MVFC Blog

So it happened. The Newcastle Jets beat the Central Coast Mariners on Saturday, meaning that the faint dream of Melbourne reaching the finals is now over.

I published an article on Newsvine last week, called The Problem with the Asian Champions League (which has also been published on Pitch Invasion). As I pointed out in that article, the Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United are going to the ACL, supposedly as the best of the Australian teams - despite the fact that neither have reached the A-League finals this season.

As I wrote the article though, one question struck me: Is the fact that Melbourne hasn’t reached the A-League finals a blessing in disguise?

Let me explain: Last year, Adelaide had the advantage of being able to play in the Champions League soon after the A-League wrapped up, by virtue of having finished first in 2005-06. It’s interesting to note, though, that Adelaide fared quite badly in the Champions League. Sydney FC narrowly missed out on winning its group, while Adelaide finished third in its group - well out of reach of first place.

Maybe Adelaide fared badly because of the way its A-League season came to an end: first, with a humiliating 6 - 0 loss to the Victory; then, with several key players and the coach retiring. That kind of emotional blow would definitely have affected the team’s confidence going into the Asian Champions League.

And then there’s the simple fact that Adelaide reaching the Grand Final meant that it only had a few weeks between the end of the A-League and the start of the Champions League. On the one hand, that could mean players are still in good form; on the other, players may be tired and in need of a break.

This year, Melbourne and Adelaide will have ample time to prepare for the Champions League, which kicks off on March 12. While they will be disappointed to have missed out on the finals, they have plenty of time to get over that disappointment - which Adelaide didn’t last year.

Both teams now have two months to regroup and form squads with the ability to beat any opponent the Champions League will throw at them.

Will their absence from the A-League finals actually improve their chances of performing well at the Asian Champions League?