For those of much more used to a diet of English Premier League, last Saturday's winner-takes-all contest in La Liga provided a stunning, absorbing, highly-satisfying bookend to the season of domestic league action in Europe.
Along with other Australian aficionados, I was faced with an interesting choice of late night /early morning viewing - the FA Cup final between Arsenal and Hull City, or 2nd vs 1st in Spain. While the former probably exceeded its billing and provided a more drawn-out and closer contest than most pundits predicted, I was so glad I chose the latter.
The La Liga fixture computer had provided the most dramatic of final round contests. Barcelona would host Atlético Madrid, with the visitors in pole position, but needing at least a draw to win the title. A home win would reap the title for Barcelona.
Some context. For the previous nine seasons the title had been shared between the two superpowers of Spanish football, Barcelona and Real Madrid, and in only one of those seasons had another team finished runner-up. Atlético, forever in the shadow of its royal city rival, had not won the title since 1996. More than this, Atlético faced into the 2013-2014 season with a financial disadvantage routinely seen across Europe's leagues. The eleven who started this game in Atlético's away yellow had cost under €40m, less than the individual value of most in Barcelona's team. In EPL terms, this was Aston Villa attempting to trump Man City and Chelsea for the title.
The stage was set brilliantly at Barcelona's Nou Camp, with sunshine dousing the 100,000 crowd, of which only 500 seats had been made available for the visiting fans. A mass display from the 100,000 (less the 500) provided a foreboding entree for the visiting team. We cut to the sight of the nervous Atlético players waiting in the tunnel. Eventually they were joined by their opposite number from Barca, and we were treated to the sight of genuine, affectionate embraces between the opponents - extraordinary given the momentous occasion, and that shortly they were to engage so vigorously and physically on the field of battle, and a contrast with the sullen, uber stoicism seen in EPL tunnels from a Gerrard or a Terry.
Come kickoff and quickly the viewing audience was immersed in a superb contest. Barcelona, certainly not at their best, showing great nerves, but buoyed by the mass home support, and having the lion's share of possession. Atlético, soaking up great pressure, skilled and dangerous on the break, and with no small measure of confidence drawn from the previous 37 games of out-performance.
Then the drama. Within a few first-half minutes, Atlético had lost both top scorer Costa and Turan to injury. Perhaps Barca smelled blood, but whatever it was, Sánchez conjured up a freakish goal out of nothing for the home team. Half time and the title was heading back to Barcelona, and a 5th title in 6 years. The alluring Atlético coach Diego Simeone was seen gently shaking his head, wondering how fate was conspiring against him and his team.
Come the second half, and it was Atlético who bounced out of the blocks, dominating possession and after twice going close, finding the precious equaliser. Inspired by their rally, and with the holy grail now within reach, the red and whites (in their away yellow) foiled the desperate forays from the home team. The tension was palpable, the home support increasingly fervent.
The climax. The final whistle. Scenes of utter jubilation from the Atlético players and the small dot of away supporters on the Nou Camp canvas. And then, perhaps the most extraordinary sight of the afternoon, with great swathes of the Barcelona home support breaking into spontaneous warm and generous applause in recognition of the contest they had witnessed, and the visiting team's gallantry and massive achievement in dragging the title away from the big two. Atléti's proud coach Simeone joined in the celebrations, and then briefly, but beautifully, returned to his dugout as the television cameras caught him in a quiet moment of proud reflection on the enormity of what he and his team had just accomplished.
Thursday, 22 May 2014
Friday, 20 January 2012
Fossie, Slater lead a dismal week
A week for reflection on matters round-ball. In Australia, a curious contretemps between former Socceroo team-mates Craig Foster and Robbie Slater. Both now long-time pundits on the game in Australia, they click their keyboards rather like they played their football - brash, gung-ho and a little raw. Foster this week peddled a well-worn theme of his, the disdain for anything from the mother country, or thereabouts, within the Aussie football context. This time it was Melbourne Victory appointee Jim Magilton in his sights. Foster, aided and abetted by flagging football warhorse Les Murray, saw Magilton's appointment as an unwanted pimple on the new face of Australian football - one which has progressively dispensed with its ties to our British past, in favour of more cosmopolitan influences.
Slater, also one not to mince his words, and having spent his English playing days at a slightly higher level than Foster, branded his former teammate as racist for airing such anti-British views. He also managed to throw in some recollection of a Socceroo incident from the distant past which somehow implicated Foster. Irrelevant and tawdry.
