Seongnam’s Ognenovski: Mariners best-suited A-League team to ACL
Seongnam Ilhwa’s Sasa Ognenovski feels the Central Coast Mariners are the best-suited Australian team to the Asian Champions League.
The Australian defender, who captained the Korean outfit to the 2010 ACL trophy, believes record-breaking Brisbane Roar could be suspect in Asia’s premier club competition whilst the 2010/11 runners-up have a better grounding to succeed.
“Even Ernie Merrick [former Melbourne Victory coach] tried to play the same football he was playing in the A-League in Asia; Melbourne Victory never did really well.
“Tactically from what I’ve seen of the three [Aussie] teams (Adelaide United included) who’ve qualified, the way Central Coast plays is probably the best tactically for Asian football.
“They’ve got a really good structure defensively and they’ve got a couple of boys with a bit of speed and trickery up their sleeve.
“I think Central Coast are tactically the best team for Asia.”“I think they’ll have to change a bit tactically,” Ognenovski said of Brisbane.
The 2012 Asian Champions League group stage kicks off on March 6 next year with Ognenovski’s Seongnam drawn with Tianjin Teda, Nagoya Grampus and the Mariners in Group G.
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Matches
| Home | Away | Score | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun Apr 22nd | |||
| Brisbane Roar | Perth Glory | 2 - 1 | 06:00 |
Tables
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Coast Mariners | 27 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 51 |
| Brisbane Roar | 27 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 22 | 49 |
| Perth Glory | 27 | 13 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 43 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 27 | 12 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 40 |
| Sydney | 27 | 10 | 8 | 9 | -5 | 38 |
| Melbourne Heart | 27 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 37 |
| Newcastle Jets | 27 | 10 | 5 | 12 | -3 | 35 |
| Melbourne Victory | 27 | 6 | 11 | 10 | -8 | 29 |
| Adelaide United | 27 | 5 | 10 | 12 | -18 | 25 |
| Gold Coast United | 27 | 4 | 9 | 14 | -12 | 21 |
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