Melbourne fans' euphoria at overcoming Sydney FC in thrilling fashion on Sunday evening was slightly dented by a disappointing 0-2 home loss to Korean outfit Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma on Tuesday in the AFC Champions League. Melbourne's continental form has not yet matched its domestic form, with the loss to a well-drilled Seongnam consigning Victory to the bottom half of Group E with, perhaps surprisingly, Japan's Kawasaki Frontale.
The match was also met with a cold reception from the Melbourne public, with just 7,899 fans turning up to a cavernous Docklands. The figure was Melbourne Victory's lowest ever crowd for a competitive fixture and is disappointing no matter how one analyses it. Melbourne's opening Champions League fixture in 2008 against Korea's Chunnam Dragons drew somewhere around 23,000. The 15,000 drop in attendance, as well as poor finals crowds in Melbourne and Sydney, must be worrying for Football Federation Australia who needs to do more in backing those who support the A-League.
Despite possessing an enviable domestic record in Australia and advancing to its second straight home A-League Grand Final, Victory's continental form just hasn't quite lived up to the hype. I think Melbourne has had some rotten luck during its Champions League runs, with talisman Archie Thompson and playmaker Carlos Hernandez missing for most of the 2008 campaign. Likewise, this campaign the sides put out by Ernie Merrick have not been full strength, with Archie Thompson, Robbie Kruse, Matthew Kemp, and Kevin Muscat not lining up in matches for one reason or another.
Victory's all-time Champions League record now stands at 2 wins, 1 draw, and 5 losses, a less than inspiring haul for a side so successful domestically. With tough away trips to Kawasaki and Seongnam still to come, it is likely that Melbourne will once again miss out on progression to the next round. Somewhat amusingly, fellow Australian side Adelaide United finished stone cold motherless last this A-League season, but has enjoyed two resurgent wins in Asia thanks to smart recruiting and a gameplan which is proven in Champions League football.
Maybe we'll just have to wait until 2011 to see what Melbourne can really do in Asia.
Showing posts with label AFC Champions League. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AFC Champions League. Show all posts
Friday, March 12, 2010
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
2009 AFC Champions League Semi-Finals
On the back of Nagoya Grampus's amazing 6-2 loss to two-time AFC Champions League winner Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia, it looks like one of the Asian Football Confederation's worst fears may come to fruition: a slew of empty seats in Tokyo's National Stadium for the Final to be held next month.
In the other semi-final, Korean surprise Pohang Steelers nutted out an important 2-0 home win to take to the away leg in Qatar against Umm-Salal. Barring a minor miracle in the form of a Nagoya victory by at least 4-0 in their home leg, this year's Champions League final will be played without a Japanese team meaning little travelling support. A half-empty stadium and a cavernous atmosphere will be a disaster for the AFC, and it just might make them rethink their somewhat ambitious move to make one of Asian football's showcase events a one-off affair at a neutral venue. According to Fox Sports pundit and commentator Mike Cockerill on this morning's broadcast, just 5,000 tickets have been sold for the match. Tokyo's National Stadium has a capacity of 57,000.
Football Federation Australia has expressed its interest in bidding for next year's AFC Champions League Final, according to this article.
For what it's worth, I think the AFC in its current state is far too unwieldy and far too large to accommodate a one-off continental Champions League Final at a neutral venue. The nature of Asian geography is not conducive to encouraging large contingents of supporting travellers, meaning that stadium capacity is left for neutrals to fill. The fact that the AFC Champions League does not yet have European-like prestige also makes filling stadiums a challenge. The football community knows the talent on offer in the AFC Champions League well, but it's fair to say that general populations throughout the Asian region do not.
In a sense taking the Final to a neutral venue is ripping the game away from the people that matter most to clubs - their fans. Adelaide United's remarkable run in the 2008 AFC Champions League, which culminated in two one-sided losses in the Final to Japan's Gamba Osaka, captured the attention of Adelaide and Australian football fans alike. Would the same level of excitement have been reached if Adelaide did not host a leg of the Final? Probably not.
If indeed the AFC is serious about its one-off Final policy and decides to continue it, then at the very least it should be rotated appropriately around the confederation to ensure that there is no favouritism. If Nagoya remarkably reaches the Final, one would have to think it will have significant backing from the stands and this isn't really fair.
In the meantime, the second leg awaits us with Pohang Steelers and Al-Ittihad the favourites to progress.
In the other semi-final, Korean surprise Pohang Steelers nutted out an important 2-0 home win to take to the away leg in Qatar against Umm-Salal. Barring a minor miracle in the form of a Nagoya victory by at least 4-0 in their home leg, this year's Champions League final will be played without a Japanese team meaning little travelling support. A half-empty stadium and a cavernous atmosphere will be a disaster for the AFC, and it just might make them rethink their somewhat ambitious move to make one of Asian football's showcase events a one-off affair at a neutral venue. According to Fox Sports pundit and commentator Mike Cockerill on this morning's broadcast, just 5,000 tickets have been sold for the match. Tokyo's National Stadium has a capacity of 57,000.
Football Federation Australia has expressed its interest in bidding for next year's AFC Champions League Final, according to this article.
For what it's worth, I think the AFC in its current state is far too unwieldy and far too large to accommodate a one-off continental Champions League Final at a neutral venue. The nature of Asian geography is not conducive to encouraging large contingents of supporting travellers, meaning that stadium capacity is left for neutrals to fill. The fact that the AFC Champions League does not yet have European-like prestige also makes filling stadiums a challenge. The football community knows the talent on offer in the AFC Champions League well, but it's fair to say that general populations throughout the Asian region do not.
In a sense taking the Final to a neutral venue is ripping the game away from the people that matter most to clubs - their fans. Adelaide United's remarkable run in the 2008 AFC Champions League, which culminated in two one-sided losses in the Final to Japan's Gamba Osaka, captured the attention of Adelaide and Australian football fans alike. Would the same level of excitement have been reached if Adelaide did not host a leg of the Final? Probably not.
If indeed the AFC is serious about its one-off Final policy and decides to continue it, then at the very least it should be rotated appropriately around the confederation to ensure that there is no favouritism. If Nagoya remarkably reaches the Final, one would have to think it will have significant backing from the stands and this isn't really fair.
In the meantime, the second leg awaits us with Pohang Steelers and Al-Ittihad the favourites to progress.
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