If matters football were rather scrappy locally, there was a week of similar untidiness globally. Pepe's stamp on Messi in the latest instalment of the El Classico in Spain, and a reinforcement of the polarity of English football these days - Chelsea's rather odd signing of three young brothers from Luton Town, and the sad near annulment of Darlington FC from the face of football altogether.
Maybe next week we can focus on the positives on the pitch!
Thursday, 9 June 2011
The best of times, the worst of times
With the sun just set on the European season, a chance to reflect on a whirlwind finish as leagues, cup competitions and play-offs came to their conclusion. Undoubtedly the climax and highlight was the UEFA Champions League final, bringing together two stand-out teams in Barcelona and Manchester United to decide the trophy at Wembley. The occasion provided a great match and a great winner in Barcelona. The Catalans were masterful, worthy of every superlative, and a cut above United. Yet despite their dominance, the game remained in the balance for some time. After the Spaniards have taken a deserved lead worthy of their superiority, Rooney stepped up with a superb equaliser to leave the contest level at the break. For an Aussie, it was another example of the great attraction of the code - had it been Aussie Rules, a half time score of Barcelona 11.7, Man Utd 3.2 would have been apt, with the game all over.
Come the second half, Barcelona did exert control and the 3-1 win left even the most one-eyed United fans conceding they had lost to the better team. Having sat through a few of these, the Catalans' dominance took me back to AC Milan's similar superiority with their Dutch trio of Rijkaard, Van Basten and Gullit leading the way some 20 years prior.
What a contrast therefore to witness just days later the calamitous standing of FIFA, with scandalous allegations merely confirming what most thought, that the peak body in world football is a corrupt and lamentable beast. Another blow for those promoting the game in Australia. The naysayers having a field day- not only is the game ruled by cheats at the bottom - the divers, the "simulation" merchants, but it's clearly ruled by cheats at the top!
The juxtaposition of the Champions League final with the ructions of Blatter and co just days later was quite maddening. I hope as the years roll on I'll just be left with memories of the former, a beautiful night in London where the red and blue stripes reigned supreme.
Come the second half, Barcelona did exert control and the 3-1 win left even the most one-eyed United fans conceding they had lost to the better team. Having sat through a few of these, the Catalans' dominance took me back to AC Milan's similar superiority with their Dutch trio of Rijkaard, Van Basten and Gullit leading the way some 20 years prior.
What a contrast therefore to witness just days later the calamitous standing of FIFA, with scandalous allegations merely confirming what most thought, that the peak body in world football is a corrupt and lamentable beast. Another blow for those promoting the game in Australia. The naysayers having a field day- not only is the game ruled by cheats at the bottom - the divers, the "simulation" merchants, but it's clearly ruled by cheats at the top!
The juxtaposition of the Champions League final with the ructions of Blatter and co just days later was quite maddening. I hope as the years roll on I'll just be left with memories of the former, a beautiful night in London where the red and blue stripes reigned supreme.
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Victory the loser amid Muscat mess
More than just a few bytes have been consumed in the wake of Kevin Muscat's horror tackle on Adrian Zahra which marred Saturday's bristling A-league derby between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart. At time of writing, the Victory's hardman's crude lunge seems likely to provide a coarse full stop to a career punctuated by a number of violent episodes.
As much as this incident has provoked vitriol towards the man himself, public opinion has also biased firmly against his club. In six seasons Melbourne Victory has established itself as the biggest club in the Australian A-league. Its support is the country's largest and its two titles are only matched by Sydney FC. Its star players such as Archie Thompson and Muscat have attracted as much media attention as any, while Ernie Merrick remains the only surviving A-league coach from season one.
The public statements by coach Merrick following Muscat's act via have been truly lamentable. Merrick forsook the opportunity to denounce Muscat and his action. Post-match he tediously grasped the "I didn't see it" defence before launching into criticism of the referee's performance. The next day he chose to defend Muscat's "professionalism" while bleating that Victory weren't the kind of club that played dirty. This simply provided a green light for the parading of a litany of violent acts perpetrated by Muscat and his team mates over a long period. Finally he had the sheer temerity on Melbourne radio to lambaste the management at Melbourne Heart who had by contrast conducted themselves with quiet decorum since Saturday's contretemps.
