The complete contrast of the two exhibition games played in the last week may say more about the advantages of an established team playing a touring giant rather than an All Stars team that have never played together.
The NRL have shown how an All Stars concept can be successfully achieved with the annual State of Origin series, where both the Queensland and New South Wale’s squads train with their respective Origin coaches for a significant time in the lead-up to the first game.
I believe the A-League All Stars only trained together for only a couple of weeks. That amount of time that did not allow for any gelling to occur or the brilliance of a manager with the calibre of Ange Postecoglou to shine through.
The Melbourne Victory on the other hand have had the last couple of months to get back into the swing of regular football, training alongside the teammates that they will be playing with for at least the next 12 months.
The end results couldn’t have been more evident on-field.
On Saturday night, we witnessed an All Stars team who could not maintain the ball for more than a couple of passes and were constantly pressed back and forced into mistakes, unable to show the watching world the quality that the A-League has to offer (despite being minus a few notable stars). In the end they were smacked 5-1
On Wednesday night, it was quite the opposite. We witnessed an A-League team matching it for the best part of 90 minutes with an EPL team. A team minus five players that will most likely be in their starting 11 next season (Thompson, Milligan, Traore, Finkler, Nichols).
The spirited performance of the Victory emphasized that the A-League is now a very competitive league on a global scale, which will hopefully become more evident with success from Australian teams in the Asian Champions League in the near future. It also shows that a team of champions is not necessarily better than a team with familiar combinations.
While obviously enjoying the benefits, mostly financial, that a sold out game against Manchester United has to offer, Football Federation Australia has missed a great chance to show the world what football in Australia has to offer.
Had Manchester United played against the Central Coast Mariners or Western Sydney Wanderers, for example, I guarantee you the performance of the Australian representative team would have been more spirited than that of the All-Stars. The result may not have been much different but at least we, as a country, would have shown that we actually have an idea about the game.
I couldn’t commend the FFA more highly for bringing both Manchester United and Liverpool down under, but the opportunity presented by Manchester United is one that has gone begging.
Davo
Guest
football is a complex sport. League is a simple sport. It takes far longer for a football team to gel than a league team. In football there are countless formations and combinations. That's why i love the game
Nelson
Guest
All Stars is a terrible concept. As you said, it would have been so much better if it was WSW or CCM had played against ManU.
NUFCMVFC
Roar Guru
Agree, the concept is a gimmick, they should have these matches against club sides, that way we can avoid the issues of who is available and who is not Unless there is another eaff cup or Asian cup or World Cup on lol
Roarsome
Guest
Yes but you don't have nearly as much lead up. The MV gave was billed as the poor cousin to the Man U V All-Stars game and given such time in the press.
Benny
Guest
The fans got it wrong (well, at least 36.8% did).
Sneaky Backheel
Guest
BUTS THAT'S GOING AGAINST THE FAN VOTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jukes
Guest
Luke I think your article is ok, except for the title. I think shambles is a little too harsh, not to worry. I think we can take a lot of positives from both matches and lessons to be learnt for future events. I think a lot of credit has to go to the FFA for being able to organise these matches. The response to both has been amazing and has kept football in the public eye right in the middle of our off season. I dont think we have too much to complain about. I think if the FFA wants to show case this better, bring new fans to the A-league and show fans what the A-league is about then they could easily do that. Unfortunately these matches are about Man Utd and Liverpool and the emphasis and focus is on those clubs. The first thing with the All-stars is that there is no buy in from the public. You feel no real connection between an All-stars team and your unsure whether to cheer or not. Thats one of the reasons why there was zero atmosphere at ANZ stadium, well one of the reasons. That stadium is a black hole for atmosphere but it is achievable for big events, not this game though. What about the Melbourne Victory match I can hear you say. Well if the FFA wanted to they could have allocated tickets to MVFC and you could have got a decent crowd supporting Melbourne. There is one argument to say that might have been a better way to sell the A-league. You would have seen a lot of support for the Melbourne Victory, but the FFA made this about Liverpool and fair enough. There is no right or wrong here, Liverpool are the draw card team, but, if they wanted people to witness something of what the A-league crowd is like in terms of parochial support, singing and chanting for their team then they could have done that. The other school of thought is that there is no point in trying to preach to the converted A-league fan, those Melbourne fans are already fans of the A-league and you try and bring in as many new fans as you can to the match. Its a fine balancing act, the answer is somewhere in between I think. I personally dont think we would have converted too many fans over to the A-league myself. I personally love the A-league, I love the passion, I love the build up to matches, the matches are competitive and gripping, I see some amazing goals and a lot of players in their early development. While its tough in the summer for players its a great time to view sport for spectators. The atmosphere at matches is absolutely brilliant, nothing comes close to it Australia unless its a big event like a State of Origin or a Grand Final and even then my weekly A-league match is better. It will be interesting to see how the A-league is received on FTA tv on SBS. I think if last season is to go by then SBS is on a clear winner. I think if we are going to show case the A-league and bring new fans then having it on SBS is the way to go. Hopefully when the next big team that comes to our shores, the football would have improved once again and more people will be cheering their A-league club and players versus the big Euro team.
