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Where football should import knowledge from

11th January, 2012
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Australia's Carl Valeri tries to maintain control of the ball after stumbling as China's Zhang Yaokun and Gao Lin move in during their World Cup qualifier match at ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Sunday, June 22, 2008. AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Roar Guru
11th January, 2012
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The announcement last Friday of former Northern Ireland international Jim Magilton as Melbourne Victory’s new coach may have the club’s board hoping for a revival of their fledgling season, but it’s also set off a discussion about the importance of importing football knowledge.

On that point, on Tuesday, I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon at Sassuolo Calcio. A tiny little Italian club which is currently sitting two points off top spot in Italy’s Serie B and is also home to Socceroos midfielder Carl Valeri.

Hailing from a town of just 40,000 people, the club has risen up the ranks of the Italian game. Despite miniscule crowd figures, which make Gold Coast United’s look good, Sassuolo has its eyes firmly set on Serie A football in the near future.

With one of the most professional collective mindsets below Italy’s top flight, it’s entirely possible that Sassuolo will find themselves achieving this goal.

So as I sat eating lunch in the quaint local restaurant that is a favourite of the club’s players, I was thinking about the differences between life in the football environments of Australia and Italy.

Even at a club as well run as Sassuolo, the lifestyle for a player is fairly sparse and, as I finished off a stunning plate of ricotta ravioli in parmesan sauce, it occurred to me the food may be the only thing Italian football at this level has over Australia.

In other words, the biggest selling point for Australian football to foreign coaches and players is the superior lifestyle.

I’d like to see the targets of this approach hail from countries that have experience in achieving beyond their means.

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One country that should be at the top of that list is Portugal – a football environment filled with coaches of an advanced technical level.

One of the great myths is that A-League clubs can’t afford this level of football expertise. Amongst the glitz and glamour of European football there does exist a bracket of coaches who are attracted to living in a sunny climate and a more welcoming professional environment.

The real challenge is finding this person and so the question then is how do we go about achieving this? For me that’s a serious discussion worth having.

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