02 campaign, while in 2003-04 it was the turn of Werder Bremen to shock the pundits.

Sandwiched in between are no less than five titles won by Bayern Munich this decade, however the Bavarians are usually given a run for their money – as they discovered last season when unfashionable Wolfsburg lifted a first ever Bundesliga crown.

Wolfsburg’s success came on the back of one of the most cosmopolitan squads ever assembled in Germany.

No less than twelve different nationalities represent the Volkswagen-backed club this time around, with former Urawa Reds midfielder Makoto Hasebe joining the likes of Nigerian striker Obefami Martins and Italian World Cup winner Andrea Barzagli.

There’s an Australian flavour at promoted side 1.FC Nürnberg, with Matthew Spiranovic and Dario Vidosic both calling one of Germany’s most beloved clubs home.

A common language and the familiar sight of English football on Australian TV makes the Premier League an obvious choice for discerning fans Down Under.

But with the Bundesliga receiving ever increasing exposure on our sunny shores, football fans would be well rewarded for tuning in to what has been the highest scoring of Europe’s big four leagues every year since 1989.

As much as I enjoy watching English football, when it comes to season-long excitement, I turn to the Bundesliga every time.

The unedifying sight of a gaunt Diego Maradona trudging from the Rosario pitch should serve as a warning. A silly, sentimental choice as coach, Maradona had just overseen his team’s 3-1 World Cup qualifying defeat to Brazil.

It was Argentina’s first loss at home in World Cup qualifying since the Albiceleste were thrashed 5-0 by Colombia in Buenos Aires in 1993.

Meanwhile in European qualifying, a packed Parken Stadion in Copenhagen watched enthralled as Denmark and Portugal played out an absorbing 1-1 draw.

The point leaves Portugal hanging by a thread – with Cristiano Ronaldo and co. now seven points adrift of the group-leading Danes with three games to go.

Things would have been worse had Portugese debutant Liedson not beaten a stubborn Stephan Anderson with three minutes remaining.

The plight of two of the world’s best players goes some way to proving an age-old adage: it’s a team game after all.

Try telling that to Maradona, who has built his squad around the cult of Messi and players of his similarly short-framed ilk.

Sergio “Kun” Agüero is undoubtedly a fabulous player.

But the fact that he is consistently named over free-scoring Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuaín appears to have more to do with his resemblance to Maradona than his goalscoring ability.

When Argentina’s vertically-challenged front line of Messi and Carlos Tevez were being monstered by the powerful Brazilian defence, Maradona predictably had no Plan B.

It didn’t help that Maradona managed to alienate mercurial playmaker Juan Román Riquelme almost as soon as he took charge of the national team.

Riquelme’s international retirement has robbed Argentina of arguably their most influential creative presence – Messi notwithstanding.

Meanwhile Cristiano Ronaldo has never really hit the heights with Portugal that he once did for Manchester United.

Maybe it’s not being surrounded by the sort of players he graced the turf with at Old Trafford – although you’d think the likes of Ricardo Carvalho, Deco and current Real Madrid team-mate Pepe are pretty handy personnel.

Or perhaps it’s the constant pressure of trying to go one step further than former Portugese talisman Luís Figo, who despite all his talent, never won silverware with the national team.

Whatever it is, Ronaldo has never stamped his authority on international football the way he once did in the Premier League.

And now fans in South Africa are in danger of missing out on watching two of world football’s greatest stars strut their stuff.

It’s a sobering reminder that football is a game contested by eleven players each.

Indeed, the contrast with Dunga’s workmen-like Brazil is stark.

Like Maradona, Dunga has fashioned his Seleção much in his own image, with Brazil relying on the hard graft of players like Gilberto Silva and Felipe Melo as much as they do on the individual talents of Kaká and Robinho.

So it’s ironic that Dunga’s job now seems secure given the original howls of protest over his team’s artisanal style of football.

The same cannot be said for Maradona, whose appointment as Argentina coach is looking more like the unqualified disaster that many predicted.

Even if the legendary former midfielder manages to steer his team into the finals, it remains to be seen whether the Argentine Football Association keeps the faith with Maradona all the way to South Africa.

The likes of Argentina and Portugal are always going to be dark horses to win any World Cup tournament – provided they get there.

But with teams like Brazil, Germany and even – dare I say it – Korea Republic building much of their success on team work, both Ronaldo and Messi will need to conjure some personal brilliance to drag their respective sides over the line.

Otherwise the World Cup could be shorn of the sight of two of the world game’s most recognisable players – hardly the festival of football that FIFA are hoping for.

After a comprehensive 3-0 rout of Ireland in their recent friendly in Limerick, the Socceroos will be out to extend their winning streak when they take on Korea Republic in Seoul.

But without the talismanic Tim Cahill in their midst, Australia may need to find a new match-winner when they run out at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Saturday night.

Time is slowly ticking down for several players to confirm their place in Pim Verbeek’s 2010 World Cup plans.

