The Best & Worst of Australian Football...we mean Sydney vs Ulsan

They say even on the darkest days there are glimmers of light.

Well, they don't come much darker than learning in the space of four years Australia has gone from reigning Asian Champions League and Asian Cup champions to at risk of slowly crashing out of the ACL.

Sydney's loss means there won't be a single A-League club out of the group stage for the second year running, but at closer look the statistics make for much more troubling reading across the board.

The A-League now runs the risk of losing one of their two automatic qualification places into the Champions League, falling to ninth in the AFC club rankings (full analysis on page four).

Of course, this is the best and worst of Sydney and Ulsan Hyundai, and as they have throughout the tournament and we acknowledge throughout this light-hearted look at the match, Sydney were honourable in defeat.

But the facts can't be ignored: there's much more at stake for Australian football.

BEST

Anthony Caceres humiliates three Ulsan defenders

I've been singing his praises for weeks now but we're seeing the good ol' Anthony Caceres back on the park - arguably the finest technical skill we've seen from him since his early days at the Central Coast Mariners.

The highlight of the entire first half was when, trapped out on the right-flank, he dragged back and elasticode (Oxford Dictionary, if you're reading) past three Ulsan defenders.

Of course, he later smashed a shot straight into Oh Seung Hoon's face from a metre out but we won't penalise him too much for that. 

Diskerud's backheel

Ulsan may have played it safe all match, but Mix Diskerud's behind-the-back flick on to begin the counter and then cheeky backheel winner showed us all it's no wonder why his parent club, Manchester City, pretend to rate him.

Steve Corica's interplay

Losses aside, it's heartwarming to see two former Sky Blue veterans make such a splash on the Australian coaching ranks this season. 

Mark Rudan electrified the league with a Wellington Phoenix side that were actually fun to watch and now Corica's surprising many by proving he's not just a Graham Arnold copycat but a potentially very good coach.

Sydney's interplay has displayed some of the finest A-League football played this season and unlike Melbourne Victory they've backed it up with some admirable ACL performances. 

Of course, ultimately, they still risk leaving the competition winless - but it should be remembered that they played the better football and had the better chances tonight.

Where Victory were caught out too easily attempting to hammer an attacking style into wary Asian opponents, Sydney kept their cards closer to their chests, but still played a royal flush every now and then to boot.

Michael Zullo's crossing

Mark Bresciano eat your heart out - Zullo's got big looping crosses, tiny weasely little crosses, slotted through balls, reverse googlys, penetrating in-swingers. He gets more swing on some of those balls than Cameron Bancroft could if he sanded them all day.  

The timing of his runs was also superb, hanging out back before bursting forward into space at just the right moment. If the Sky Blues had a Josh Kennedy up front, they could have won 4-1.

WORST

Wasting headers

The one downside with Sydney - and it's something they've been suffering from all season - is their over-eagerness to cross the ball when the most intimidating guy in the box is a pudgy Englishman who calls goals 'sausage rolls'. 

I understand that Reza Ghoochannedjad offers a multi-dimensional attacking option that contributes in the build-up and pressures the opposing defenders, which is great. 

But if Corica wants to play this style - which certainly has its benefits in keeping defenders on their toes - then maybe he could have dipped in for an Asian striker who could bury a header? Are there actually any out there?

Either that or keep the Wizard of Woy Woy.

Parking at home

While we'll save our analysis of the A-League's dismal Asian decline until last, a neutral football fan's criticism is rightly reserved for Ulsan Hyundai who, much like a Hyundai, only really looked comfortable when they were parked in their own driveway.

Ulsan must get car insurance for a steal - even at home, in the safest neighbourhood in the group, they parked it at home. Okay, I've stretched the metaphor enough.

It's credit to Sydney who, despite being last in the group, clearly scare the Koreans enough to risk disappointing their 20+ fans in attendance (nice to see it happens in Korea too) by barely putting on a show.  

The history books (and AFC rankings) rarely factor for pride though, do they?

Paulo Retre's shooting...in fact, all their shooting

He's been good this season but he should have scored that chance in the first half. He didn't look like he ever fancied himself which is insane for a Graham Arnold graduate, I thought they were all trained to believe they were Lionel Messi.

In the second he cut inside beautifully within the opening few minutes just to offer this lackadaisical cross-cum-shot-cum-whatever. He wasn't the worst on the park, even Josh Brillante was arguably a little more sporadic. 

But Sydney needed him to be better and he wasn't, which is a shame for both of them. As mentioned, Caceres was equally to blame, but Danny De Silva can't hold his head high after a lapse effort in the second half either.

A-League club's dismal Asian record worsens

The Sky Blues are now eliminated along with Melbourne Victory and Australia stands a very real chance of exiting the Champions League without a win.

The loss leaves Sydney with just one win in their past 15 Champions League encounters but the statistics are dire across the board. Due to A-League club's porous performances in the competition, Australia now sits behind Thailand in the AFC ranking coefficient.

There are no Australian clubs in the top 20 ranked sides in Asia. To make matters worse for the Aussies, AFC plan to eventually remove FIFA ranking points as a factor for their club rankings, which could see Australia drop dramatically.

Ranking			Member Association	Total Points	FIFA Points		Club Points		2018	2017	2016	2015
2018	2017	Mvmt			Points	(10%)	Points	(90%)
1	6	+5	Qatar	98.494	1258	8.494	74.250	90.000	19.850	13.400	22.000	19.000
2	3	+1	China	95.277	1317	8.893	71.267	86.384	16.200	24.567	14.750	15.750
3	2	-1	South Korea	89.245	1405	9.487	65.800	79.758	18.350	9.950	20.750	16.750
4	1	-3	United Arab Emirates	84.536	1309	8.839	62.450	75.697	8.100	11.350	18.000	25.000
5	5	—	Japan	84.033	1414	9.548	61.450	74.485	13.850	21.850	10.500	15.250
6	7	+1	Iran	81.879	1481	10.000	59.300	71.879	18.850	16.200	13.000	11.250
7	4	-3	Saudi Arabia	73.681	1335	9.014	53.350	64.667	10.000	18.600	9.500	15.250
8	10	+2	Thailand	59.045	1160	7.833	42.250	51.212	16.200	15.050	1.000	10.000
9	8	-1	Australia	51.757	1436	9.696	34.700	42.061	7.300	5.900	14.000	7.500
10	11	+1	Iraq	45.632	1271	8.582	30.566	37.050	8.633	8.933	9.833	3.167

(Source: Wikipedia)

This could mean that the A-League loses its two automatic Champions League qualification places, even with an extra team set to enter the competition at the beginning of next season.

To recap Australia's recent performances in Asia:

- Socceroos slump out of Asian Cup at the quarter-finals
- Both A-League powerhouses exit the ACL at the group stage and could leave winless
- Australia now ranked behind Thailand (9th) in AFC club coefficient
- A-League clubs have seven wins in their last 38 ACL matches
- Sydney just one win in their last 15 matches