The Brisbane Roar are daring to dream of sharing the FIFA Club World Cup stage with the best of Europe as they kick off their “exciting Asian adventure” on Tuesday night.
Roar coach Ange Postecoglou is aiming as high as ever heading into their ACL Champions League debut against FC Tokyo at Suncorp Stadium and said there was no reason why his side couldn’t buck the trend of A-League failure in Asia.
Only Adelaide United, when they lost the 2008 final to Gamba Osaka, and Newcastle Jets have progressed past the group stages.
But Postecoglou is determined to lift up the A-League – struggling with Gold Coast United’s demise – and put it on world football’s map.
“(The Club World Cup) is what we should aspire to,” he said. “I’ve always said that in this country, when we dream big about our game, we tend to accomplish things but, when we have a negative mindset and get pessimistic in our view, then what’s happened in the last couple of weeks happens.
“Why not? Can you see Brisbane Roar playing a Real Madrid or whoever wins the Champions League next year?
“I remember sitting there watching Barcelona play (Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol last year) and I thought ‘that could be an A-League club’.”
Postecoglou felt a defeatist attitude, as well as the inability of top clubs retaining form and key players, had affected previous Australian teams in the ACL Champions League.
But he vowed the in-form Roar would stay true to their natural attacking flair against the Emperor’s Cup champions, who play a similarly vibrant, high-possession game.
“We want to play the type of football that we’ve become known for … and carry those traits through to this competition,” he said.
“The pleasing thing this year is that both ourselves and (runners-up) Central Coast have backed it up which hasn’t happened before … the salary cap and player attrition makes it difficult to back up.
“The fact we have gives us as good a chance as anyone.”
The Roar have ruled out playmaker Mitch Nichols (groin) but the blow has been tempered by the return of suspended striker Henrique, which should see classy German Thomas Broich move back to the top of the midfield.
FC Tokyo, who flew into Brisbane on Monday morning, have been hit harder with captain Yohei Kajiyama and Brazilian spearhead Lucas injured in the 2-1 Japanese Super Cup loss to Kashiwa Reysol on Saturday.
Roar assistant coach Rado Vidosic travelled to Japan to watch and tape the match and Brisbane know they face a huge test of their skill against an extremely sharp and technically-skilful rival.
“Our organisation and structure needs to be spot on because, if we make any mistakes, they’re the sort of team that will attack quickly and accurately,” Postecoglou said.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
"Agree. It was as if the Roar was looking itself in the mirror." Yes, hopefully at themselves in another few years.
Stevo
Guest
Agree. It was as if the Roar was looking itself in the mirror. A team playing similarly but at a sharper level. As I was watching last night my thoughts were about how Tokyo is providing a template to lift our (A-league) game even higher rather than seeing it merely as a defeat to a better team. Looking forward to seeing the Marinators and how Arnie sets the team up. Well done AU.
jbinnie
Guest
Ange's last sentence in this article spells it out loud and clear,and did they ever attack quickly and accurately.The game in itself was not a disaster (one local scribe described it as Roar being "outclassed" , "outplayed" yes, but never "outclassed".) On the contrary,for Roar it is to be hoped that this game was recorded in full for the difference in the sides was I feel exactly what Ange is trying to achieve and a viewing of the tape would show his players where they have to improve to attain that standard. Tokyo's accuracy in passing and their continued movement on and off the ball all around the field was a master class in what Ange's philosophy seeks to attain but which at the moment is not being achieved with any regularity by his team.. Momentum in Roar's system of play has been affected by losses of key players these last few months so a certain amount of "backsliding" was to be expected but now the gauntlet has been thrown down it is going to be interesting to see if the players can respond. The interesting thing is going to be in the close season for it appears they may now have gained entry into this competition next year and in my mind Ange is going to have to add to his squad for them to perform at this level for no team can afford to be trying out youngsters in the hope they can perform, they MUST be able to perform. In comparison between the 2 teams. The huge gap in the percentage of accuracy in passing caused the Roar to defend far more than they would have wished and the Japanese constant use of space to make it easy for their playmaker only added to this task. However it is not the end of the world simply a lesson on how to achieve improvement. Go to it lads. jb
Dasilva
Guest
To be fair on ange. He never said that reysol played barcelona. That mistake was made by the editors who add the line in brackets during the quote
Matsu
Guest
“I remember sitting there watching Barcelona play (Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol last year) and I thought ‘that could be an A-League club’.” Wow . . . . I would have loved to have been sitting wherever Ange was sitting (or at least drinking whatever he was drinking). Reysol never played against Barca; they were beaten by Santos in the semifinal.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
We've had this discussion before - the ACL is separate to the FFA, it's not the FFA's responsibility - it's up to the club to promote - they are effectively playing in another competition.
Qantas supports Australian Football
Guest
Eddie---another failure of Frank Lowy's and Ben Buckley's; promising more promotion and advertising of HAL club fixtures in the A-League and ACL.. Be careful tho if you speak out too much the club licence will be revoked.
JohnL
Guest
If you have been going to every home game, then surely you have seen it advertised there. I know I have. Plus seen the ads on their website, talking about it on their facebook page, and also receiving emails from the club about it (season members get these emails).
Stevo
Guest
Well, why don't you ring the Roar and/or FFA this arvo and ask what going on. FFA reckon they're doing a good job this year - I'm sure they'll say it's up to the Roar to promote the game - finger pointing at it best.
BES
Guest
...what makes you think there will be story to read about in the paper tomorrow....?
Eddie Mckenna
Guest
I go to every home match at Suncorp, I was told yesterday about to-nights match, I have not seen it advertised anywhere, and I have been scanning the website and the Internet, to try and find out what time they Kick-off, but cannot find anything out about the match. Is the match to be played behind closed doors ?. I am sure that a lot of Fans like myself, will be upset when they find out about to-nights match only when they read about the results in the paper to-morrow.