Nick Bendel
A win for Adelaide is a win for Australian football
May 19th 2008 13:06
The Reds, who have 13 points, and the Chinese Super League champions, on 11, are the only teams from Group E still capable of claiming the solitary quarter final spot. With just one fixture remaining, Korea’s Pohang Steelers (4) and Vietnam’s Binh Duong (0) have already been eliminated.
For the sake of Australian football, it is important for Adelaide to succeed. Next year, the number of teams competing in the ACL will double to 32, meaning that the number of spots allocated to each country is going to change. If the Reds can make the quarter finals- and possibly advance beyond- then the A-League, which is currently awarded two positions, might be granted a third.
Increased representation would have several advantages. To begin with, more Australian clubs would receive a share of the revenue generated by the ACL. The value of such a bounty cannot be overstated, given that none of the A-League clubs has yet returned a profit. Even though each of the league’s three seasons has been more successful than the last, the long term viability of the competition cannot yet be taken for granted.
An associated benefit of having a third AFC representative would be the increased profile that the A-League would receive. The higher its profile, the more marketable- and profitable- it becomes. At the same time, foreign stars would increasingly come to see Australia as an attractive footballing destination, giving the competition access to greater talent, thereby further boosting its appeal.
Another reason that Australian sports fans should be cheering on Adelaide is because Australia needs as much exposure to Asia as it can get. And this is not simply for commercial reasons- there is also considerable logistical and technical information that needs to be gleaned from the rest of the region.
In the shortest possible time, we need to discover the diverse range of conditions that Asia contains, and how best to handle them. Since the Football Federation Australia became aligned with the Asian Football Confederation in 2006, its teams have had to play on abominable pitches, at altitude, in monsoonal rain, in stinking heat and in blistering cold, in countries as culturally and geographically removed as Kuwait and Korea. The more knowledgeable we become about the vast region of which we are now a part, the more likely our teams are to taste success.
Then there are the technical lessons that need to be learned. Australia has traditionally emulated the British style of play, which dictates that games are won not by craft, but athleticism, physicality and passion. Asia, by contrast, emphasises brains over brawn. Instead of booting balls from one end of the field to the other and madly rushing about, Australian footballers must become comfortable with retaining possession, controlling the tempo and outthinking the opposition. This is what Asian sides try to do and this is what the best sides in the world- such as Brazil, Argentina, Barcelona and Manchester United- routinely do. While our traditional style will win us some games, a more sophisticated style will win us more.
If Adelaide can go to Changchun and claim the point it needs, both the club and the local game as a whole will benefit. Although any gains should not be overstated, a successful result would help to ensure that Australian football continues to move forward.
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