It didn’t take long for the new A-League season to trigger an existential crisis.
asserted
season → take → crisis
It took just one game: last week’s stinker of a Sydney derby, which prompted a series of sky-is-falling takes about the quality of the two clubs and the overall direction of the competition.
asserted
sky → take → competition
Just a few days later, we’re already up to existential crisis No.2.
asserted
we → ’re → No.2
In a classic club-versus-country row, Sydney FC have decided to block Akol Akon from playing for Australia in next month’s FIFA U-17 World Cup.
asserted
FC → decide → Cup
Cue the predictable outrage about self-interested clubs damaging our national teams, and how Australian soccer continues to cut off its nose to spite its face.
asserted
soccer → cue → face
It’s tempting to frame Sydney FC as the big, bad, privately owned villain here, working against the game’s broader interests.
asserted
It → ’ → interests
Here’s a thought: maybe this is a good thing, actually.
asserted
this → ’ → ?
Rather than being a symptom of a sick code that can never get anything right, perhaps it is a sign of the growing maturity of our footballing ecosystem.
asserted
it → get → ecosystem
Sydney FC may not have made the right decision here – that’s open to debate – but as the club responsible for Akon’s day-to-day development, they should have the right to make whatever decision they like.
uncertain
they → make → decision
The under-17 World Cup kicks off in Qatar on November 19.
asserted
Cup → kick → November
The tournament sits outside an international window.
asserted
tournament → sit → window
There used to be an agreement between Football Australia and the Australian Professional Leagues in which A-League clubs had to let their players go, but that agreement has lapsed, which means it’s up to the clubs to release or withhold as they see fit.
asserted
they → use → clubs
That’s how it is in most football countries.
asserted
it → ’ → countries
It is hardly unusual for the best teenagers in world football to miss youth World Cups because they’re already too important to their clubs.
asserted
they → miss → clubs
For years, people have been calling for A-League clubs to focus more on youth development, and to build their business model around it.
asserted
clubs → call → it
Our best teenagers should be playing senior football week in, week out, so that they can become assets valuable enough to be sold on the transfer market and then progress in their careers to a point where they can help the Socceroos at a senior World Cup.
asserted
they → play → Cup
Well, it’s happening now.
asserted
it → happen → ?
Tension between the clubs who produce them and the national teams who benefit from their work is a natural consequence of these complementary but occasionally competing agendas.
asserted
who → produce → agendas
That doesn’t make every disagreement healthy, but it does make them inevitable.
If there’s a fight about who gets to use them, it might show that the system is working.
Akon, 17, is a unique case.
uncertain
Akon → make → them
He is already playing for the Olyroos, Australia’s under-23s national team, and according to sources, was on Socceroos coach Tony Popovic’s longlist for last month’s friendlies against Brazil.
uncertain
He → play → Brazil
He could yet be selected for next month’s friendlies, the last ones before January’s Asian Cup, if it happens.
uncertain
it → select → Cup
It’s not like Sydney FC are working against the national teams.
asserted
FC → ’ → teams
They have released a slew of other players from their academy to play at the World Cup.
asserted
They → release → Cup
The difference is that, unlike Akon, they are not important first-team players, so the club can afford to let them go.
asserted
them → afford → Akon
The Sky Blues don’t need to put him in the shop window and parade Akon in front of scouts from the world’s top clubs because they’ve already sold him to the Colorado Rapids.
asserted
they → need → Rapids
And when they announced that deal, the Rapids described him as having “uncommon physical and competitive maturity”, which anyone who has watched him play would agree with.
asserted
him → announce → which
It’s therefore a perfectly defensible view that what Akon needs most right now is not another youth tournament – however prestigious – but the chance to establish himself as a senior professional.
asserted
needs → ’ → professional
While it would be great to see him carving it up for the Joeys, what Australian soccer needs more than that is for him to become the best possible player, and for him to be ready to make an immediate impact when he arrives in Major League Soccer next year.
asserted
he → see → Soccer
Sydney reckon the best way to do that is by leaving him at home, uninterrupted, so that he can produce a rhythm of consistent form to give himself the best possible chance.
asserted
he → reckon → chance
And they deserve the autonomy to make that decision.
asserted
they → deserve → decision
The World Cup experience, of course, would have been beneficial for Akon – and if he had his way, he’d probably want to go.
asserted
he → have → way
It’s a World Cup, and there’s no guarantee he’ll ever have the chance to play at another one.
asserted
he → ’ → one
But he’s also one of Sydney’s most important attacking players.
asserted
he → ’ → players
If he’s unhappy with their call, that’s for them to manage internally.
asserted
them → ’ → call
If coach Patrick Kisnorbo gives him only sparing minutes in the games when he otherwise would have been playing for Australia, then their argument diminishes greatly, and they will lose the benefit of the doubt.
asserted
they → give → doubt
But if Football Australia wants to avoid a repeat scenario – the under-17 World Cup is now an annual event, so this discussion isn’t going away – then they should nut out a new agreement with the APL.
asserted
they → want → APL
They should, however, recognise that the clubs they are dealing with today are different beasts to even five years ago.
asserted
they → recognise → ?
They are no longer being merely encouraged to develop young players.
asserted
They → encourage → players
They depend on them to deliver results on the pitch and transfer revenue off it.
asserted
them → depend → it
That’s good for Australian soccer – but it changes the relationship.
asserted
it → ’ → relationship
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
