Five talking points from A-League Round 20 (part two)

The Round 20 split round has come to an end, and the A-League has once again managed to deliver on, as well as off, the field, so there is plenty to talk about in the A-League Talking Points.

Click here to read Part I.

Nabbout’s goal is the only thing worth talking about from Friday
The obvious talking point from the Friday night classic is to discuss the VAR, and whether or not Nicolai Topor-Stanley’s infringement was a handball.

To be honest, it’s become tiresome going over the same old topic of officialdom, and continuously neglecting the quality play that we witness in between the controversy.

For all the failings of season 2017-18 of the A-League (and to be sure, there have been plenty of them), for all the criticisms of the VAR, the play, the lack of exposure, crowds, the need to expand, poor governance; perhaps every single issue plaguing the A-League was crystallised in one strike by Andrew Nabbout on Friday night.

After James Troisi had seemingly put to bed not just goal of the round, but goal of the season, last weekend against Brisbane with a strike for the ages, Andrew Nabbout put his hand up to claim those accolades when he ran onto a back-heel from Dimi Petratos, and drilled a shot into the opposite top-right corner with the outside of his right boot.

(AAP Image/Darren Pateman)

For such a pure moment of world-class individual brilliance, that goal would not have been out of place in any league in the world.

So, rather than celebrating the utter genius on display, why would you waste your time talking about anything else? Now granted, I have in fact listed nearly every ill currently facing the domestic game.

Yet Nabbout’s goal brought to mind every complaint imaginable about Australian football, because with that strike, one thing was entirely clear: there is nothing actually wrong with the game of football itself in Australia.

Think about it. The quality on show from that finish would have brought a crowd of 50,000 to their feet, while a television audience of a million would have been gladly glued to their screens, and 12 other teams would have been watching, waiting for their games over the rest of the weekend.

In an ideal world, the setting to Nabbout’s goal should have seen a flourishing Australian domestic game as the backdrop to his moment of sporting poetry.

Instead? Well, there were barely 10,000 present (in a city of near five million), tv viewers were nowhere, it is still only a 10-team league, and people are moaning more about the VAR decisions.

I choose to re-live Nabbout’s glimpse of greatness.

The double-edged sword that is the Panenka
If you’ve never actually witnessed the first recorded time a player decided to fool a keeper into diving out of the way, as a penalty kick was softly floated straight down the middle, enjoy.

When Antonin Panenka fooled the then best goalkeeper in the world with his penalty taking trickery in the Euro 1976 final, well, there are very few people who have played football, and have one particular kick named after them. Not even the greatest players to have lived can lay claim to that honour.

So when Diego Castro stepped up to take what should have been the decisive penalty against Wellington and decided that he was going the Panenka, it’s easy to forget that the kick is a gamble.

You are gambling on the keeper essentially getting out of the way, and while the odds of the keeper diving are short, the risk itself is high.

It’s worth remembering that Castro’s failed penalty take may well cost Perth a finals place, and at it’s worst, Kenny Lowe his job.

Dramatic, I know, but in some ways, people’s careers rest on what takes place on the field.

So Castro was playing with fire on Saturday, and as a result, not only he, but potentially a great many others, got burnt.

It’s a shame really, because had Perth won, Castro was likely man of the match.

Instead? He missed the winner, and he now has to live with that.

I can’t help but wonder if we ever would have heard of Antonin Panenka again, had his attempt at such an audacious penalty kick missed.

I would think that Kenny Lowe wishes he had.

Hindmarsh Stadium was a disgrace
Whether we like it or not, the A-League, for every intent and purpose of football in this country, is the premier domestic national league in Australia.

(AAP Image/Hamish Blair)

It is the highest level you can play the game in this country, and every round, when 140 players take the field, they are representing the best and highest standard that this country has to offer by way of a domestic 27-round competition.

However, the onus to present the best that this country has to offer on the footballing front does not rest entirely on the players.

It cannot.

The failings of the FFA administration have been argued over to the extent that FIFA continually threaten to storm in and run the game themselves.

Everyone must play his or her part.

But how Hindmarsh stadium was allowed to host a rock concert and a rival sporting code during our league season, is utterly beyond me.

And remember, the planning of AFLX two nights before the Adelaide v Central Coast fixture was from a code that owns a stadium in Melbourne that they do not allow the A-League to use when it suits them (Etihad) and another stadium that they essentially dictate to the directors about how it is used (MCG).

The FFA, Adelaide United, whoever it is that runs Hindmarsh Stadium needed to be clear: this is a football ground, go and listen to your music and play your mickey mouse T20-version of your game somewhere else.

That our professional league was then forced to play on a pitch of such sub-standard quality is a blight on the game, an embarrassment to officials, and is a slight on our players.

Paul Okon said it best: it IS difficult when you’re not the number one sport int he country. Fair enough, but football is being treated like a second class citizen.

Okon was right about something else as well: We deserved better.

Who’s was better?
Most rounds, you have a clear goal of the round.

There are other rounds where you’re struggling to scrape just one good goal together.

But Round 20? We witnessed three individual strikes of such power, skill, and ferocity, that I genuinely do not envy the person who has to adjudge goal of this round.

Whether it was Troisi’s bullet against Brisbane, Nabbout’s pearler against the Wanderers, or Sarpreet Singh’s wonder-strike by the wunderkind on debut, those were three top-shelf strikes in the nine-day long round that would make highlight reels, which any professional, in any era, would have been proud of.

While I won’t state the bleedingly obvious as to which one I preferred (lest my alleged bias spoil the argument), it is a great conundrum for the league to have.

James Troisi’s strike was just pure precision and sheer ferocity, while Nabbout’s was as much execution and exquisitely delightful accuracy, as well as topping off a back-heel assist from Petratos, in response to going down to a controversial penalty moments earlier.

(AAP Image/Joe Castro)

As for Singh’s? Two minutes into your arrival on the A-League scene with a strike that had one expert Roarer racing for the Google search to check his nationality, his finish was a combination of both Troisi’s bullet and Nabbout’s art.

Let the debate begin.

So they say we’re expanding
The following observations were listed by an online group patron about what is needed to improve the A-League:

– Expand
– Introduce a second division
– Improve stadia/build club owned stadiums
– Improve the active fan culture
– Improve stadium security and police awareness
– Advertise the league effectively
– Remove or modify salary cap
– Allow transfers and loans between teams to promote youth
– Add international breaks
– Get big name players to the league

The problem, however, is that each of these were known necessities, or preferred courses of action, five years ago.

Yet here we are in 2018, and of that list only one has been put into effect.

Or should I say, “will” be put into place, in that such expansion won’t take place until the 2019-20.

The FFA should not be congratulated for indicating that the A-League will expand in essentially two years. This should have already happened, and questions should be asked as to why they waited for the game to be on its knees before doing something.

And what do football fans expect, that there’ll be one improvement every decade?

Sorry, that is not good enough, and the announcement this week was not entirely cause for excitement.

It was really more a reminder of how the game in this country truly is poorly run.

What do you think Roarers? Let us know in the comments section below, and don’t be afraid to come follow me on Twitter @Kdogroars