Kings of Asia lose in Oceania
Oh, how nice it is to be part of Asia. We’ve had several A-League clubs participate in the Champions League, our national teams get to play against quality opposition on a more regular basis, and in 2015 we’ll hold one of the biggest football tournaments in the world in our own backyard. Oceania seems a distant memory. And so it was a little jarring that after winning the biggest prize in Asian club football, Western Sydney Wanderers were brought down to earth by Oceania’s only representative in the A-League, Wellington Phoenix. With several players missing, the Wanderers continued where they left off in the ACL by parking the bus and defending deep, and Wellington made them pay with a late goal courtesy of Nathan Burns. It could have been more, had Louis Fenton put the ball, rather than himself, in the goal in the first half; or Michael McGlinchey converted his penalty. In the end one was enough for the home side, and it was fitting that it was the Fijian Roy Krishna who created the only goal of the match. As the saying goes, you’re only as good as your last game.
Glory days in Perth
Look, I still prefer Nick Tana’s Perth Glory, as does I imagine pretty much everybody else. They were cool, they actually won stuff, they made their fans happy, and they made everybody else look terrible by comparison. Perhaps the only time when Perth will ever do that in anything, ever. But the glorious childhood years with Tana are gone, and in the A-League Perth have had to face the grim reality of adult life. Most of the time it’s boring, you’re less attractive than you think and your moments of triumph are actually pretty mundane considering the life you had expected to lead. Yes, Perth’s current run of good form might have been ‘good’ in the sense that they’ve been better than their opponents, who have been rubbish. Wellington in Round 1 weren’t crash hot, Brisbane have gone weird and let’s not even get started on the disaster that is Newcastle Jets. Central Coast Mariners, too, were spectacularly average on Sunday afternoon. But credit must be given where it is due, and Perth now sit atop the ladder after five rounds. They’ve got a FFA Cup semi-final against Bentleigh Greens on Tuesday, and their W-League team are eight points ahead at the top of the table. Not a bad time to be a Glory fan.
Jesus in January
And so Melbourne Hea… City have signed Josh Kennedy, the man popularly known in soccer circles as “Jesus”. The announcement, along with their first win of the season on Saturday night, was a pleasant change for a club that has otherwise had a forgettable couple of weeks. Losing David Villa after just four games – in the last of which he barely broke a sweat – wasn’t a good look, even if it wasn’t totally unexpected. Picking up Kennedy, on face value at least, seems like a decent enough deal: he’s scored regularly for J-League club Nagoya Grampus over the past couple of seasons, and offers a focal point for Melbourne City’s attack. However, he won’t arrive until January, which in the context of the A-League’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it length seasons, is pretty late. He’ll be 33 come next season and he’s got a dodgy back. Yet he’s signed on as an Australian marquee, which seems a little excessive. As much as Melbourne City do need a goal-poaching striker, you have to wonder if it is Kennedy who gets the most out of this deal in the twilight of his career. In the words of the late, great Johnny Warren: “I don’t understand money for players who are not going to draw it back through the gates, who’ve had their careers and come back here to earn what three promising kids could earn.”
There’s only one Mr and Mrs Soccer
This week, we paused to remember Johnny Warren, and it was fitting that on the same day, Les Murray finally signed off from SBS. The applause for Johnny in the 74th minute of the Friday night match was a nice touch, adding to the tumult of tributes for soccer’s first great martyr, the man who passed away just before his beloved game took off in Australia. Every Australian football fan has their own relationship with Johnny, even if they didn’t know him personally – the flyaway hair, the missionary zeal, the tears he shed when the Socceroos failed to qualify for the World Cup in 1997. Johnny was a passionate advocate of the game, a gifted writer and orator, and most importantly he was a principled advocate of what the game meant to Australians. And in light of FFA’s recent National Club Identity Policy, which bans clubs from having any ‘ethnic’ and ‘foreign’ names and logos, now might be a good time to reflect on Johnny’s best-ever column for the Sydney Morning Herald back in 1996.
Much like FFA’s current policy, the old Soccer Australia board wanted to strip away any ‘ethnic’ signifiers from local clubs. With a lifelong commitment and respect for football’s diverse participants, Johnny was prepared to back an unpopular cause. He wrote: “They [Soccer Australia] succeeded only in changing some logos. The club boards are still the same, the membership is still the same, the staff is still the same, and the players are still the same. And so they should be, for they are the heart and soul of soccer in this country... These are people who should be treated with respect not disdain.” And that, in short, is why we loved Johnny. Even if you disagreed with him, you could respect his principles. For him the game was part of fostering a more inclusive, outward-looking nation. He knew the crucial role football played in multicultural Australia, and the importance of the game to Australians that were otherwise marginalised in society. Is it any surprise that the only significant critique of FFA’s current policy came from his soccer-soulmate at SBS? These are great men, and although lesser figures will point to their flaws and their blind spots, it matters little in the scheme of things. Greatness lasts in the memories of the Australians they spoke up for and the many thousands they influenced. Sadly, we’ll never see a pair like them again.
Who would’ve thunk it?
Four games, four losses, zero points. That’s how the ladder looks for Brisbane, and for the Wanderers it’s only marginally better. Could it be that last season’s grand finalists both miss out on the top six this season? You can hardly judge a season on the first five weeks, but the signs don’t look great for either club. At the Wanderers, there has been no adequate replacements for Jerome Polenz and Youssouf Hersi, and if Tomi Juric and Matthew Spiranovic get better offers from abroad, the Wanderers could be down to the bare bones. The new signings Romeo Castelen and Vitor Saba have shown glimpses of spark, while the new Nigerian left back Seyi Adeleke might come good, but on this evidence he’s still got some settling in to do. The more pressing concerns are at Brisbane Roar, however, after an ugly post-match spat between veteran defender Shane Stefanutto and rookie goalkeeper Jamie Young offered a glimpse into an unsettled squad. Next week is away against Newcastle Jets, on a surface that resembles a sandpit. It may not play into Brisbane’s hands, but Mike Mulvey desperately needs a win to steady the ship.
