Western Sydney Wanderers have been the story of Australian sport in the last 12 months.
A mere twinkle in the FFA’s eye a year ago, the Wanderers have clinched their first piece of silverware with their 3-0 win over Newcastle Jets last Friday night.
However, a report in today’s Sydney Morning Herald states that Wanderers coach Tony Popovic knows that “in his own mind”, his team have already won the league.
Sebastian Hassett’s story did not quote the Wanderers’ boss directly, but if this is the feeling Popovic is conveying to his players as they enjoy a week’s break, I’d be amazed.
It’s a comfortable psychological state to slip into and one that looked to cost the Central Coast Mariners dearly last season. And this year, the Wanderers don’t have the luxury of a second chance, as the Mariners did in 2012.
The Wanderers success this season has been built on hard work, unity and commitment combined with a tactical gameplan that took advantage of their strengths rather than trying to mould the playing group into any one conventional formation.
Often the Wanderers appeared below their best in certain stages of a match but the collective work ethic and ability to hold teams at bay until their attacking play clicked won them games, fans and adulation.
Beating Melbourne Heart while playing with ten men for more than 80 minutes encapsulated what this team is about.
So I’d be shocked if “Poppa”, who has experienced the cut throat nature of play-offs here and in the UK, would be patting his players on the back and saying “Job done, boys”.
It doesn’t matter what he, Graham Arnold or any other so-called “traditionalist” thinks in respect to the champion team in the A-League.
Both Popovic and Arnold know that for their respective clubs to clinch this season’s A-League, they still have two wins to achieve.
Unsurprisingly, Ange Postecoglou is a firm advocate of the finals format and just who has coached the last two A-League champions?
That the Brisbane Roar won their first title after clinching the Premier’s Plate, and won their second after being regular-season runners-up, shows that, among other factors, the focus for the Roar in both play-off series remained on winning the grand final.
The Wanderers could play any of the teams that finished fourth, fifth or sixth in their semi final on April 12th.
And the pedigree of all three in finals football is strong. Adelaide United (4th) are in woeful form, and have seemingly not recovered from the acrimonious departure of former coach John Kosmina.
But the club is well-versed in cut-throat football, having made two A-League grand finals and an Asian Champions League final. Brisbane Roar (5th) are aiming for a three-peat of titles and are in red-hot form.
If they beat Adelaide, which has to be a probability on current form, they’ll provide a stiff test of the Wanderers title credentials.
Perth Glory (6th) have almost flown under the radar into the finals but with their run to the grand final last year fresh in the mind, and newish coach Alistair Edwards building in a cohesive playing pattern, a Glory win over Melbourne Victory would not be a shock.
If Perth win, they, as lowest ranked winners, would travel to Parramatta Stadium in week two of the play-offs.
Approaching any of those teams in a tense semi final with an attitude of “we’ve already won the real competition” could lead to a massive let-down for the Wanderers’ magnificent supporters.
I can’t imagine that after a season of such great achievement, Popovic would be allowing his players to relax mentally, with the real prize only two more games away.
apaway
Roar Guru
With respect, Steven, the topic of this article was not the merits of first past the post vs play-offs in determining the champions of the A-league. It was the fact that while one system is in place, it is dangerous for coaches to give their players the impression that the "other" system is the true barometer.
buddy
Guest
It makes no difference which system we use and whether we have a cup competition. It makes no difference whether we are caught up in semi finals fever or of the belief that first past the post equals champions, we live and play in a country that pays deference to two systems and as such we must all deal with it in our own way. Semi finals tickets are double the price of the regular season but they sell nevertheless and I, along with countless others jumped on line yesterday at 9:00 am when they went on sale because no matter what, we want to be part of it, we love the game and we want more of it and there will be a hole in the calendar when it is all over, done and dusted or whatever cliche you care to use in a few weeks time. The only action you can take as a fan is to "vote with your feet". If the vast majority do not believe in semi finals and finals, then don't buy tickets and don't attend. Low attendances would send a clear message as the last thing FFA needs is to make a loss on the semi finals or final. Realistic? probably not, but doesn't that tell us we all want to watch some more and are prepared to part with the cash to do so? However, if the final (for the sake of argument) were to be played at ANZ stadium, I will not be parting with a cent for a ticker, nor wolud I accept a free seat until the day comes that attendances and interest in the game would guarantee a crowd of over 60,000 making it worthwhile to use the stadium and create a real finals atmosphere.