For Victory members like me, this has been a gut-wrenching time. For all his faults, Muscat has been a leadership figure at the club and contributed positively to its success. But for me that has been obliterated and more after Saturday. He was due to retire and now should immediately. But more than that the implied endorsement of Muscat by the club is a bitter pill for me to swallow.
In this its first season in the A-league, Melbourne Heart has genuinely struggled to find a point of difference, a unique selling proposition in marketing terms, for it to build a critical mass of support. Melbourne's size and sporting disposition should support two teams, but to date, notwithstanding an attractive squad (and the league's most attractive playing strip) Heart has managed gates often not much more than 6,000.
I'd reckon that after this week, Heart can afford to stop worrying. In a single blow (literally), Muscat - and by association his club - have kick started Heart's recruitment drive. There were over 32,000 at the derby on Saturday, by far the biggest gate for any game in the league this year, and far exceeding the combined attendances of both constituent clubs. For those casual football followers who fronted for the first time this season, there could be only one club that would have their support after Saturday's and subsequent events - and Victory is indeed the loser.
As much as this incident has provoked vitriol towards the man himself, public opinion has also biased firmly against his club. In six seasons Melbourne Victory has established itself as the biggest club in the Australian A-league. Its support is the country's largest and its two titles are only matched by Sydney FC. Its star players such as Archie Thompson and Muscat have attracted as much media attention as any, while Ernie Merrick remains the only surviving A-league coach from season one.
The public statements by coach Merrick following Muscat's act via have been truly lamentable. Merrick forsook the opportunity to denounce Muscat and his action. Post-match he tediously grasped the "I didn't see it" defence before launching into criticism of the referee's performance. The next day he chose to defend Muscat's "professionalism" while bleating that Victory weren't the kind of club that played dirty. This simply provided a green light for the parading of a litany of violent acts perpetrated by Muscat and his team mates over a long period. Finally he had the sheer temerity on Melbourne radio to lambaste the management at Melbourne Heart who had by contrast conducted themselves with quiet decorum since Saturday's contretemps.
For Victory members like me, this has been a gut-wrenching time. For all his faults, Muscat has been a leadership figure at the club and contributed positively to its success. But for me that has been obliterated and more after Saturday. He was due to retire and now should immediately. But more than that the implied endorsement of Muscat by the club is a bitter pill for me to swallow.
In this its first season in the A-league, Melbourne Heart has genuinely struggled to find a point of difference, a unique selling proposition in marketing terms, for it to build a critical mass of support. Melbourne's size and sporting disposition should support two teams, but to date, notwithstanding an attractive squad (and the league's most attractive playing strip) Heart has managed gates often not much more than 6,000.
I'd reckon that after this week, Heart can afford to stop worrying. In a single blow (literally), Muscat - and by association his club - have kick started Heart's recruitment drive. There were over 32,000 at the derby on Saturday, by far the biggest gate for any game in the league this year, and far exceeding the combined attendances of both constituent clubs. For those casual football followers who fronted for the first time this season, there could be only one club that would have their support after Saturday's and subsequent events - and Victory is indeed the loser.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Asian Cup sets twin test for Aussie football
Australia will be tested in more ways than one at the Asian Cup finals tournament which just kicked-off in Qatar. The first will be to maximise its playing performance in difficult conditions against eager and talented opposition. The second and arguably greater challenge is for Australia to act with grace and respect to towards both its opponents and towards the competition in general.
The 2007 tournament brings back only bad memories for me. In the wake of the Hiddink-led brilliance of Germany 2006, the finals tournament was a substantial let-down. Australia underestimated the opposition and was poorly behaved on and off the field. Most of the fallout followed the 3-1 group loss to Iraq. Immediately after the final whistle TV viewers were treated to the unpopular boss Graham Arnold bagging the playing squad, with Mark Viduka seconds later challenging the boss's comments. Captain Lucas Neill had "led" by example with a red card for dissent.
Following Australia's exit at the hands of Japan, red-carded midfielder Vince Grella in a massive dummy spit scorned the AFC, its referees and each of Oman, Iraq, Thailand and Japan. The net impact left onlookers with the impression that Australia didn't respect the competition, its organisers or its competitors.
