Brisbane Roar’s 2-0 win over Shanghai Shenhua was as good as any since Australia joined the AFC – and it has catapulted the club back into the Asian spotlight.
Not since Western Sydney’s triumphant 2014 title-run has an Australian side so comprehensively outclassed an Asian opponent, with the Roar turning in one of the most impressive first-half performances ever seen by an A-League club.
Forget Carlos Tevez – who barely touched the ball – the real story of the night was the outstanding performance of the Roar, who simply played their high-profile opponents off the park.
When Brandon Borrello smashed home a sumptuous volley with less than two minutes on the clock, he signalled the visitors’ intentions to treat the tie with the utmost seriousness – and showcased some serious tekkers in the process.
Then when Tommy Oar slotted home a second five minutes before half-time, the Roar shattered the resolve of their shell-shocked Chinese hosts.
They could have won by more – Matty McKay should have buried that sitter in stoppage time, although to be fair the pass was slightly behind him – however Roar goalkeeper Jamie Young was anything but a spectator.
And having been written off by plenty of pundits going into the clash, the Roar could have been forgiven for knocking back a few celebratory Tsingtaos in the wake of their hugely impressive win.
Instead, they already had one eye on Melbourne City, with managing director Mark Kingsman texting me from the dressing room at full-time to tell me the team was solely focused on recovery and the long flight back to Australia.
But Kingsman did have one request – that the Queensland Government give Brisbane Roar a hand when it comes to staging the club’s three AFC Champions League group-stage games.
With Wednesday’s encounter beamed into millions of Chinese homes, the Roar were savvy enough to sign up the Shanghai Overseas Chinese Exit-Entry Service as their front-of-shirt ACL sponsor.
Yet there wasn’t even so much as an acknowledgement from anyone in Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s office – or Tourism Events Queensland, or Brisbane Marketing – that the city’s solitary A-League club was representing Brisbane in a vital international fixture watched by millions of potential tourists.
I reckon I know why. I suspect none of these departments has ever heard of the AFC Champions League, let alone has the first clue of its significance, and – terrified of looking ignorant to the public – they find it easier to simply pretend that football doesn’t exist.
Thus you end up with the surreal situation of local councillors showing up for photo opportunities to promote rugby’s Global 10s, but ignoring the chance to promote Brisbane to a Filipino audience when Global FC are in town – right when the city is on the verge of hosting a Manny Pacquiao fight!
It’s madness, and you can understand why Kingsman has asked the Queensland government to cover the cost of the transport levy to ferry Roar supporters to a venue run by Stadiums Queensland, as Marco Monteverde revealed in The Courier-Mail yesterday.
The Roar’s ACL fixtures will see them take on Thai champions Muangthong United, South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai – who took advantage of their counterpart Jeonbuk’s expulsion – and the most successful Japanese side of them all, Kashima Antlers.
It’s hardly a pushover group, but having stunned Shanghai Shenhua on their own turf, there’s no reason to think the Roar can’t make a serious statement in Asia and qualify for the knockout stages.
About the only thing that will hinder them is a congested fixture list, and to that end it would help if Football Federation Australia showed a modicum of flexibility.
If they can move Newcastle’s home clash with Melbourne Victory back more than 48 hours because they’re worried about player welfare in the predicted heat, why couldn’t they do the same for the Roar’s trip to face City at AAMI Park?
But that’s a discussion for another day.
Brisbane Roar deserve praise for their win over Shanghai Shenhua. Now all they need is fans to turn up for their ACL fixtures.
AZ_RBB
Guest
We dominated Seoul in the first leg of the semi final We matched Guangzhou at home in the quarters We dominated Hiroshima in the 2nd round. It was a late goal but we could have won it easily much earlier. We beat Guizhou 5-0 in the group stage. We won 12pts in the group stage as well. Hope you found that helpful. Enjoy this season's ACL.
BES
Guest
"Not since Western Sydney’s triumphant 2014 title-run has an Australian side so comprehensively outclassed an Asian opponent" I actually cannot remember a single game in that incredibly fluky run where WSW did outclass an opponent...?
j binnie
Guest
Paul - Did you see the game against City's reserve team???? No??? You might have to re-think your observation. Cheers jb.
j binnie
Guest
Lionheart. - The only thing that changes is your clock,the sun keeps coming up and going down in the same time frame.so there is no "EXTRA" hour's light. Your mate jb.
pacman
Guest
Read all the comments, including the squabbling, and all I learnt is that we are often our own worst enemies. No, actually I was already aware. What to do? Well, I have written to the Qld Premier on her Facebook page. Likely she will not see my contribution, and my questions, but I did my best to draw attention to the enormity of the coming matches, and the opportunities presented to the Qld Government, free of charge. Subject is "Brisbane Roar Football Club" if anyone wishes to contribute - the more the merrier!
