Last Chance Saloon For Australian Football

Marc Fox reports on how two 1990 World Cup semi-finalists have been reunited to form the face of “new football” in Australia.

The drama of July 4 1990 in Turin will live long in the memory of English football followers. Who could forget Gazza’s tears, Lineker’s bamboozling equaliser or Waddle’s sky-bound penalty in England’s shattering loss to the Germans? That heart-breaking semi-final left their World Cup dreams in tatters while Germany went on to lift football’s ultimate prize.

Few players can claim to have experienced the intensity of a seesawing World Cup encounter like this; fewer still emerge able to pass on their insights to others. However, a couple of stars from that '90 semi-final are doing just that – in an unlikely location.

Two of the A-League’s brightest clubs – recent national league champions Perth Glory and self-confessed glamour club Sydney FC – have turned to these men as if to underline their intentions for the new season down under. For this isn’t just the start of another trivial football campaign here. Critics are claiming this is Australia’s last chance of cultivating a successful and vibrant domestic league.

The World Cup heroes Perth and Sydney have turned to, Steve McMahon and Pierre Littbarski, may have been unused substitutes that night in the Delle Alpi, but their footballing pedigree is undeniable.

McMahon, appointed head coach of the Glory in January, won three league championships and two FA Cups at Liverpool in the '80s, including the league and cup double in 1986. The battling midfielder also won 18 international caps, representing England in the 1988 European Championships and the World Cup in Italy.

World Cup winner Littbarski’s record as the first footballer to have played in three consecutive World Cup finals speaks volumes. After 16 years with FC Cologne in the Bundesliga and 73 appearances for Germany, the new Sydney FC boss managed in his homeland – including a stint as assistant coach of Bayer Leverkusen – and latterly coached Yokohama in Japan.

Of the two incoming managers, the Englishman steps into the Perth hot seat in somewhat more settled surroundings. As one of the most successful teams from the now defunct national league, Perth already attract a strong fan base, play at a recognised home ground and possess the core of a championship-winning squad.

But while McMahon’s arrival would seem to indicate the West Australian club are set to continue following an English-style model (they also considered John Hollins and John Gregory for the position), Littbarski's recruitment from the J-League hints at a more revolutionary approach.

Sydney’s preference for an overseas manager was made clear from the outset. Before plumping for the German, they were heavily linked with first a move for Roy Hodgson, then China’s former national boss, Arie Haan. Although detractors have suggested Sydney were running out of options, it is probably Littbarski’s time coaching JEF United in the inaugural J-League season that swung the vote in his favour. The experience of building a club from scratch will be essential in influencing Australia’s own football reforms.

For media sceptics and followers of rival football codes are already circling, hoping that Australian soccer’s new dawn will prove as fruitless as previous inauspicious beginnings. The history of the 'beautiful game’ down under has been typified by policital infighting, weak competition and years of World Cup qualification failure.

Many see this season as the final opportunity to put things right.

Last November, football chiefs announced the most sweeping changes in Australian soccer’s chequered history. Under the regime of former Rugby Union boss, John O’Neill, and influential chairman, Frank Lowy, the top-flight National Soccer League (NSL) was totally scrapped.

In its place, O’Neill and Lowy introduced a brand-new eight-team format, the A-League, to replace its unwieldy 13-team predecessor. The revolutionary competition imposed a dramatic 'one-team-one city’ principal on its participants, aiming to consolidate fan support and drive up the overall standard of players. The theory goes that although fewer teams meant less games and less revenue for the clubs, those matches would provide a greater spectacle and better value for money for supporters.

But condemning five NSL teams to either relegation to their state leagues, or perhaps even oblivion, was never going to be an easy sell. In reality, 'one-team-one city’ meant that all top-flight clubs were effectively ordered to bid for their city’s franchise – with football’s governing body offering no guarantee of success.

From an exhausting process, just four of the 13 original teams remained (with only minor changes made to team names); one was 'promoted’ from their state competition while three brand-new teams were born – in some cases without a confirmed coach, squad or even fans to their names.

During such revolutionary periods, imposing fresh credibility to a damaged past can provide the optimism things will be different this time. That is why, for A-League supporters, the stature of any incoming manager ranked as important as his coaching CV. The arrival of two high-profile former World Cup stars – a move greeted with widespread approval from the media, fans, players and, of course, O’Neill and Lowy – provides that much-needed boost.

The acid test though will follow the season’s start in August. If McMahon and Littbarski can deliver the quality and emotion witnessed that balmy July night in 1990, Australian football fans will be in for an entertaining ride.

Australian A-League Factfile

• The teams are based in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Newcastle, Brisbane, Gosford and Wellington, New Zealand
• A squad no greater than 23 players is allowed
• A minimum of three players must be under 20 years of age
• As with most Australian sports, a salary cap has been imposed: AUD$1.7m per annum
• One designated 'marquee' player can be paid outside this cap
• Top four sides at the season's end will play-off to decide the eventual champions

A-League Teams' Official Sites

Adelaide United: www.adelaideunited.com.au
Central Coast Mariners: www.ccmariners.com.au
Melbourne Victory: www.mvfc.com.au
Newcastle United Jets: www.newcastlejets.com.au
Perth Glory: www.perthglory.com.au
Queensland Roar: www.qldroar.com.au
Sydney FC: www.sydneyfc.com
Wellington Phoenix: www.wellingtonphoenix.com

Forums & Message Boards

Central Coast Mariners ccmfc.proboards25.com
Queensland Roar www.qldroarforums.com
Sydney FC www.sydneyfc-unofficial.com

To add your Australian soccer link to this list please contact us

Marc Fox

Euro 2008 Ticket Store
All Matches - Categories 1-3

Hotels in Australia

HotelsAustralia.com
Sydney
Melbourne
Perth
Brisbane

Hotels in Australia

HotelClub
Adelaide
Brisbane
Melbourne
Newcastle NSW
Perth
Sydney

New Zealand

Hostels in Australia

Hostelworld.com
Adelaide
Brisbane
Melbourne
Newcastle
Perth
Sydney

New Zealand

"The Onside In-Site" Copyright © From 2000. All rights reserved. Soccerphile Ltd.