Aussie football followers would expect increased respect, particularly in light of the announcement this week that, albeit as sole bidder, Australia had been handed the hosting rights for the 2015 Asian Cup finals. It was rather bemusing to see Melbourne Victory hard-man Kevin Muscat singing the praises of the competition, as he hasn't managed to do so for the confederation's other major tournament, the AFC Champions League. With his club's continuing poor performance in the competition, Muscat pretty well bagged the entire tournament once Victory had achieved rapid fire elimination last time around.
The blanket lack of support from the Asian confederation for Australia's hapless bid for the 2002 World Cup means that Australia must display consistent and committed support of football in Asia. Let's hope the report card at the end of the 2011 version has more ticks than we saw last time around.
Thursday, 2 December 2010
The $45 million vote
Australians woke to the news this morning that their $45 million investment in attempting to secure the 2022 World Cup hosting rights had yielded just one vote among the 22 FIFA executives.
For the bid team, the news that Australia was eliminated first in the voting process, failing even to trump either South Korea or Japan came as total surprise. Ultimately, this has simply provided another reminder of Australia's modest status and influence in world football.
Respected FFA chair Frank Lowy may boast a successful track record in influencing local politicians, but world football politics is many steps beyond. The ultimate, perhaps, well beyond even playthings such as the Olympics. Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam demonstrated the benefit of his wide experience at the highest level, directing Qatar to glittering success at the expense of the US.
For FFA chief executive Ben Buckley, success with Australia's bid would have provided the ultimate adornment to his CV and provided a launching pad for greater personal glory. Instead, he along with Lowy will wear much of the blame for Australia's pitiful showing. Others will come in the firing line - Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who stayed away from the final bid presentation ( did she smell failure?) and other less obvious targets such as Aussie Rules chief Andrew Demetriou, cast by Aussie soccer fans as the prime villain for his code's obstruction in the bid process.
The response of the hardcore of Australian football critics within the country will be hard for lovers of the game to bear, but we've been there before, most typically in the wake of past failures by the Socceroos, or with the at times halting progress of the national league. Their pronouncements will be be predictable and painful.
The response of the local populace at large will be more interesting to monitor. There will be those who will crudely dismiss FIFA - and football - as corrupt, dismiss the voting as a simple success for the oil-wealthy, lambast Australia's bid as a total waste of time and effort, and find solace in the familiar, local pursuits which we understand better and with which we have greater success.
Genuine local football followers, devastated, will bounce back. While we will dream of what it would have been like to land the World Cup, and for those of my vintage reflect on the fact that the tournament will now most probably never be hosted in Australia within my lifetime, we are well used to setbacks to our beloved code in our country. As the pundits reflected last night, today feels more than a little like the morning after Iran 2-2 in 1997, and Uruguay 0-3 in 2001. But life goes on, the round ball continues to roll. We keep the faith!
For the bid team, the news that Australia was eliminated first in the voting process, failing even to trump either South Korea or Japan came as total surprise. Ultimately, this has simply provided another reminder of Australia's modest status and influence in world football.
Respected FFA chair Frank Lowy may boast a successful track record in influencing local politicians, but world football politics is many steps beyond. The ultimate, perhaps, well beyond even playthings such as the Olympics. Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam demonstrated the benefit of his wide experience at the highest level, directing Qatar to glittering success at the expense of the US.
For FFA chief executive Ben Buckley, success with Australia's bid would have provided the ultimate adornment to his CV and provided a launching pad for greater personal glory. Instead, he along with Lowy will wear much of the blame for Australia's pitiful showing. Others will come in the firing line - Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who stayed away from the final bid presentation ( did she smell failure?) and other less obvious targets such as Aussie Rules chief Andrew Demetriou, cast by Aussie soccer fans as the prime villain for his code's obstruction in the bid process.
The response of the hardcore of Australian football critics within the country will be hard for lovers of the game to bear, but we've been there before, most typically in the wake of past failures by the Socceroos, or with the at times halting progress of the national league. Their pronouncements will be be predictable and painful.
The response of the local populace at large will be more interesting to monitor. There will be those who will crudely dismiss FIFA - and football - as corrupt, dismiss the voting as a simple success for the oil-wealthy, lambast Australia's bid as a total waste of time and effort, and find solace in the familiar, local pursuits which we understand better and with which we have greater success.
Genuine local football followers, devastated, will bounce back. While we will dream of what it would have been like to land the World Cup, and for those of my vintage reflect on the fact that the tournament will now most probably never be hosted in Australia within my lifetime, we are well used to setbacks to our beloved code in our country. As the pundits reflected last night, today feels more than a little like the morning after Iran 2-2 in 1997, and Uruguay 0-3 in 2001. But life goes on, the round ball continues to roll. We keep the faith!