North Queensland Fury defender Shane Stefanutto gets his chance in the absence of the reliable Scott Chipperfield.

Chipperfield picked up his second Man-of-the-Match award in ten days in FC Basel’s recent 2-1 home defeat to Young Boys Bern, but recent knocks means the versatile veteran won’t be risked in the South Korean capital.

Another possibly playing for his international future is Michael Beauchamp.

The tall defender appears to be on the outer at Danish club Aalborg, with Beauchamp – like so many of his Socceroos team-mates – currently struggling for game time.

Ironically, it’s the much-maligned Brett Holman who is playing regularly and seemingly in form.

Not only will he run out for his club side AZ Alkmaar in the UEFA Champions League group stage this season, but Holman also scored the opener in the Dutch champion’s most recent 2-1 win over Willem II.

Whether he can demonstrate some more composure in a Socceroos jersey remains to be seen, but the Pim Verbeek-favourite is one Socceroo who appears in no danger of missing the World Cup squad.

The same can’t be said of Nicky Carle – recently denied a loan move to FC Seoul by Crystal Palace coach Neil Warnock, despite the fact that Warnock has shown little propensity to actually play the creative midfielder this season.

Mile Jedinak just switched clubs to gain more first team football, while a frustrated Jade North no doubt wishes he’d done the same, with several of the Socceroos far from first choice players for their respective sides.

So it will come as a relief that youngster Dario Vidosic turned in a bright performance for German outfit 1. FC Nürnberg last weekend, while Nikita Rukavytsya is another youngster looking to make his mark with the World Cup finals inching ever closer.

Both are likely to start on the bench, with Celtic striker Scott McDonald getting his wish as he looks set to be paired alongside the towering Josh Kennedy in a classic “little-man, big-man” combination up front.

Meanwhile the Korean Football Association pulled a swift one with the naming of their squad, with several overseas-based players named in a preliminary squad subsequently dropping out.

There were always going to be changes with no goalkeepers named in the original squad.

But with the KFA and the K-League routinely at loggerheads over scheduling, a full round of K-League action next Sunday makes the inclusion of thirteen local-based players somewhat surprising.

Lee Young-Pyo – once briefly a team-mate of Jason Culina’s at PSV Eindhoven – slammed the K-League for its reluctance to release domestic players for national team duty.

The Al-Hilal defender was named in the final squad, however 2002 World Cup star Ahn Jung-Hwan was ultimately overlooked.

Bundesliga club Freiburg refused to release Cha Du-Ri – whose father Cha Bum-Kun is arguably the most famous Asian player of all time.

Not an ideal situation for coach Huh Jung-Moo, although he can at least call upon Manchester United star Park Ji-Sung for the clash, while exciting Monaco youngster Park Chu-Young is another to watch out for.

And after topping a tough-looking World Cup qualifying group, the South Koreans will be no pushovers in the capital.

If it’s squad depth the Socceroos are looking to test, they’ve got the perfect opportunity to do in Seoul.

The result is relatively unimportant, but with no Lucas Neill or Tim Cahill in the line-up, now is an ideal time for some fringe Socceroos to step up and leave their mark on the national team.

Don’t bother shutting the gate, Gold Coast United have already bolted. What’s interesting about Gold Coast’s form so far is that two of their three wins have come away from home. Of course, they’ve only played at home once so far. But elsewhere home teams are struggling to chalk up wins.

Of the fifteen games played so far, six have resulted in home wins with a further four draws thrown in.

A forty percent success rate for home teams isn’t exactly a catastrophic statistic.

But it does go some way to highlighting that in its five-year history, no one team in the A-League has managed to totally dominate their opponents at home.

Melbourne Victory might be two-time A-League champions.

But they’ve also finished seventh and fifth in the league – mainly on the back of an inability to grind out victories in front of their home fans.

Brisbane Roar are synonymous with being unable to win at home.

Watching them go around on a pristine pitch at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday, I wondered again how much home support plays a role.

The fact that only 7,048 fans turned out is in itself not the problem.

That they turned out in a 52,000-capacity stadium arguably is.

It’s a shame there weren’t a few more fans inside Suncorp for Brisbane’s clash with Wellington, because Frank Farina’s side play some of the most attractive football in the league.

Charlie Miller remains a pivotal force in midfield for the Roar, while Henrique looks well on his way to becoming one of the signings of the season.

Brisbane will need to do something about their overall discipline.

Robbie Kruse should have been sent off for his X-rated challenge on Leo Bertos, even if team-mate Tommy Oar was a little hard done by with his red card.

But a more pressing concern for coach Farina is surely how to get his team to win at home.

It’s the same problem faced by A-League coaches across the board.

Adelaide United’s home crowds this season have been impressive, but they were torn apart by Gold Coast United at Hindmarsh Stadium last weekend.

Central Coast Mariners have recorded successive derby-day draws in front of their home fans.

And Melbourne Victory’s only win so far this season came on the road in Townsville.

I expect Victory’s home form to pick up next season when they move to their new football-specific stadium.

