Long Road Ahead For Asia

Asia should be thankful for Australia – though Japan may find it difficult to find any gratitude – and the fact that the newest member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) was the only one of the five representatives to progress past the knockout stage.

Suspicions in Europe and elsewhere that Japan and South Korea’s 2002 success was helped hugely by home advantage will not have been allayed by the fact that the traditional big four Asian nations, were, as the saying goes, “home before the postcards”.

More serious is the fact that even with Australia’s presence in the last sixteen, there is sure to be at least some pressure from other confederations to reduce Asia’s current World Cup allocation of 4.5 spots. Any decision to do so would be have a profound effect on the continent’s football scene and with Australia looking strong, one or more of the traditional powers will miss out in 2010.

It is natural that there will be postmortems as to why Asia’s traditional ‘big four’ didn’t make it to the second round and earlier this week, the AFC’s President, Mohamed bin Hamman, pointed the finger at the standard of the continent’s domestic leagues.

It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that Asian domestic leagues have to improve and not just for the sake of future World Cups. However, nobody should forget that European nations have long and rich football traditions and it is only relatively recently that leagues such as Korea’s and Japan’s became professional – Korea was the first in 1983.

Asian fans shouldn’t then beat themselves up about the standard of their domestic set-ups, it would be truly miraculous if their leagues could even be compared to those of even average European nations and it is a credit to Japan that, in terms of professionalism and organization at least, the J-League can.

The problem is that during the World Cup, they are compared with the best by people watching all over the world simply because that is the nature of the tournament. Sat in Leipzig’s Stadium before the Korea – France clash, a quick glance at FIFA’s team sheets revealed the size of the challenge facing the 2002 semi-finalists. Players from Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Suwon Samsung Bluewings were facing those from Real Madrid, Chelsea, Juventus and Bayern Munich -it is to Korea’s credit that they came away with a 1-1 draw.



Bin Hamman said that Australia succeeded because their players play in big leagues but what he is forgetting is that those leagues are not Australian. He can’t have it both ways – praising a nation who fielded just one or two A-League stars in the World Cup while telling others to improve their domestic set-ups. International experience is good for players and national teams but a strong league provides a much stronger foundation for continued success.

It is tough to find a balance. Immediately after Korea’s loss against Switzerland, Dick Advocaat told his soon-to-be-ex employers that the K-League has to improve. At the same time in a different part of Hanover’s World Cup Stadium, Lee Chun-soo, perhaps Korea’s best player in Germany and the 2005 K-League MVP, was telling reporters that he wanted another try in Europe.

Just days after giving his advice, Advocaat is getting ready to take two of the K-League’s best players, Kim Dong-jin and Lee Ho, with him to his new club Zenit St. Petersburg. It is a little like going to a friend’s party, telling them it’s boring before taking some of the best music and drinks to another party. The experience in Russia may improve the players and therefore the national team but what about the K-League?

It is hard to blame the players especially as they are usually encouraged to head overseas by media and supporters who are proud to see their home-grown stars strutting their stuff on a weekly basis in such strong leagues England, Spain or Germany.

France’s second division couldn’t be classed as such though that is where one of Asia’s brightest stars Masashi Oguro chose to play – a decision that shows there is still much work to be done.

The striker was one of the successes of the 2005 J-League season and his goals helped Gamba Osaka lift a first-ever league title. He broke into the national team and helped Team Nippon qualify for the World Cup. Instead of staying with Gamba, one of the biggest and best teams in Asia, to defend their title as well as participate in the Asian Champions League, he instead chose to join mid-table French second division team Grenoble Foot38 with an average attendance of only 5,000 ..

While it is welcomed that there seems to be a renewed realization that matters need to improve, it will take time, patience and a good deal of administrative will. Attention shouldn’t be overly fixed on the World Cup, a target of competitive domestic leagues is not a means to an end but an end in itself and the AFC, the respective domestic organizations, the media and the fans must be in it for the long haul.

If that happens then, despite the disappointment of the past month, there is a glimmer of hope that the 2006 World Cup may eventually seen as a watershed in Asian football.

