AFTER four weeks of delays, cancelled flights, rescheduled matches and plenty of waiting, we're finally back into it tonight. It's our second match of this Asian Champions League campaign and to say the players can't wait is a sizeable understatement.
Don't get me wrong, we enjoy training, but it's playing that makes being a footballer worthwhile. Getting out there in matches like this is what we live for. And with the way our group is poised, this is a crucial night at the SFS.
Fortunately, the coaching staff knows what we've come up against and have been working around the clock to keep us in top shape. They've organised a string of friendly matches, which, believe me, haven't been as placid as their name suggests, have been either intraclub affairs or against local teams, such as last Wednesday's hit-out against Rockdale City.
Mentally, this has been a challenging period. It's different from what we're all used to, a match every week, but the program, plus the things I've done away from football have kept me fresh and hungry. As a team, there are no excuses, but we aren't looking for any.
Equally challenging will be seeing Terry McFlynn in the stands after his red card but everyone else is on deck. The break means nobody is carrying any of the usual knocks or niggles and that's a big boost.
Also giving us belief is what happened against Suwon in our first match.You might think it was just a 0-0 draw, but there's more to it. We were brought back to 10 men after half-an-hour but dug deep, and as the match went on, there was a feeling we could have won the game. It wasn't to be, but we were only a dash of luck away from pinching it.
That result has done a lot for the team after a difficult year in the A-League. Inch by inch, we're lifting as a team and I think we can go far in this campaign. I felt this way when I was at Adelaide United and we went all the way to the final.
The key to succeeding in the ACL is avoiding defeat in your home games and, with the positive result in our first game, and hopefully a win tonight, we'll be in the box seat.
Our opponents, Shanghai Shenhua, are a formidable outfit but one we think we can get the better of. We know their strengths and have identified what we will target, for such a long lay-off between games has allowed us to asses their positives and negatives. I think we've worked out the best way to beat them.
The ''big game" cliches get used a lot but it's the only way to describe the 90 minutes coming our way. Win tonight and we take an enormous step towards qualification, and with three straight away games to finish the group stage, now is the time to deliver.
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