But what of a western Sydney team possibly playing out of ANZ Stadium?

If seven thousand fans rattle around inside Suncorp Stadium, I hate to think of the atmosphere set to be unleashed at Homebush’s most infamous white elephant.

Interestingly enough, two games were played at neutral venues in the J. League last weekend.

Second-from-bottom Kashiwa Reysol sacrificed home advantage when they needed it most and drew 1-1 with regional rivals Yokohama F. Marinos at the National Stadium in Tokyo.

And Gamba Osaka lost 3-2 to a Josh Kennedy-less Nagoya Grampus in the neutral surrounds of Kanazawa Stadium.

Meanwhile, a season-high attendance saw Sanfrecce Hiroshima beat Urawa Reds at home, while Shimizu S-Pulse smashed local rivals Jubilo Iwata 5-1 in front of a sell-out crowd at the Shizuoka derby.

At the end of the day, there’s no hard and fast rules when it comes to winning at home.

But it’s certainly a useful tactic for those looking to claim silverware!

There’s plenty of interest in whether Gold Coast United can go through the season undefeated.

However, I’m just as interested in seeing if they can consistently win at home – particularly with Gold Coast locals looking set to give Miron Bleiberg’s impressively-assembled squad short shrift over the early rounds of the campaign.

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A second consecutive World Cup finals appearance. A confident line-up. A coach eager to make his mark on the big stage. With only ten months until the Socceroos run out in South Africa, why not ask the question: can Australia win the World Cup?

It may seem like a daft proposition.

When Japan coach Takeshi Okada boldly pronounced that his side was good enough to reach the World Cup semi-finals, most critics thought the po-faced tactician had finally lost it.

But if Australia are to realise the late Johnny Warren’s dream of not only participating in a World Cup – but winning it – it requires some strong leadership.

Only time will tell whether Pim Verbeek is the man to deliver it.

The quick-witted Dutchman is a results-driven pragmatist – but ultimately it’s the results he conjures in South Africa by which he will be judged.

His first major decision is to sort out this mess with Mark Viduka.

Big ‘Dukes’ is clearly in a class of his own when it comes to our striking personnel.

But despite being treated with kid gloves by Verbeek, Viduka is yet to play a single game under the Dutchman.

He may not get the chance, with Viduka currently club-less and seemingly headed into football oblivion.

But if he’s still keen to represent his country, then it’s time for Verbeek to demand a cast-iron commitment from Viduka.

Otherwise he should anoint Scott McDonald or Josh Kennedy as our undisputed first choice striker, and continue to blood youngsters Bruce Djite and Nikita Rukavytsya to further strengthen our depth.

McDonald’s glaring lack of goals for the national team is an obvious concern, and given Verbeek’s fondness for a 4-2-3-1 formation, it begs the question of whether Gençlerbirligi striker Bruce Djite shouldn’t be handed his chance in upcoming friendlies against Korea Republic and the Netherlands.

The choice of friendly opposition is another crucial one.

I was at the De Kuip Stadion in Rotterdam in 2006 when an heroic goalkeeping performance from Mark Schwarzer helped propel the Socceroos to a confidence- boosting 1-1 draw.

Australia meet the Dutch again in a friendly at the Sydney Football Stadium, but just as crucial a test is the upcoming friendly against Korea Republic in Seoul.

Deft in possession, the Koreans play the kind of high-tempo pressing game the Socceroos might encounter from certain Central and South American teams at the World Cup finals.

Moreover, the passionate confines of Seoul’s imposing World Cup Stadium will force the Socceroos to come out of their comfort zones.

Communication is vital, and with the deafening vuvuzela set to be unleashed again at the finals in South Africa, the test of our non-verbal communication skills should prove a useful one in Seoul.

How Verbeek handles the likes of Perth Glory trio Chris Coyne, Jacob Burns and Mile Sterjovski plying their trade in the A-League could also prove vital.

After questioning the standard of the league, Verbeek can ill-afford to let which country a player plays in dictate his squad selection.

If someone lights up the A-League with a mountain of goals – let’s use John Aloisi as a suitable example – he should be named in the squad, even if the A-League’s early finish is a hindrance.

The luck of the draw will ultimately play a key role in how the Socceroos fare.

However, preparation can also make a difference, as Guus Hiddink’s super-fit 2006 vintage will no doubt attest.

Getting the likes of Brett Emerton fully fit will be easier said than done, while the entire nation will hope that Tim Cahill keeps his metatarsal wrapped in cotton wool in the build-up to the big event.

He’s not a man to tinker extensively with his tactics, so it’s up to Verbeek and his assistants to consolidate a first-choice starting eleven, consider some alternatives, practice penalties and hope that Lady Luck shines upon us at the group stage draw.

It might sound far-fetched, but Australia came agonisingly close to a quarter-final showdown with Ukraine in 2006.

With that in mind, what would it take for the Socceroos to win the World Cup?

I’m keen to hear what you think.