AZ_RBB
Guest
Not too sure if it has been confirmed or not. But it would be frustrating for Brisbane fans if it to be moved. They have a great shot at making the next round here.
pacman
Guest
Will Stadiums Queensland ensure Suncorp is available and in good condition for all ACL home matches? As I understand it, each team's ACL home matches are to be played at one venue. Isn't that why Roar's last ACL venture had all home matches at Robina, because Suncorp wasn't available for the first home game?
Pauly
Guest
SBS is hipster central now. Even their A-League coverage reflects it, featuring many Melbourne City games, City being the ultimate hipster team with the pretty boys in the Melburnians.
Lionheart
Guest
come on Mid, my curtains fade enough already, without giving them an extra hour. But seriously, QLD is a big state, very big. While daylight saving is suited to the populated south east, it is no way suited to Townsville and Cairns and all those good people living in the north, which is as far from Brisbane as is Melbourne and much more densely populated than WA or NT (albeit, that ain't saying much). Murdoch rules here too, that explains a lot.
Waz
Guest
Mate, it was an individual reply to an individual question.
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
"So if your football knowledge on Asian football is poor and you’re asking who’s to blame – I’d say you are!" Waz, with respect this statement of yours is what got under my claw. SBS are locked out and so anyone who relied on SBS TV for Asian and Australian football news are locked out. Those who are not internet savvy are locked out. You have to accept that, there are folk who can't access internet information, because they are uncomfortable with it due to their age, but do want to be informed only by FTA TV. My elderly brothers now have turned to Channel 9 NRL for their free footy fix (FTA footy). Who can blame them surely not you? I certainly don't---in fact I blame FFA for not finding a way to engage SBS more with Australian and ACL Football properly. SBS Friday night Football is a given, but what is install after that, when it ceases, no one knows yet?
Paul
Guest
artificial time travel sux
Paul
Guest
This brisbane side do look to be coming into form at the right time. Too late to catch Sydney but in time for a shot at the actual title and to go deep in the ACL
Waz
Guest
err, daylight savings??? That makes no sense - it's so bloody hot in summer up here Mid that the last thing we need is an extra hour of daylight at night time, we just want the sun down and gone. Now, 5AM in the morning is just ierfect fir a swim or a walk ? ... and the coverage up here on the acl has been ok, good but not great
Midfielder
Guest
FFS its changed back after the fifth attempt
Midfielder
Guest
No idea why the A keeps poping up in front of my sign in...
AMidfielder
Guest
Brisbane if it wants to continue to be seen as a big regional town will ignore things outside what a core group of people want to discuss... If it ever wants to be considered a major city it needs to open up more... Daylight saving is one of many examples ...
DH
Guest
Brisbane's media has nowhere near the depth of the media in Vic or Qld, far fewer reporters and mostly dedicated to local issues and sport. They'd be hard pressed just covering the Broncos (by far the biggest market), let alone the Titans, Roar, Reds and Lions. And the pollies aren't much better, very local and parochial and conservative. You're talking about a state that can't handle daylight savings being able to handle sports played in another time zone? Impossible.
DH
Guest
So you really think there's a market on free-to-air for people to be paid to talk about Kashima Antlers or the K-League. The advertising revenue for that market in Australia might be enough to get an intern to think about the problem for 5 minutes before telling his boss to look it up on the net. You want to find out about such obscure information but can't be bothered to look it up on the internet. I can remember getting only the highlights of the EPL for one hour a week and a paragraph in the back of the Herald Sun in tiny print showing just the results. This is first class first world problems whinging.
Waz
Guest
I'm not assuming anything but you're doing enough of that for the both of us. I was responding to a post that finished "10 years on in the Asian confed, my football knowledge is still ignorant at best. Who is to blame?" .... by merely saying tv is not the only way of learning about things! Worse still for your argument I was responding to someone who just posted on an Internet forum meaning s/he is only one click away from the answers they seek, if they seek them. All the other stuff about elderly, infirm, people on restricted incomes etc is all perfectly valid but had nothing to do with my post or the original post.