Buying sport merchandise is a risky affair. If things go wrong with a player or team, that merchandise will forever remind you of disappointment. I pity any Melbourne Victory fan who decided at the start of Season 3 to fork out the cash to put Ljubo Milicevic on the back of their Victory. Or any Frenchman who decided to invest in a France Euro 2008 jersey.

When I bought the Melbourne Victory’s Asian Champions League scarf on the night the club made its debút against the Chunnam Dragons, I remember thinking: “They better do alright, otherwise this scarf will be a waste of money.” Luckily, it turned out okay. That scarf won’t become a collector’s item any time soon, but at least it doesn’t dig up painful memories.

Knocked out, but not embarrassed

Other Victory supporters may disagree, but in retrospect, Melbourne’s maiden voyage into international club football wasn’t so bad. To be sure, it was far from spectacular, but it wasn’t embarrassing. The Victory finished a respectable second, behind a Japanese club who were a cut above the rest of the group.

Melbourne’s Asian Champions League campaign provides an encouraging indication of how the A-League stacks up against other domestic competitions in the region. On the balance of home and away results, Melbourne came out as clear winners against the K-League’s Chunnam Dragons; were equally matched with the Thai Premier League champions, Chonburi FC; and were outclassed home and away by the J. League’s Gamba Osaka. There is room for improvement, to be sure, but there is plenty of reason to be optimistic. Adelaide United’s dogged effort to finish top of their group shows that A-League sides have what it takes to do well in the Champions League.

Injuries hurt more when you don’t have depth

Melbourne were unlucky to lose Carlos Hernández to injury a week before the competition kicked off; and they were unlucky again when Archie Thompson was injured playing for the Socceroos. There is little to be done about injury, but a coach can foster depth in his squad. With two-thirds of his key attacking trio out, who did Ernie Merrick have to turn to?

In its first three seasons, Melbourne has never had a striker to challenge Thompson or Allsopp for a starting position. Consistency can be a good thing, but when it turns into dependency, it hides a lack of depth. That became painfully clear in the Victory’s away match in Thailand, as Melbourne pressed and pressed, but struggled to convert chances.

A fifteen month wait

Over fifteen months passed between the day Melbourne qualified for the ACL and the day it played its first game against the Chunnam Dragons. In that period, Melbourne lost key personnel, Fred and Adrian Leijer proving to be the biggest losses. It also lost a lot of momentum, struggling to finish fifth in the third season of the A-League. One of the biggest challenges facing any team that qualifies for the Asian Champions League is how to maintain the personnel and momentum that carried you to qualification in the first place.

Of course, the salary cap makes it hard to hang on to players that helped you win a premiership. And without those key players, momentum is always going to suffer.

What’s a coach to do? What can Gary van Egmond and Lawrie McKinna learn from Melbourne’s struggle in the ACL?

Naturally, clubs have to do everything they can to keep their best players. But when that fails, coaches need to make sure there is enough depth in the squad to cover the loss. In the A-League season of 2007/08 and the 2008 Asian Champions League, Melbourne simply did not have that depth.

The future

A-League teams can perform competitively in the Asian Champions League. Last year, Sydney FC came within inches of knocking out eventual champions, Urawa in the group stage. This year, Adelaide United has become the first Australian team to reach the quarterfinals. But the Melbourne Victory’s efforts in this year’s ACL highlights some of the key challenges facing Australian teams:

• How to perform in the heat and humidity of Southeast Asian.
• How to maintain squads with depth while being restricted by the A-League salary cap.
• How to maintain momentum throughout the 12+ months between qualification and kick-off.
• How to outsmart teams with bigger budgets.

I will be keenly interested to see how Adelaide United, the Newcastle Jets and the Central Coast Mariners attempt to tackle these challenges in 2008 and 2009.

Eric Daams followed the Melbourne Victory passionately for two seasons before he decided to take his commitment to the next level by starting MVFCBlog, a website covering the latest news and views pertaining to the Melbourne Victory and Australian football.

Photo credit: Victory In Melbourne on Flickr via the84thminute photo pool.