Simoc
Guest
What a silly article? They were practice games between professionals on one side and comparitive amateurs on the other side. The pro teams did what they wanted to and there was no intensity in the games as they were primarily for entertaining rather than winning.
onside
Guest
'The result may not have been much different ' Luke, if what you surmise is the case, and I reckon you are right, the All Star concept is not a shambles. I enjoyed both games. But they were the friendliest of friendlies. If both matches were a full on fair dinkum dig, and Man U and Liverpool had fielded their strongest fittest teams, the Aussie sides would not have got within ten goals of either of them. But the purpose of both matches was a celebration of the game, no full on aggressive tackles, lots of fun, enjoy the workout. The real perspective, fun ,gaining fitness,enjoyment, promotion of the code, tends to get a bit lost by reading too much into it.
Allan
Guest
I dare say the ratings in Sydney would have been huge if the Wanderers were playing, I would also bet the crowd wouldn't have been so one sided.
Stevo
Guest
Yep, Asian 'tours of duty' by the big EPL clubs are a yearly occurrence - aimed of course at spreading the brand and sales of shirts etc. This year we managed a couple of big clubs to take the trip down under and I dare say it will happen more often in the years to come. I got no particular problem with the All Stars concept as long as we recognise it's more of a publicity vehicle (and $$$$ generating exercise) for our league leveraging off the enormous popularity of big name EPL sides (in this case). We're trying to keep the HAL in the minds of the public over a long pre-season. It gives the football media plenty to talk/write about and is a nice lead in to the start of the season. Should be even bigger next year as we host the Asian Cup at the start of 2015 .
Benny
Guest
I agree - the biggest waste of the All-Stars concept seemed to be the fact that Ange was given the role of manager. Surely it would have been better for our Australian coaching stocks for the gig to have been given to Arnold or Popovic given Ange had the Liverpool game within the week.
Ian
Guest
what i found interesting, regarding other teams coming out, while on a team lunch yesterday, at the pub were posters advertising Chelsea and Arsenal playing games against Indonesian XI and Thailand XI being televised just last week. Also games against Japanese sides. though no arrangements for those teams to come to OZ. Must be a common occurrence for Asian tours happening pre season.
Ian
Guest
Good clarification, but you don't pick the article title though do you? If you are comparing to a rugby league concept I think the A-League All Stars should be compared to the NRL All Stars vs Indigenous All Stars held in February as its held a month before the season starts and limited preparation time. Origin is a beast held mid season over 3 games. Anyway, I do think the execution lacked with the same time slot as Socceroos games which substantially affected player availability. It was shame about Del Piero and Ono not playing though players such as Rojas who got overseas contracts is unavoidable. However ManU had a tight schedule and I imagine the FFA went by their timetable and not ours. This will improve in the future.
Griffo
Guest
There is another point I'd like to make which I think has been missed so far and that is the difference in quality of Man U and Liverpool. Man U were the EPL premiers and finished with 89 points with a GD of 43. Liverpool finished 7th with 61 points and a GD of 29. Manchester United is clearly a better team than Liverpool based on last season's performance
Lancey5times
Guest
Thanks for support. As one of the better technical sides in the comp I am very curious as to how a full strength Mariners side stacks up. The big difference between Man U/Liverpool and their Australian opposition was an ability to keep the ball. On of CCMs real strengths. Another reason for the champs to play this game is deserving exposure for the successful coach. A part of me is a little dirty that Ange got both of these games.
Luke Paraman
Roar Rookie
I agree with you mate, I believe the travelling giant should play a club rather than an All-Stars team, would give a better indication of where the league is at, also an extra bonus for the team that wins the grand final.
Lancey5times
Guest
I was fortunate enough to attend the Liverpool/Victory game and you only had to walk around Melbourne on Wednesday morning to realise even the Victory were spectators at the game. You could have sent out Perth Glory and the MCG would still have filled. I am biased but I would like to see the A-League Champs represent the competition in a match such as this that hopefully occurs annually. In this case it would be my Mariners and it would give a better indication of where our competition is at
Luke Paraman
Roar Rookie
Who is this directed at?
Roger
Guest
You are stating the obvious. Real football fans already know this.