Steven
Guest
I know this topic has almost been done to death. Why oh why out of a ten team competition do we have six (yes...six out of ten) making the finals. Revenue raising seems to be the logical answer. The FFA seems to be rewarding mediocrity over a logical finish to the season. Let the champiohship finish with the minor premiers taking the honours and then the top two teams have time to focus on the ACL. Do not allow greed to override logic.
BrisbaneBhoy
Roar Rookie
Can a Mod delete the last couple of posts that are duplicates. I'm not to sure as to what happened. Cheers
BrisbaneBhoy
Roar Rookie
...
BrisbaneBhoy
Roar Rookie
RE dasilva QUOTE - "the thing about the final series match is that these matches are do or die match where a loss means you are out. That type of pressure is not transferable to any regular season match. The pressure to do well in winners take all or matches where you know that if you play poorly, you are eliminated from the competition is the mark of the champions" /QUOTE. I'm sorry, but this statement/line of thinking doesn't take into consideration other events outside of the players control that affects matches/results. A team who dominates their opponent can still lose the match thanks to forces outside their control - ie: disallowed goal/s from a wrongful offside call/s. A player wrongfully red carded from an over zealous referee/poor sighted referee. Etc, etc. Then you may have a situation of a team picking up a few suspensions and/or injuries before the match is played which can really hamper a team, especially when there isn't t much quality squad depth or the like. The above are just a couple of examples (there are plenty others) of things outside of the players/teams control that can (and DO) affect outcomes of match/es, regardless of how the players/team mentality and ability are like. ---- I'll reply to the following two questions you ask, even though the situations are a lot different to that of a football match (due to all the different factors in football), and hence are somewhat irrelevant... QUOTE - "How would you rate an athlete who breaks the world record in the heats but hten lose in the finals?" /QUOTE. I rate that person as the fastest person in the world for said event. QUOTE - "Did anyone here cheer Steven Bradbury when he won the final despite barely scraping his way to the finals?" /QUOTE. Who? I had to google Steven Bradbury. He won Austrlia's first ever gold medal at a Winters Olympics?
BrisbaneBhoy
Roar Rookie
RE dasilva QUOTE - "the thing about the final series match is that these matches are do or die match where a loss means you are out. That type of pressure is not transferable to any regular season match. The pressure to do well in winners take all or matches where you know that if you play poorly, you are eliminated from the competition is the mark of the champions" - /QUOTE. I'm sorry, but this statement/line of thinking doesn't take into consideration other events outside of the players control that affects matches/results. A team who dominates their opponent can still lose the match thanks to forces outside their control - ie: disallowed goal/s from a wrongful offside call/s. A player wrongfully red carded from an over zealous referee/poor sighted referee. Etc, etc. Then you may have a situation of a team picking up a few suspensions and/or injuries before the match is played which can really hamper a team, especially when there isn't t much quality squad depth or the like. The above are just a couple of examples (there are plenty others) of things outside of the players/teams control that can (and DO) affect outcomes of match/es, regardless of how the players/team mentality and ability are like. ---- I'll reply to the following two questions you ask, even though the situations are a lot different to that of a football match (due to all the different factors in football), and hence are somewhat irrelevant... QUOTE - "How would you rate an athlete who breaks the world record in the heats but hten lose in the finals?" - /QUOTE. I rate that person as the fastest person in the world for said event. QUOTE - "Did anyone here cheer Steven Bradbury when he won the final despite barely scraping his way to the finals?" - /QUOTE. Who? I had to google Steven Bradbury. He won Austrlia's first ever gold medal at a Winters Olympics?
Roarsome
Guest
Imagine how many viewers we'd get from England? I know the A-League is growing in the UK but nothing get's the tele audience like Alf.
apaway
Roar Guru
BrisbaneBhoy Statistically at least, it does appear to be pretty hard. But aside from that, the finals format used to reward the teams that finished 1 and 2 better than this year's format does, so up until this season, finishing first and second had massive in-built advantages.
apaway
Roar Guru
...and the winner gets presented with their trophy at Summer Bay...?
