As the cheers of the swathe of red-clad fans reverberated around Olympic Stadium, I was left with a broken heart.
The game was certainly a winner for Manchester United. The same cannot be said for the A-League.
In the tentative opening period of the game, I felt apprehensive. My hands were sweaty. My heart beat so hard I was scared it might break out of its skeletal cage.
This was not because of the match, however. An over-hyped pre-season game against the red enemy would hardly get the blood pumping through my veins.
What I was more worried about was what the match stood for. It was a chance for the A-League to prove its worth. Fans, coaches, players and board members of rugby league, rugby union and AFL clubs alike have begun to acknowledge the A-League as a serious marketing threat.
The final frontier: those football fans in Australia who continue to degrade the A-League, shove its face in the dirt, treat it like a joke.
Of course the A-League is not up to the standard of the big European leagues. For a league whose age is not even in double digits yet, it is absurd to think that the A-League should be able to compete with these leagues.
Considering how quickly our domestic league is catching up with the likes of the J-League and K-League in our region, we should be proud of our A-League.
I was so desperate for a win for the All Stars on Saturday night. Memories were evoked of the smothering blanket of uneasiness that settled on the crowd at ANZ during the Socceroos game against Iraq.
Imagine the drop from that high horse! How far those Euro fans would have fallen.
I wanted the All Stars to bring these ‘fans’ crashing back down to earth. I was aware of the reality; this was extremely unlikely.
Like all pre-season games the score was completely irrelevant. It still hurt though, especially when I think of those smug Manchester United fans.
The performance by the All Stars, however, was far from terrible. Yes, they were outplayed for much of the game, but considering the difficulties they faced, they performed admirably.
Twenty A-League players were whipped away to South Korea by Osieck for the East Asia Cup. The three marquee players, Ono, Heskey and Del Piero were not playing. Youssouf Hersi was picked but unfortunately came down with an injury.
Not to mention the host of players who have moved overseas or retired in the off-season. Ryan, Rojas, Ibini, McBreen, Zwaanswijk, Brockie, to name a few.
On top of all this, the All Stars were only given a week to gel. The players admitted to the difficulties they had in putting aside past grudges (I suspect Besart Berisha might have had something to do with this).
It was no surprise that the All Stars’ only goal of the game came from the Brisbane Roar pair, Berisha and Broich.
Even if the All Stars did suffer a heavy defeat, they never stopped playing good football. Broich and Miller in the centre ducked and weaved, matching, if not surpassing, some of their United counterparts in technical ability.
In defence, Beauchamp showed the calmness and strength that helped him to two World Cups. Nigel Boogaard, little known to me prior to the game, surprised me with his assurance in defence.
Josh Ridson epitomised what the A-League is about when he copped a kick from Evra that would not have looked incongruous in a taekwondo bout. Seeing him hop straight up while Evra writhered on the ground satisfied my intake of pride for the night.
While the game was a success for the marketing of Manchester United, there are always losers. Not being a Manchester United fan, I would have much preferred to have watched the Socceroos play South Korea, had it been televised on free-to-air.
As such, I indulged in a world of plastic Channel Seven commentating and classic hype.
This made me realise how much the All Stars was a commercialised concept. Why not let Manchester United just play an A-League team? Considering the difficulties facing the All Stars in their preparation, an A-League team would have performed just as well, if not better.
United may as well have played the Wanderers, such were their numbers among the ranks of the All Stars.
In every experiment there is a control, a big football club, and a variable, the Australian based team. It’s time we test the likes of Bayern Munich or Arsenal against Sydney FC or Brisbane Roar.
If Liverpool are willing to play Melbourne Victory, why do we need the All Stars?
emilio
Guest
Yes, couldn't agree more...Manchester United should have played Sydney FC &/or Western Sydney Wanderers...I felt sorry for the A-League All Stars...as they had very little time to prepare!
