So Close, Yet So Far…….Again

By: Ahmed | February 22nd, 2009

Oh SOOOO Close!!!! “It is all about winning.” “This is our grand final.” “We’ve learnt from the mistakes.”

These were the words spoken by the Queensland Roar players and staff before their preliminary final with Adelaide United. Everyone said the Reds were in disarray after their shocking performance against Melbourne, and Aurelio Vidmars outburst. Somehow though, the Reds were a machine revamped and playing football that they had not shown for some time -which brings up my argument of a finals series, but that’s for a whole new topic, maybe in the off season- but for now it’s a time to see where the screws came lose and where the ship from Queensland fell apart.

Queensland were the hot favourites going into this preliminary final, mainly due to their good form, Adelaides bad form, and the so called disunity among the Reds squad. The teams were pretty evenly matched. Aurelio Vidmar brought in Jonas Salley to add some muscle and to deal with Matt Mckay and Mass Murdoccas bursting runs, and he did a fantastic job. Mitch Nichols was all the hype from the media in the Queensland squad, after showing some great form and slotting in goals at will.

The main problem, Mitch Nichols did not play in last year’s preliminary final against The Jets. He lacked that small bit of experience and it proved vital. Nichols missed chance after chance in front of the Adelaide goal. Constantly rocking back and letting rip only to see the ball go over the bar. Galekovic –Adelaide goalkeeper- was surely feeling worried at times with the amount of space Nichols had. The missed chances were crucial to The Roar as they eventually went down 1-0 to Adelaide.

This result sends Adelaide into another Grand Final against the Melbourne Victory. The Roar are still left wondering, what more do they have to do to get to the big one. We played stylish, slick and beautiful football all season. Goals were dry at first, but after we scored a few, they kept on coming, and then it all went sour at the crucial moment. It was a saddening moment for all Queensland fans to see our team get bundled out at the final hurdle, again. The talk was again on a crucial spot in the Asian Champions League and the chance to get into our first Grand Final, but again the pressure proved too much.

It’s now up to Frank and the boys to have a sit down and think about the last 2 missed opportunities. Where do we go from here and how do we go about passing that final hurdle? I still remain adamant that we need a more clinical striker. It is no point creating plenty of chances when the majority of them are going to be squandered. We can’t continue to falter at the final hurdle after a stellar league campaign. Its time the Queensland Roar got the full piece of pie. With 2 new Queensland teams in next season, and they both sporting fantastic marquee players –Jason Culina (GCU) and Robbie Fowler (NQFC) – the rivalry will be much more intense for the Roar and the stakes much higher. Frank Farina will have a tough job ahead of him yet he knows he has the squad to do the job, the task just needs to be carried out.