Nick Bendel
Once again, a win for Adelaide is a win for Australian football
September 26th 2008 06:32
Thanks to a 1-0 victory at home to Kashima, Adelaide has advanced to the Asian Champions League semi finals
Whichever way you look at it, the mathematics doesn’t make pleasant reading for Adelaide United.
Tomorrow, when the Reds take on Newcastle at Hindmarsh Stadium, they will be playing their fifth match in 15 days. Starting from the following round, they will then have six matches to grind through in 23 days. Put together, from the away game against Melbourne on September 12 to the home game against Perth on October 26, it equates to 11 matches in 44 days.
Unfortunate though this fixture congestion is, the reason for it is a happy one. Thanks to Wednesday night’s stirring victory over Kashima Antlers, Adelaide has won through to an Asian Champions League semi final meeting with Bunyodkor. That means that in addition to fulfilling its weekly A-League commitments, the club must participate in a gruelling two-legged contest with the Uzbeks, just a fortnight after concluding its exhausting tie against the reigning Japanese champions.
The FFA must now find a way to ease this fixture congestion. For should Adelaide make it through to the final- and even win it- the whole Australian footballing community stands to benefit.
While the A-League can never hope to attain the status of Europe’s top competitions, it can- and must- do everything possible to ensure its place amongst Asia’s elite. That is an exceptionally difficult task when one considers the prestige enjoyed by the Japanese and Korean leagues, the continuing rise of the Chinese Super League, and the enormous sums of money being bandied about by other rivals. Qatar’s Q-League, for example, currently boasts the services of Hakan Yakin, Younis Mahmoud and Nashat Akram, while it has also played host to luminaries such as Romario, Gabriel Batistuta, Fernando Hierro, Marcel Desailly and Stefan Effenberg- players who, presumably, came not for the balmy weather but the cash. There are even some in Uzbekistan’s Oliy League with deep pockets: a month ago, Bunyodkor signed the brilliant Rivaldo, before appointing Zico as its coach.
Of course, the A-League seems unlikely to ever match the wealth of the J-League, K-League and CSL, and can’t hope to compete with the Middle East’s oil money. Still, if Australian clubs are able to offer players reasonable salaries, then several other factors could enable them to out-recruit richer competitions. Lifestyle and climate are obvious selling points, but it is also important to be able to offer a high standard of play. If the A-League can build a reputation for producing quality Asian teams and even Champions League winners, it becomes a more appealing destination for footballers.
Concomitantly, it becomes a more appealing place for sponsors to invest. Persuading companies to part with their money is demanding at the best of times- and given the financial crisis that has gripped the world, it will surely become an even greater challenge. Sponsors love to be associated with success, just as they enjoy having their brands exposed to as many potential consumers as possible. If Australian clubs are winning games in Asia and parading their logos with distinction, companies will become keener to do business with the A-League.
It is important to realise that in much the same way that Australian football is locked in a fierce civil war with Aussie Rules, rugby league and rugby union, so it is doing battle with the other 45 members of the Asian Football Confederation. Everyone is trying to lure as many skilful players and as many corporate dollars to their leagues as possible, and thus everyone is trying to make their leagues as alluring as possible. An unlikely Champions League triumph for Adelaide would benefit Australian football, because it would increase the prestige of the A-League in the eyes of players and sponsors.
That means that it is incumbent on the FFA to provide Adelaide with all the assistance it could reasonably be expected to offer. The obvious place to start would be with easing its fixture congestion. Just because Manchester United and Real Madrid are regularly asked to cope with such hectic schedules, doesn’t mean that Adelaide should be expected to- after all, those European powerhouses possess far greater playing resources, not to mention considerably more experience in marshalling them. Last weekend’s game against Sydney FC showed how out of its depth Adelaide currently finds itself. Having played away to Melbourne eight days before and away to Kashima only three days before, and with the knowledge that the crucial second leg against the Japanese was just four days away, the Reds produced a predictably listless performance. Their 3-0 defeat was the product of exhausted bodies and unfocussed minds.
When Adelaide host Bunyodkor on October 8 and play the return leg on October 22, it is imperative that there are fresh bodies and focussed minds to call upon. That means that the FFA should give serious thought to postponing the home match against Central Coast on the 3rd- and it means that the FFA should definitely postpone the away match against Queensland on the 17th. At the same time, the other seven A-League clubs should forget about the short-term advantage they would gain from Adelaide’s logistical nightmare, and realise that it is in their long term interest to help reduce it. That means that if requests are made to alter fixtures, they should be received sympathetically.
Although it is Adelaide fans who will have been cheering the loudest since Wednesday night, United’s win over Kashima was really a victory for all clubs, and thus one to celebrate by all fans. All reasonable measures must therefore be taken to give Adelaide the best possible chance of progressing to the final, because as Sport: The Australian Disease has argued before, a win for Adelaide is a win for Australian football.
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