Opinion By Andrew Gourdie
The kids were alright, weren't they? Good enough to see the Wellington Phoenix come away from their trip to Melbourne with a point they surely could not have planned for when mapping out the season.
But while the performance of a makeshift team featuring four debutants was encouraging, it shouldn't shift their focus from the real issue.
The A-League's refusal to break for FIFA's international window is stubborn, short-sighted, and seriously impacts on the competition's credibility.
The Wellington Phoenix were missing seven players and their coach for the weekend's fixture, but they weren't the only ones affected by the A-League's stance. A quick look at the week’s in’s and out’s will tell you Sydney FC, Western Sydney Wanderers, Newcastle Jets, Melbourne Victory, Melbourne Heart, Central Coast Mariners and Perth Glory all had at least one player missing through international duty with New Zealand, Australia, or Australia Under-20.
Whether those players are first team, bit-part or National Youth League, what is the point of penalising club's for having international players in their squad?
For a competition with a six month off-season, it just doesn't make any sense. What is the harm in extending the season by a couple of weeks to allow for two - that's right, two - official match windows?
When you also consider Europe's top leagues all break for the international window, can we really take the A-League seriously unless they do the same?
I sense there are more questions here than the A-League's bosses can provide logical answers for why they persist with this ridiculous stance.
There is another international window in March around the penultimate round of the A-League season. When you consider this round could have a serious impact on a number of clubs' bids for finals football, the main question A-League bosses need to ask is "is it really worth it?"
3 News