Football Nation
Guest
Agreed it should be called the Home& Away trophy....
dasilva
Guest
The reason why AFC gave the premiers automatic qualification instead of the champions is less to do with ideology but more to do wtih technicality at the fact that we don't have an FFA cup The automatic qualification goes to the league champions The half of the spot goes to the cup champions In 2007 Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma were the Premiers and won the league. However Pohang Steelers were 5th on the ladder and won the Post season finals and were the champions Chunnam Dragons (10th) won the FA cup. Back then two spots were given to each country for the 2008 Champions League SO one spot went to Pohang who were the league champions but only finish 5th on the ladder and the other spot went to Chunnam Dragons who won the FA cup The Premiers who won the league were empty handed and Seongnam Ilhwa missed out all together. So there is precedent in the AFC Champions League of the Premiers missing out qualification to the AFC champions league altogehter However since Australia don't have a FFA cup competition. The Finals series has to count as the cup competition and that's why they got half the spot. the Premiers get the full spot as the league champions because you can't exactly argue the Premiers of being cup champions? So if Australia gets the FFA cup I'm sure the AFC would approve of giving one spot to the Champions and half the spot to the FFA Cup winner and the Premiers can miss out altogether Although I'm not too sure how the fans of the competition will react to the Premiers going home empty handed
dasilva
Guest
It is easier to do well in 20 matches then it is to do well in 3 matches if all those matches are worth equal. However the thing about the final series match is that these matches are do or die match where a loss means you are out. That type of pressure is not transferable to any regular season match. The pressure to do well in winners take all or matches where you know that if you play poorly, you are eliminated from the competition is the mark of the champions How would you rate an athlete who breaks the world record in the heats but hten lose in the finals? Do they have the mentality of a champions to succeed in a do or die match in the finals. Did anyone here cheer Steven Bradbury when he won the final despite barely scraping his way to the finals? Or a football analogy the mighty magyar who only loss one match in 6 years of football. That one match was the World Cup final in 1954. They may as well be the best team in the world in terms of skills of the players but they aren't champions because they couldn't handle the pressure of playing in a do or die winner takes all match. Sure I'm happy to say that the Premiers deserve more recognition but I'm starting to think that people underestimate the achievement to win a pressured winners take all clash. Some the most talented teams in the world couldn't achieve it (Hungarian 1954, Netherlands 1974 Brazil 1982 etc)..It's the mark of the champions to win the match that matter.
dasilva
Guest
That's good Australia getting stripped a spot this season reeks of political manuervoring (Australia should have kept the same amount of spot if they used the same system as previous years In previous years they just mark every league according to the criteria However this season they decided to change the system and deduct points for not meeting the criteria. So let say they rate governance to be 40/50 because you succeeded in 4 of the 5 criteria. However if you fail an individaul subcritieria, they ended up deducting 30 points for every fail criteria on top of the low mark they give for rating the league. Essentially they were double penalising teams for not making the criteria. ""1. Total points should be more than 600 by fulfilling the ACL Criteria (A deduction of 30 points is to be applied for each failed item of ACL Criteria)" Australa would have had the 600 points wihtout the point deduction and that was only introduced for the 2013 season. It's just reeks of changing the criteria to manipulate the amount of team for countries to qualify It's no wonder why Perth Glory believed that they were in the ACL and claimed they were promised they were still in the ACL. If they maintain the same system they would have had enough points above of Uzbekistan but the point deduction made us lose 1 spot. So now hey decided to rescind the point deduction. Kudos to FFA to be able to political maneuver that achievement
BrisbaneBhoy
Roar Rookie
Because it is (apparently) much harder for a team to win a two or three matches back-to-back (and hence more deserving of recognition as the best team in the country) then it is to finish top of the table after twenty-something/thirty-something matches (which is only a minor achievement/not all that impressive). How people can think/reason that the 'true' champion of the league is the team who wins a two/three game cup competition instead of the team who was the best over the course of the full season is beyond me. Surely deep down they don't honestly believe this (if they are to be honest with themselves)?
Ian
Guest
though i'm an advocate of the finals series, i'd agree with both trophies being valued the same but i can't stand the use of 'minor premiers' in football. that term certainly devalues the premiership winner. and as the A-League has its 2.5 spots back the devaluation of the grand final was short lived. i'd be happy with 2 automatic spots anyway and do away with the play off. how Gallop negotiated those spots back so soon after they were removed is a job well done.
Roarsome
Guest
*past not last
Roarsome
Guest
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/news/1145302/Australia-regains-ACL-spot Here you go.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Roarsome, I keep hearing we've got our spots back. I haven't seen anywhere yet where this has, been said. I'm not doubting, but I may have missed that story. Would you be able to help me and direct me too it please.
Roarsome
Guest
This first last the post infatuation doesn't cut it anymore in the A-League. We've had finals since inception and to discredit the format simply because you lose or preempt an excuse in case you lose is poor. I don't recall the Mariners crying on the field after finishing the regular season in second place but they sure as hell were weeping after the first installment of Orange Sunday. Have the WSW been presented with the Premiers Plate yet? The Championship is the main prize. We can't acknowledge the ACL as any form of guidance here, look at their history of decision making. By the way, the A-League has their 2.5 spots back..... For now. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].