Gamba Osaka’s Yasuhito Endo chips the ball to score a first goal for the Japan side side. AP Photo/Kyodo News
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.
KB
Guest
ha, ha, Bear I agree with you 100% :lol:
The Bear
Guest
Fascinating thread. Thanks. A little bit disturbing, but I feel less naive now. Definitely more determined to see our lads do us proud in the Asian Cup. Hopefully Holman will be unavailable cos he is such a Dutch Supershtar now.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
and who refused to allow the South Korean anthem to played or flag raised in direct violation of FIFA rules.
AndyRoo
Guest
I do think our achievements are underrated but I just think the South Korean team is better. We do have a better goal keeper but the South Korean team is very strong across the park except like us up front and even then they have a player scoring goals (not too many though) for Monaco and they only just had a 27 match unbeaten streak ended. The 27 matches unbeaten to me suggests their ranking is not a fair indication of their results. It’s not just the results of one friendly they are a very good team. South Africa will be the proof I guess and if they don’t make the second round then I will wave the white flag. Both teams qualified first in their group. You can’t do better than that. It then comes down to rankings vs the friendly result and given the 27 game unbeaten streak I think it would be unfair to put too much steed in Koreas poor ranking.
Greg Russell
Roar Guru
It's a slippery slope when you start arguing that the result of one friendly should form the basis of who has been the better team over the entire year (not to mention that South Korea had the advantages of being at home and playing an Australian team that was significantly understrength ... precisely because it was a friendly rather than a "meaningful" game). The argument about South Korea playing teams from Europe is piffle ... if they measured up against those teams (as Australia has in analogous fixtures), then their world ranking would reflect it (as Australia's does). The argument about South Korea having a tougher group for WC qualifying is at first appealing, but then how does one explain that it was actually the team from Australia's group that won the play-off between the third-placed teams? Also, the difficulty of one's opponents in WC qualification matches is taken into account in world rankings. Sure, the rankings system is not perfect, but it's not so imperfect that team 52 (South Korea) is actually better than team 21 (Australia). On a related note, it always amazes me the number of Socceroo fans who want to downplay whatever the team achieves. That is basically the argument you are putting forward: "Well we qualified very strongly for the World Cup, and we got as high as 14 in the world rankings, but that's all pretty meaningless in comparison to losing a friendly in South Korea". Don't get me wrong, I'm not having a go at you. But I guess this is what is meant by the term "death-riding", which is what I constantly hear from passionate All Blacks fans around me ... no matter what their team achieves, they are always trying to downplay it, and demand better, and say it wasn't really good enough, and so on. Wake up and smell the roses with the Socceroos, because it ain't always going to be this good!
Tom
Guest
Yeah, I enjoy it very much. Not always free on Sunday afternoons though. Plus, not really any opinion or commentary in there.
KB
Guest
Oh I see what you mean Mike, yes I do agree with you... Maybe better scheduling perhaps to allow players to be given a reasonable time to turn up for the occasion..
AndyRoo
Guest
South Korea came first in a much tougher group so it would have looked strange to give the award to us after they well and truly dusted us in the friendly, which was the unofficial World Championship of Asia (Group a winners vs group b winners). South Korea were already qualified for the Asian cup through their top 4 finish at the last one so rather than boost their rating by playing more Asian teams they have been playing friendlies against European and African teams....and like all awards (the Oscars come to mind) you often get them the year after you first deserve it. Whoever does best in SA2010 is likely to get the gong next year barring a real outsider causing a big upset and qualifying for the Asian Cup I love my Socceroos but would say South Korea deserved it this year.
KB
Guest
"Endo wins AFC award, but at what cost?" I can't uderstand why there should be an objection---this guy has brilliant ball skills----guess I better read your artile Mike to find out why ;)
KB
Guest
Tom, on Sunday afternoon at 3pm on TWG (SBS) there's a highlight package of Asian Football---it's great stuff and features a lot of Australian games as well---compulsory viewing in my opinion....
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
North Korea for Federation of the Year was incredible stuff. This from a national FA that accused their South Korean counterparts of poisoning them after a World Cup qualifier in Seoul!
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
We were defeated by South Korea in a friendly though and have hardly starred in our Asia Cup Qualifying. They also had a very difficult group for World Cup qualifying and breezed through it. My favourite is North Korea for Federation of the Year.
Greg Russell
Roar Guru
Mike, thanks for the perspective here, I saw the report on these awards yesterday and really scratched my head. One thing you do not mention, perhaps out of charity, is the award for national team of the year, which went to South Korea. Even if it's silly, I get that Cahill, Schwarzer, etc. did not get player of the year because it excludes deeds in Europe. However when it comes to national team of the year, there can be no such rule. So presumably South Korea got the nod over Australia because they beat an under-strength Socceroo side in a meaningless (friendly) match in Seoul in September. This surely has to be the silliest, most purely political award decision of the lot. I mean, South Korea are currently ranked 52 and they have not been above 40 since mid-2006 (see http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=kor/ranking/gender=m/index.html). On the other hand, Australia is currently 21st, they got as high as 14th this year (second-highest ever by an Asian team, behind only Japan's 9 in early 1998), and their lowest this year was 32nd (http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=aus/ranking/gender=m/index.html). The next highest Asian team is Japan, currently in 42nd. If the above does not amount to a no-brainer for Australia as national team of the year in Asia, then I do not know what does. Incidentally, those FIFA pages on ranking history are really cool ... and it's not often that I hand out bouquets to FIFA!
GeneralAshnak
Roar Pro
I argue the award system is totally transparent, it is so see through as to be invisible! How about we have the voting system completely opaque, then everyone can see it.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
You're having a stir, surely.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
The lack of transparency in the voting system is one of the most frustrating aspects of the award. Yasuhito Endo is undoubtedly one of the best players in Asia, but did he do enough this year to claim the award?
Asian Football?
Guest
So you say Tom - but is anyone in Australia actually interested in it? Statistically speaking, you'd be talking about less than 1% of the Australian Population mate - why should the press be covering it?
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
I would like to see each federation vote for player of the year, regardless of where they ply their trade, using a 3-2-1 system with the caveat that they are unable to vote for anyone from their own federation. You could even have a vote count.
AGO74
Guest
The rest of the world perceives Asian football as weak and the AFC award is a perfect opportunity to showcase to the rest of the world taht whilst we don't have Messi's, Ronaldo's etc, their is still a very high number of quality footballers from this region, but yet again, idiotic decisions mean that any kudos to be gained is lost in a farcical way.
Tom
Guest
Good article. Mike, I really appreciate your articles on Asian football. Its an area that just doesn't get enough attention in the mainstream press.