Copyright (c) John Duerden & Soccerphile.com

Interview with Ian Crook

Sydney FC’s assistant coach reveals how Australia’s sporting public will recognise Dwight Yorke – and it’s got nothing to do with the local nightlife.

Former Tottenham and Norwich City midfielder Ian Crook is playing a pivotal role in the development of football in Australia. Earlier this year, Crook was named assistant coach at self-confessed glamour club Sydney FC, pre-season favourites to claim the title in the inaugural A-League season starting late next month.

In addition to 18 years in English football’s top-flight during the 1980s and ‘90s, Crook finished his career in Australia where he spent the last six seasons involved in the defunct National League. Now the man who helped the Canaries beat European heavyweights Bayern Munich in 1993 will aid in steering the club representing Australia’s largest city into a new chapter of soccer down under.

Head coach Pierre Littbarski, a former World Cup winner with Germany, has joined Crook at the helm of newly formed Sydney FC, a club barely nine months old yet already under pressure as the standard-bearers of the brand new national competition.

Not only has Sydney recruited the most talented squad of players, its target market covers something in the region of a quarter of Australian residents. As a consequence, its success is sure to dictate the pattern of national acceptance of the new format in a sport hardly among Australia’s favourites.

Crook is one of the many who believes the development of the A-League offers football its last opportunity to make an impact down under.

“It’s getting to the stage where the league hasn’t got too many more chances,” Crook admits. “It has suffered badly over the last ten years where it’s gradually dipped and dipped. I think it is (a last chance) and this time there are no excuses.

“The administration side of it is good, the sponsors are onboard, the players are coming back, everything’s better. If it fails to find it’s little niche in the market now, then where else is there for it to go?”

In Crook’s mind, the support of specialist broadcaster Fox Sports has been crucial. Parallels can be drawn between English football pre-1992 and Australian today. The last decade of the Premier League confirms that improving the game’s exposure ultimately delivers a better product – something the old NSL never benefited from. As Crook puts it, “It’s now not just about what’s done out on the pitch. There needs to be a little bit of razzmatazz I suppose.”

Furthermore, Australia’s domestic game can finally compete with the Premier League on a level playing field. For fans down under, being able to regularly follow Sky’s comprehensive coverage has merely accentuated the gulf between local and overseas standards. The Premiership has in no small way contributed to the lack of passion 10,000 miles away.

By recruiting from the Premier League, A-League clubs plan to capitalise on a decade of free publicity. Crook’s employers fired a warning shot to their rivals with the prized capture of Dwight Yorke, a veteran of 15 seasons at the summit of English football. Yorke joins as Sydney’s dedicated ‘marquee’ signing, meaning he can be paid outside the AUD$1.5million annual salary cap.

The former Manchester United striker is renowned for being able to generate front- and back-page headlines in equal measure and his signing has raised concerns in some quarters. The profile of the inaugural league season could well plot a similar course to Yorke’s own. Crook, on the other hand, believes Australian football needs a player with the charisma of the Trinidad and Tobago international.

“The great thing about Dwight is he’s such a likeable character,” Crook says. “People will just recognise Dwight because of his smile. It’s really important that the game out here can have not just a good player, but a good character that’s going to be able to promote the game.”

Moreover Yorke’s face fits, not only because he’s one of the Premiership’s all-time leading goalscorers, but because of the ubiquitous nature of the English game. “If that had been (Andriy) Shevchenko, who is at the peak of his game and probably the best striker in the world,” Crook argues. “90% of people out here wouldn’t know him.”

Much has been made of the official name change from soccer to football, with equal doses of arrogance and fear on display in the written media. The round-ball game is moving forwards but is never likely to match sport fans’ desire for traditional ‘footy’ codes like Rugby League and Australian Rules. “If the game’s looking to do that, then I don’t think it will succeed,” Crook says. “The important thing is for the game to be comfortable with the niche it can find.”

Over time, its role should develop to the extent Australia’s most participated sport starts to rank alongside its most watched. But it will take time. “If people are expecting the A-League to blow everything away in the first year, that’s wrong,” says Crook. “You saw from the World Club Championship qualifying games that the standard was better. It will get even better over the next three years. That’s the time you’ll see the real difference.”