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
A-league, aged 6, misbehaving
On a Friday night in December 2006 I was one of 50,333 who turned up to (then) Telstra Dome to witness Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC play out a 0-0 draw. The game itself never reached great heights but the occasion was unforgettable. Long-time watchers of national league football in Australia like myself were simply pinching themselves that night, never ever contemplating that they would witness a crowd of that proportion attending a club fixture in this country, in our lifetime. It was a night we simply celebrated football.
It couldn't last, of course. The following season provided the high water mark, with every A-league team but Perth Glory averaging gates over 10,000 . Now in season six, Melbourne Victory and Perth Glory are the only clubs to average more than 10,000 per game. And just tonight a barren 2,091 watched Gold Coast host Newcastle, the lowest A-league crowd since the hapless New Zealand Knights hosted Central Coast in their final season.
Worse than this, clubs are haemorrhaging financially under the strain of the reduced level of interest. The league model where cashed-up owners seem to single-handedly determine a team's future seems critically flawed. Newcastle, Gold Coast, North Queensland all in recent trouble. Prior to that Adelaide and Brisbane having to be bailed out.
The FFA has taken the brunt of the criticism from media, fans and the football community with bones of contention being the peak body's focus on the 2022 World Cup bid ahead of support for the A-league, and the lack of a separate and independent body to manage the league's affairs.
For Aussie football fans of a particular vintage, the current woes, together with some of the ludicrous suggestions to fix them, sound awfully like the dreadful lurching of the former National Soccer League over its often painful existence from 1977 to 2004. Some themes:
It couldn't last, of course. The following season provided the high water mark, with every A-league team but Perth Glory averaging gates over 10,000 . Now in season six, Melbourne Victory and Perth Glory are the only clubs to average more than 10,000 per game. And just tonight a barren 2,091 watched Gold Coast host Newcastle, the lowest A-league crowd since the hapless New Zealand Knights hosted Central Coast in their final season.
Worse than this, clubs are haemorrhaging financially under the strain of the reduced level of interest. The league model where cashed-up owners seem to single-handedly determine a team's future seems critically flawed. Newcastle, Gold Coast, North Queensland all in recent trouble. Prior to that Adelaide and Brisbane having to be bailed out.
The FFA has taken the brunt of the criticism from media, fans and the football community with bones of contention being the peak body's focus on the 2022 World Cup bid ahead of support for the A-league, and the lack of a separate and independent body to manage the league's affairs.
For Aussie football fans of a particular vintage, the current woes, together with some of the ludicrous suggestions to fix them, sound awfully like the dreadful lurching of the former National Soccer League over its often painful existence from 1977 to 2004. Some themes:
- "We need to create a second division" The A-league is struggling to keep 11 clubs afloat, yet there are those who would welcome double the number. The short-lived North and South conferences of the old NSL and the failure rate of so many clubs tells a cautionary tale.
- "Old soccer needs to be welcomed back to the fold" An undeniable factor in the A-league's success in cities like Melbourne has been the absence of any ethnic association with the clubs.
- "The FFA needs to be run by soccer people again" The most ludicrous charge in the current mess is that FFA CEO Ben Buckley is apparently an AFL-conspired Trojan Horse, set loose in the FFA to inflict damage on behalf of other codes. The best administrators the peak football body has had in this country have been John O'Neill, a rugby man, and Buckley a former AFL man. The eternal petty politics, back-stabbing, conflicts of interest and sheer amateurism of the former NSL administration remains an ugly memory of days gone by.
- "We need a national cup competition" Notwithstanding that the FA Cup appears to have shed substantial gloss over recent years, the concept of a national cup competition, where rank amateur suburban clubs could battle progressively through preliminary rounds, later bringing in State League, then A-league clubs, does have a certain romantic appeal. Never mind that similar concepts in the days of NSL never really got off the ground. But the effort required now to make this initiative work would be an unnecessary distraction from making the league work.
- "It needs to be on free-to-air television" Unsurprisingly, this notion seems to feature most heavily on the website of SBS, the free-to-air network that most covets the rights held by Foxtel. Possibly, the Ten network might be interested in using its One channel for A-league, but I'd be hesitant in assuming that the grass is greener on the free-to-air side of the fence.
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