Ian
Guest
i saw a link saying the all stars vs man united was also played on german tv. did you see that game also?
pbedo
Guest
agree. the Man U supporters looked like they were all epl-philes, euoro football snobs who like to poo poo the a-league and all football downunder
1860melbourne
Guest
Watched the game here in Germany! I can tell you the commentators were very educated. Kept referring to Victory being without 5 of their regulars and that they were 6 weeks into preseason!
1860melbourne
Guest
Watched the game here in Germany! I can tell you they were very educated. Kept referring to Victory being without 5 of their regulars and that they were 6 weeks into preseason!
Allan
Guest
Exactly, there would have been no bickering over politics. Tonight was a missed opportunity, if there was a way to get MV active supporters together for this match they would have put on a good show like I know they can.
DaFunk
Guest
How many times has Man U (or City, Chelsea etc) beaten another ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE team 6-0, 7-0, etc?! 5-1 is a respectable score any day of the week.
John Smith
Guest
Well, I guess it's 1-0 to you then?
Muz
Guest
I agree p#ss it off and play an actual A-league side like MV tonight. Actually going for Melbourne tonight which is a new concept for a Roar supporter like me.
Robbie
Roar Pro
In case you are illiterate and can't read, I actually never said big European teams shouldn't be playing friendlies in Australia so your point is invalid. I just think the All Star concept failed somewhat and I can't see why these teams can't just play an A-League team (the winner of the grand final in the previous year maybe?)
Robbie
Roar Pro
Yes I never expected the All Stars to win. I don't really see the relevance of your evidence here but anyway as I pointed out in the article it is absurd to think that the A-League should be able to compete with teams like Man United. I just fear it confirms the belief of Euro snobs who know nothing about the A-League and think the A-League is pathetic.
Robbie
Roar Pro
I heard it on an interview on either the Fox Sports site or SBS the world game. The comment about Berisha was clearly a joke...
Robbie
Roar Pro
Well said indeed. I was going to suggest in my article that the big European teams play off against the winner from last year, perhaps the winner on the table NOT the winner of the grand final as this will give some more credibility to teams which win the league but fail to win in the finals series. Either way, we get an Australian team that we can actually connect with
Robbie
Roar Pro
Yes agreed. Looking forward to the game. Victory have the experienced spine in celeski, coe, boxall, etc. and the young guns have been tested at the U-20 World Cup (Geria, Pain, etc.)
Robbie
Roar Pro
Yes but 95% of the fans at the game probably don't follow the A-League. The match was a chance to show them the quality of the A-League, which, arguably, the All Stats did or did not do, and to create a larger fan base. Regardless, I'm guessing a large proportion of the crowd would not have been aware of the difficulties facing the All Stars, I doubt they could even name one of the All Stars players, besides maybe Emerton
MadMonk
Guest
I would have rather seen them play WSW as the team would be more cohesive and the WSW supporters would have put on an impressive show.
me, I like football
Guest
you've lost it
Epiquin
Guest
Absolutely! State of Origin is just the best! Thanks for the info re the selection of players. I guess I would like to see better branding for the allstars. It all seemed very rushed and the result was nothing to get excited about. The concept definitely has potential though.
Ian
Guest
i don't think Epiquin said there was nothing appealing about origin, it was the opposite. fans had a 50% weighting, then 20% expert panel, 20% players association or similar, 10% ange plus he picked 3 subs. on top of what you said about the socceroos, and it wasn't a FIFA registered date, then they started picking players so one from each team were represented. The organisation of the all stars game will improve in the future.
Jukes
Guest
Your right about one thing......for me there is nothing appealing about Origin. For your information the All-stars were mostly selected by the fans. I believe we had a weighting of 70% from memory. What got in the way was that we also had a football tournament in Korea. The national team players that were due to play in the all stars match obviously couldnt make it. Also the FFA pushed through this concept without having regard to the contractual requirements of the players. In other words the match wasnt written into the standard playing contract, it is for next year. So when the all stars players were finally selected the team resembled nothing like the original team selected.