Sydney FC’s 0-0 draw with China’s Shanghai Shenhua at Aussie Stadium overnight has left the club with a massive must-win showdown against the Urawa Reds in Japan in a fortnight’s time. What an occasion that game will be for not only Sydney but Australia as a whole. It will be the first really big international club match for any club in Australia. Urawa are currently rated as the best side in Asia and Sydney will go over to Japan knowing that they will need a win in front of a 60,000 strong crowd that will be passionately cheering against them. I, as someone who usually loves to hate Sydney FC, would encourage Queensland Roar fans to be cheering for them.
The Asian Champions League is the pinnacle of club football on offer for the football clubs in Australia and every single A-League side – most of all the Queensland Roar – should be striving to qualify for the competition. Winning the A-League would undoubtedly be brilliant but I believe it would be the thrill of supporting the Roar in a big Champions League game of that would get any player or supporter at the club excited.
If Sydney manage to get past Urawa then bigger will ensue the further they progress. The better that Australia’s clubs perform in Asian Champions League the more credibility we will gain in the eyes of the other Asian nations. Australian supporters of A-League clubs must realise that these nations are our major competitors now – at every level of the game – and any success against them will strike a psychological blow for all Australian clubs as well as the national team. This could be vital with the Asian Cup just two months away.
So good luck to Sydney in Asia. But let me make it quite clear in saying that my support for the club will disintegrate the moment they are knocked out of the Champions League.
