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Is the A-League up to the same standard as the J. League? The answer, quite clearly, is no. But even after Japan downed the Socceroos 3-2 overnight, it was still a good week for Australian football.
Despite Samurai Blue coach Alberto Zaccheroni changing his entire starting XI from the side which drew 3-3 with China in its East Asian Cup opener, it was always Japan which looked the more comfortable side against an unchanged Socceroos outfit in front of a virtually empty stadium in Hwaeseong.
An impudent strike from the latest to carry the “Asian Lionel Messi tag,” tricky Yokohama F. Marinos winger Manabu Saito, and a second from Kashima Antlers front man Yuya Osako had the Japanese in the box seat.
However, goals from Mitch Duke and an equaliser from substitute Tomi Juric saw the Socceroos come roaring back, only for Osako to break Australian hearts with his second to register the winner late on.
All in all, it was a valiant performance from a makeshift Australian side, which might reasonably have been expected to struggle against a team comprised entirely of players from the strongest domestic league in the region.
And despite the defeat, the Socceroos’ performance signalled the end of what was a curiously positive week for football in Australia.
It started, oddly enough, with Manchester United’s 5-1 thumping of the A-League All Stars at ANZ Stadium in Sydney last Saturday night.
The All Stars didn’t quite live up to their name, however United proved their worth by not only turning in an impressive display on the park, but also by winning over many new fans off it.
However, it was Liverpool’s 2-0 defeat of Melbourne Victory in front of more than 95,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in midweek which really turned heads.
For an observer like me with only a passing interest in the game, the sight of virtually the entire stadium swathed in red was an eye-catching one.
Just as memorable was the astonishing rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” which welcomed the two teams onto the pitch.
It may have been a mere friendly, but it was clearly an event which meant much to the record crowd which squeezed into the MCG on the night.
Not for the first time, Ange Postecoglou hinted that he is by far and away the best tactician in the country as his team turned in a dogged display in their impressively narrow 2-0 loss.
Indeed, perhaps the most surreal experience was finding myself cheering for the big, bad Melbourne Victory at the expense of the English giants!
And that, at least in part, surely suggests that an A-League side playing a friendly against an English Premier League outfit was a worthwhile experience.
The diehard English football fans, of which there are clearly tens of thousands in Australia, were always going to turn up to these fixtures.
To some extent, it was difficult to imagine how that might benefit the A-League going into these games, however the chance for the competition to gain this level of exposure was too good an opportunity to pass up.
For what it’s worth, I can empathise with those who suggest Australia has “no football culture” upon witnessing 95,000 fans sing the unofficial anthem of a club based on the other side of the world.
However, we can’t even begin to develop a football culture without a starting point, and suggesting as much conveniently ignores the Victory fans who turned out at the MCG and the Socceroos supporters who tuned in to watch the national team in action last night.
All things considered, it’s hard to see how the past week was anything but a positive one for a code which received a sizeable boost in mainstream coverage.
And that’s not a bad place for football to be, in the midst of what it is a lengthy domestic off-season.