O'Neill's Asian Plan???

[The Eugene]

Reading article on TWG (O'Neill urges players home) and one bit got me worried:

"The ASA also has plans to expand into Asia with an A-League combination to play Asian club teams."

Does this mean that there will be a "rep side" playing against Asian clubs? I thought that plan was for our top clubs to play in an annual tournament with Asian clubs.

This is a concern.

[striker9]

I think they want to start a comp like the UEFA Champions League!

[marinermick]

The said:

Reading article on TWG (O'Neill urges players home) and one bit got me worried:

"The ASA also has plans to expand into Asia with an A-League combination to play Asian club teams."

Does this mean that there will be a "rep side" playing against Asian clubs? I thought that plan was for our top clubs to play in an annual tournament with Asian clubs.

This is a concern.

I think it is like Striker said - it will be more of a champions league like tournament

[marinerbhoy]

the afc board voted against allowing a-league teams to participate in the asian champions league. they said the reason ws they didn;t want to have a campion of asia from oceania. o'neill is talking bout a combined teams representing the a-league playing against other sides of asia, pareticulary those in vietnam.

[James Holland - legend.]

marinerbhoy said:

the afc board voted against allowing a-league teams to participate in the asian champions league. they said the reason ws they didn;t want to have a campion of asia from oceania. o'neill is talking bout a combined teams representing the a-league playing against other sides of asia, pareticulary those in vietnam.

That is slightly incorrect.

AFC voted against an Oceania team playing in the Asian Cup.

They are in favour of an Oceanian team playing in the AFC Champions League.

[striker9]

crook said:

They are in favour of an Oceanian team playing in the AFC Champions League.

yep!

[marinerbhoy]

shit ay that aint bad. and i have to say fair enough by the afc board members. have they supported our clubs playing in their champions league by a vote? how mnay years until this happens you reckon?

[Egan]

Would be fantastic news.

Do you think the top 2 or 3 would get into a comp like this?

I think Only 2 representatives and then the third spot was a playoff with the champion of New Zealand, just to make it a very prestigious competition like the Champions League.

I reckon an A-League team playing out of Asia would also be beneficial.

[McGrime]

I concur O'Neil has seen and been part of the success of the super 12 RU story. Thus this is the natural progression for OZ and the way that our teams would compete throughout our region.
Having a home & away game against some of the high profile Asian sides would start to see the eyes of the soccer world tunning in. Thus the sponsorships would then start to provide the $$$ that our teams require to pay the players the bigger bucks and the whole thing starts to gain momentum. This is not a silly man we have in charge.

[marinermick]

big money in asia

that is definitely our future

[The Eugene]

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear...

I'm worried aout the "All Star" team, not about playing in Asia.

Playing in Asia is vital if the A-League is going to make enough money to attract players back to AUS.

O'neil has said in the past that he would like a competition (Asia Pacific Cup?) to be played in AUS every March. This would be great.

A possible structure:


Asia Pacific Cup

4 A-League clubs and 8 Asian clubs from:

China PR
Japan
South Korea
Indonesia
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand

1st Rd - A-League Play-off
3vs6
4vs5

2nd Rd (Groups)

A-Leage clubs seeded 1-4
Asian clubs seeded 1-8

Group A
(A) A-League 1
(B) Asia 4
(C) Asia 8

Group B
(A) A-League 2
(B) Asia 3
(C) Asia 7

Group C
(A) A-League 3
(B) Asia 2
(C) Asia 6

Group D
(A) A-League 4
(B) Asia 1
(C) Asia 5

Group Games:

(A) vs (C) - (B) Bye - Fri (Groups A/C) Sat (Groups B/D)
(B) vs (C) - (A) Bye - Tue (Gr A/C) wed (Gr B/D)
(A) vs (B) - (C) Bye - Fri (Gr A/C) Sat (Gr B/D)

Semi-Final

Winner Group A vs Winner Group C - Weds
Winner Group B vs Winner Group D - Weds

Final

At home ground of highest ranked A-League club - Sat

The A-League play-off would give teams finishing outside the top 4 something to play for. The short length of the competition would allow Asian clubs to fit it into their calendar. TV revenue could be large in the bigger Asian markets.

[bruce]

The said:

Reading article on TWG (O'Neill urges players home) and one bit got me worried:

"The ASA also has plans to expand into Asia with an A-League combination to play Asian club teams."

Does this mean that there will be a "rep side" playing against Asian clubs? I thought that plan was for our top clubs to play in an annual tournament with Asian clubs.

This is a concern.

Note that they could do both, one or the other, and a major factor is not what we want, but what we can get interest from in Asia.

For example, there could be an Asia-Pacific Challenge Cup played at a suitable time with four A-league clubs and four invited clubs, sorted into two groups of four -- say the previous years Champions and Premiers might host the groups.

AND Australian A and/or Australian Olympic A team chosen from A-league clubs could tour, say, the Pacific and Southeast Asia and play tour games against national or olympic sides. A four team tournament in New Zealand with the Melanesian and Polynesian champions and a four team tournament in Singapore with ASEANSF teams would be great post-season events.

[sacko]

Sounds a great idea, however it might be a bit tricky to get a pass from the misses to an away game... ;D

[bruce]

sacko said:

Sounds a great idea, however it might be a bit tricky to get a pass from the misses to an away game... ;D

To all of them, maybe ... surely the missus would like a holiday to either SE Asia or the Pacific? You could mention the game on arrival.

[bruce]

The said:

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear...


Asia Pacific Cup

4 A-League clubs and 8 Asian clubs from:

China PR
Japan
South Korea
Indonesia
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
...

You can avoid the bye with crossover groups, which also makes for hosting by champions and premiers/runnersup from previous year. This is if you want to stretch out the games.

Round 1:
A1 v B1, A2 v B2, A3 v B3 (Premiers host)
C1 v D1, C2 v D2, C3 v D3 (Champions host)

Round 2:
A1 v B2, A2 v B3, A3 v B1
C1 v D2, C2 v D3, C3 v D1

Round 3:
A1 v B3, A2 v B1, A3 v B2
C1 v D3, C2 v D1, C3 v D2

Sort groups by record, four third ranking teams go home.

A first v A runner up, B first v B runner up, winner travel to site of Champions group.

C first v C runner up, D first v D runner up

Winner A v Winner C
Winner B v Winner D

3rd place playoff Loser A/C v Loser B/D
Winner A/C v Winner B/D

If you want to have a quicker tournament, use the knockthrough that is already used for two-round, four nation tournaments and extend it to a third round for an eighth nation:

Game 1: A1 v A3
Game 2: A2 v A4
Game 3: B1 v B3
Game 4: B2 v B4

Game 5: #1 loser v # 2 loser
Game 6: #3 loser v #4 loser
Game 7: #1 winner v #2 winner
Game 8: #3 winner v #4 winner

Game 9 (Plate): #5 winner v #6 winner
Game 10 (Shield): #7 loser v #8 loser
Game 11 (Cup): #7 winner v #8 winner

The advantage of that is you can easily fit it into two weekends and an intervening week. Since the Asian CL finishes early December, this would make an excellent event in the final two weekends prior to Christmas, then the following weekend off, then start up the regular season again the following weekend.