Since A-League clubs entered the AFC Asian Champions League in 2007, gripes which have often been raised by football progressivists include the impact of travel, costs of transporting the team, a congested fixture list and low prize money.
But the A-League needs to embrace the continental tournament the way Josep Gombau embraces his players.
Considering how little emphasis has been placed on the Champions League – something that appears to be changing slightly in 2014 – it’s an achievement in itself that Australian clubs have reached the knockout rounds on five occasions; the most memorable of which being Adelaide United’s defeat to Gamba Osaka in the 2008 final.
With Central Coast, Western Sydney and Melbourne Victory all poised to progress from their groups in the current installment of the competition, ears are beginning to prick up. It’s not so much an epiphany – coaches have spoken of the advantage of playing against high-quality opposition in recent years – but there is at least a nod of acknowledgement to the magnitude of the Champions League.
It’s hard to envision an A-League club treating the ACL like Guangzhou Evergrande does, but it’s a start.
One of the things that has long held A-League clubs back is the self-labelled ‘minnows’ tag. Perhaps it’s more of an insurance policy, but the fear of teams in the ACL – considering the lack of knowledge about the rest of Asian football – is cringeworthy.
Teams from Japan, South Korea and China, in particular, are praised for being more technically sound than their A-League counterparts and any sort of result against these sides is seen as good enough.
It’s quite obvious there is some sort of a gulf between Australian teams and the traditional Asian powerhouses, exemplified during Evergrande’s comeback victory over Melbourne Victory earlier this year and Western Sydney’s defeat to Kawasaki Frontale in Japan last week, which saw last season’s premiers completely run off the park by the pacy J.League side’s attack.
But results this season have been positive. All three A-League clubs have taken points from two of their opening four group matches and the myth that Australian football is on a lower level is quickly being dispelled.
Wanderers coach Tony Popovic insisted once more following the Frontale defeat he has no doubts his side can match it with the best on the continent.
“Our boys did fantastically well,” he said. “I think we showed that we can compete at this level against an excellent team.”
There does, however, seem to be a tendency to play down expectations for A-League teams in the Champions League. Kevin Muscat fielded a young and all-Australian line-up for the loss in Yokohama last Wednesday, meaning any sort of result would have been a positive one.
But it’s the lack of scrutiny surrounding some performances that aids the theory A-League clubs still see themselves as the little fish. Au contraire!
A full-strength squad for the current three representatives should be backed heavily for three points against any opposition in Asia and the defeated mentality is not befitting of a league that has improved significantly in quality since its inception.
The Mariners, Wanderers and Victory all have a strong case to progress to the knockout stages this year and anything less should be seen as a failure. Fingers crossed Brisbane can prove the A-League’s ACL hopes are dramatically underrated.
zutto
Guest
Whos gonna pay for the Marquee player? We know CCM got no money left.
70s Mo
Guest
Here's an idea. A-League clubs that make the ACL are allowed an extra marquee!
realfootball
Guest
The first we know to be true because it has been clearly demonstrated to be true via performance, but the second we only assume to be true. Assumptions are not fact and are often wrong.
Bondy
Guest
They love their bungers/nails the Italians. Lol.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Sabatini is the man who knows all when it comes to transfers.....and chain smoking. He may be try to get the price down so it would not surprise me for this deal to fall through or end up being less.
Bondy
Guest
Cheers Ben.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
No, the Chinese quite enjoy football however there are a number of reasons for the low participation rates. One is the "One Child Policy" which has resulted in Chinese parents encouraging their children to engage in individual excellence (individual sports, art, music etc) at the expense of team sports (not just football). The other was the endemic corruption at the top level which tainted the sport resulting in a collapse of participation rates from around 600,000 playing structured football down to about 180,000 in just a 4 or 5 year period. There have been some excellent and insightful articles written on this topic including a very interesting one in the Economist a couple of years ago.
Bondy
Guest
Franko Its pretty impressive Roma would know that market value for HAL players to Europe is around 5-800 k. I just hope the kid remembers where he came from.
Bondy
Guest
Ben Do the Chinese dislike football because the English invented/established the newer version, I thought that was partially the reason and its an Olympic event or Gold is on offer, they generally dont play sports where Olympic Gold medals cannot be achieved and possibly the physical nature to the sport, they just really dont like it its dissapointing. Giudo Diamanti for $6.9, the annual HAL cap is I think $5.3 or $ 5 5 mill per club.
Ginger71
Guest
paying someone more doesnt make them better, it just means you can buy someone that is already good. I like the way we do it here mostly developing youth and allowing a few internationals that those youth and others can learn from. We need to teach our youth better football so they can become better. In any case even without salary caps im sure most players would prefer to play in the Euro Leagues than Australia.
Franko
Guest
I didn't think they could actually get him until he turned 18 anyhow. Even when Juve signed Ivan Ergic, they loaned him out immediately, and that was from a guy who was scoring every other week, Da Silva can hardly get a run.
Rellum
Roar Guru
There is no way he will be first team at Roma. Roma have signed a bag of super talented youngsters in the last transfer window and sent them off to other Serie A/B clubs. He will most likely spend a season in the primavera then if he progresses he will be loaned off to another italian club to see how he goes. If he does well there he might get a call back to Roma itself. He is up against a host of some of the best young talent in the world so it will be very tough, but good luck to him. Roma has one of the best development programs in Europe.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@ohreally I'm pretty confident that, unlike MVFC, it's pure fantasy to speculate that Roar, Newcastle & Wellington would ever have "unlimited funding" :-D But, you're right. I'll change my team to exclude players who wouldn't have left an A-League club if they could offer more money. -----------Langerak--------- McGowan--RhysWilliams--Ansell--Adama Luongo---Finkler---Holman Kruse----Cahill---Giggs
Griffo
Roar Guru
If that amount is true then that is amazing for a 17 year old. Either we are going to benefit in a big way in the future, or the pressure of such a price could become too much for De Silva. If he is playing, and playing well, he could be a bolter for the Asian Cup...
70s Mo
Guest
The old paradox: A-league clubs can't truly compete in Asia while a salary cap exists; A-league can't survive without it.
Franko
Guest
***Maybe off topic but *** "Perth Glory are set to smash the Australian football transfer record with the impending sale of 17-year-old Daniel De Silva to Italian giants AS Roma that could land the West Australian club up to $2.5 million in transfer fees."
ohreally
Guest
For the sake of argument, accoring to your logic... Berisha would be at the Roar, Troisi would be at Newcastle, Rojas at Wellington...
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Talking about Diamanti, Fuss. After that the discussion gets complicated. The Chinese can buy any Chinese players they like, however the quality on offer isn't outstanding due to the low participation rates. Then there is the matter of competitive domestic fixtures, an issue that proved a great detriment to Bunyodkor and an issue regularly facing Celtic. Competitiveness is a complex framework. The salary cap is one such issue amongst any, however far too many use it as an excuse.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Well, it is a salary cap issue too. Even if MVFC had access to unlimited funding, only the Salary Cap prevents us fielding a team -----------Langerak---------- McGowan---DeVere--Ansell---Adama ---Finkler---Milligan---Troisi Kruse-------Berisha------Rojas
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
That isn't a salary cap issue due to the marquee exemption. It is a financing issue.