The Italian Job

D-Day for football downunder approaches.

A second chance for the A-League to climb to the top of Asian club football, after Adelaide United fell short in 2008. By no means a straightforward shot at glory, as the Western Sydney Wanderers face off with Saudi Arabia’s expensively assembled Al Hilal in the second leg of the Asian Champions League (ACL) final.

Not an encounter for the faint of heart, although the Wanderers have overcome stiffer opposition along the way, having beaten last year’s ACL champions Guangzhou Evegrande in the quarters, prior to knocking out last year’s ACL final runners-up FC Seoul.

After winning the first leg 1-0, going the distance in Saudi Arabia would be a phenomenal shot in the vein for Australian football. After all a young and inexperienced national team still struggles to find its way under Ange Postecoglou (Ange), as Socceroos fans look warily towards the Asian Cup to be hosted in Australia early next year.

Indeed Germany 2006 seems very far away, as Australia wakes up to the fact that it had no part in the ‘finishing’ of the golden generation that did the nation so proud during that world cup.

The journey for football downunder has been chequered since, with many uncertain of not just the Socceroos but also the quality of the A-League itself. It is still widely considered to lag behind Japan and Korea’s leagues, and lacks the spending power of many clubs in the Gulf and China (Guangzhou’s manager Marcello Lippi is the world’s third highest paid manager after Guardiola and Mourinho, on $14 million a year).

However the baby ten year old league is in my view improving in quality with each passing season, with clubs focused on passing the ball across the grass rather than hoofing it high towards the striker.

Unlike his snooty foreign predecessors, Socceroos coach Ange has not held back from picking good players from the A-league, and I think English journeyman striker Paul Ifill summed it up best a few seasons back when he described the Australian league as a competition that was ‘still finding its feet’, capable of world class football as well as some very ordinary stuff.

The passion for the tournament has dramatically increased, and has been helped in no small way by the birth of the West Sydney Wanderers a couple of years back. How ironic then, that the youngest club in the youngest ACL top division is but 90 minutes away from being crowned kings of Asia? An irony that is only eclipsed by an even greater irony, which is how the Wanderers have set out their stall in Asia.

At the start of their debut season, their manager Tony ‘Poppa’ Popovic declared that he wanted the side to play ‘at a high tempo’. I squirmed upon reading this, but it was somewhat understandable that Poppa wanted to play the English way, given the years he spent at Crystal Palace. This brand of gung ho football actually went on to serve his side well as they ended their maiden season top of the table.

Yet what we have seen from the Wanderers in Asia has been a complete surprise, and one tongue in cheek description of the their playing style could be: ‘Crystal catenaccio’. My friends confirmed to me that during the knock-out ties against Guangzhou and FC Seoul, the Wanderers just sat back and soaked up the pressure, retaining an absolute minimum of possession before seizing up the couple of chances that fell their way.

The first leg of the final at Parramatta stadium last Saturday was no different. For the whole of the first half the Wanderers were on the back foot, as they weathered attack after attack from the Saudi side that were clearly made up of faster and more technically gifted players.

Countless waves of pressure from Al Hilal were repelled, with Poppa setting his team into two tight banks of four, with the two strikers also closing down the spaces and barely shirking from defensive duties with not a single shot on the Saudi goal the whole half. Yet Pirtek stadium was filled to the brim, and the diehard Wanderers supporters never lost hope and belief as they sang relentlessly in support of their heroes.

This was devotion of the highest class, especially when one considers that most of the opening 45 minutes consisted of seeing ten bottoms in black shorts swaying from left to right, as the Wanderers had their work cut out foiling the Saudi build-up play. Things were not much different in the opening minutes of the second half, until Poppa sent on Tomi Juric to a deafening applause.

Hardly had the striker taken the field that the clinical Sydneysiders suddenly put their conserved energy into building a couple of attacks. The first cross in the box found a lunging Juric, who toe poked the ball between the legs of the bewildered Saudi keeper.

As the full house stadium erupted like a powder keg, I shook my head in disbelief, all the while jumping up and down like a nutter as I gave the bird to the gathered visiting fans who stood across from us. And it was then that I realised that the Wanderers were not merely a spirited team but also a tactical one.

How often did Muhammed Ali employ the same technique in boxing, floating like a butterfly and then stinging like a bee? Going round after round weathering countless punches before unleashing all of his saved energy late on in the fight with a couple of killer blows?

And I say ‘couple’ because the Wanderers so nearly made it 2-0, when Tomi Juric went on a run and unleashed a daisy-cutter that crashed against the post. As the final whistle was blown many rued what could have been a greater margin of advantage, but what was most heartening of all was the way the Wanderers had performed during the game, never losing their nerve and sticking to plan.

The Saudis had tried late on too, with veteran ‘keeper Ante Covic foiling them twice when he sprinted splendidly off his line to block two attempts, and centre-back Topor-Stanley giving an absolutely immense performance throughout the whole 90 minutes, marshalling his back line with such composure that he must have ended the game with clean shorts.

Not since the days of Helenio Herrera at Inter Milan and Jose Mourinho at both Inter Milan and Chelsea has the football world witnessed such an effective display of ‘catenaccio’. The Wanderers put their physical strength to good use too, often pinging the Saudis off the ball with their pie arses of steel, with Santalab in particular putting in a tigerish shift in the centre of the park, which led him to dislocate his shoulder (and then continue playing).

And now onto the King Fahd stadium tomorrow, with a most incredible ending to a fairy tale run in sight. It will be mind over matter for the Wanderers, who have already overcome hostile environments in Korea and China to secure progression in the tournament.

I am not a great fan of catenaccio, but being a completely biased fan of Australian football I applaud Poppa for choosing a means that will certainly justify the end. The meaning of a victory tomorrow is not lost on any supporter of Australian football, and every club in the country will forget local rivalries as they cheer on the A-league side.

It will be a fascinating encounter, and more finely poised than most people think. Al Hilal are expected to win by a high margin. And although the Saudis play pretty, they certainly need to discover their scoring boots. The Wanderers on the other hand will need all of their Italian siege discipline, and will certainly resume their two banks of four, as they play to frustrate until the opening presents itself. And it will present itself.

Australia expects. I believe that the Wanderers can do it.