You reap what you sow...even at high altitude.
March 26th 2008 23:35
Gamesmenship has existed since that wooden horse rolled into Troy but last night's World Cup Qualifier between Australia and China showed it doesnt work if it hurts the team its meant to help.
For those who arent familiar with this situation China hosted a vital qualifier against an Australian team which is ranked significantly higher and has almost all of its first team playing in Europe. So China (more likely their FA than the players) decided to play the game at around 1900 feet above sea level in the football hotbed (not!) of Kunming and not in one of its bigger cities like Beijing. The theory behind this move was that China could get its entire squad together and train in the conditions for weeks before the game while Australia would have only three days to prepare after flying in from Europe and then be exhausted by halftime allowing China to win in the second half.
In my opinion there is nothing wrong with deciding to take advantage of your own conditions but when you make such a drastic move you have to make sure its not going to hurt your own team. The Chinese players and their coach never came to grips with their own conditions as they over hit passes and didnt have the fitness to press the Australian team to create chances in the second half. Instead they began cramping up and let Australia control the ball and create scoring chances even though they didnt field a recognised striker. The Chinese would have had a better chance against an Australian team, missing a number of recognised stars, if they had of played in front of 120,000 fans in the Beijing Olympic stadium as the adrenalin of the crowd would have pushed it team to a memorable win. Instead their gamesmenship brought the make-shift Australian line-up closer together and gave them fuel to run out the 90 minutes while only making one substitution. The 0-0 draw was a lucky result for the Chinese and one they didnt deserve.
Its worth noting Australia had a try at a very similar tactic in the 2001 Davis Cup final in Australia. The Aussies thought it would be smart to lay a grass court at Rod Laver Arena which was meant to trouble the visiting French team who favoured Clay Courts. But as the tie went on the grass wore down so much that it troubled the Aussie players more than their opponents and the French won in the last match.
But that lesson was lost on the Chinese team and could end up costing them a spot at in South Africa 2010.
For those who arent familiar with this situation China hosted a vital qualifier against an Australian team which is ranked significantly higher and has almost all of its first team playing in Europe. So China (more likely their FA than the players) decided to play the game at around 1900 feet above sea level in the football hotbed (not!) of Kunming and not in one of its bigger cities like Beijing. The theory behind this move was that China could get its entire squad together and train in the conditions for weeks before the game while Australia would have only three days to prepare after flying in from Europe and then be exhausted by halftime allowing China to win in the second half.
In my opinion there is nothing wrong with deciding to take advantage of your own conditions but when you make such a drastic move you have to make sure its not going to hurt your own team. The Chinese players and their coach never came to grips with their own conditions as they over hit passes and didnt have the fitness to press the Australian team to create chances in the second half. Instead they began cramping up and let Australia control the ball and create scoring chances even though they didnt field a recognised striker. The Chinese would have had a better chance against an Australian team, missing a number of recognised stars, if they had of played in front of 120,000 fans in the Beijing Olympic stadium as the adrenalin of the crowd would have pushed it team to a memorable win. Instead their gamesmenship brought the make-shift Australian line-up closer together and gave them fuel to run out the 90 minutes while only making one substitution. The 0-0 draw was a lucky result for the Chinese and one they didnt deserve.
Its worth noting Australia had a try at a very similar tactic in the 2001 Davis Cup final in Australia. The Aussies thought it would be smart to lay a grass court at Rod Laver Arena which was meant to trouble the visiting French team who favoured Clay Courts. But as the tie went on the grass wore down so much that it troubled the Aussie players more than their opponents and the French won in the last match.
But that lesson was lost on the Chinese team and could end up costing them a spot at in South Africa 2010.
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