A New Power in Football?

Football in Asia, predominantly China and India is growing four fold. The introduction of the new Indian Super League has brought many ex-internationals to the country, including former Man City player Elano, Nicolas Anelka as a head coach, while Alessandro Del Piero featured during the 2014 Indian season and had a short spell with Sydney FC in Australia. This also not forgetting the ludicrous sums of money spent by the Chinese clubs this transfer window.

Football fans in Asia usually affiliate themselves with an English club or else either Barcelona or Real Madrid. With a population of over 4 billion people, it is easy to see why the Barclays Premier League is the most watched league in the world. It is broadcast to China through SuperSports while in India it is the most widely distributed sports programme. The Indian Super League has tried to attract more viewers to the local football in India.

In India, the average attendance for the the 2015 Super League season was 27,111 which, when compared to that of the Premier League appears measly, but is in fact 5,000 more than the average in Serie A. Despite being a cricketing nation, the Indians do get out to support their newly formed league. The attendances in China would be similar to that in Italy - approximately 22,000. It is perhaps limited due to the unstable political situation restricting teams in certain regions and alienating many potential supporters. It also has to be noted that the population of both India and China dwarfs that of any league in Europe and are one of the worst performing countries in terms of sporting success to population. In contrast, the top tier in Japan only draws an average attendance of approximately 7,000, although the country does have a considerably lower population than India and China with 127 million inhabitants.

Last month marks the 10th anniversary since Australian football moved into the Asian Confederation. The men's side won the Asian Cup last year and finished runner up in the edition previous to that in 2011. Similarly, the female's have encountered similar success, winning the competition twice and losing in the final on another occasion. On the club scene, they have enjoyed recent success in the Champions League with Western Sydney Wanderers winning the competition in 2014 and Adelaide United reaching the final in 2008. On the domestic scene, they've improved, but not so much on the national stage as we will find out later.

Looking at China in particular, they have developed a bit of a reputation for recruiting older players for their sides. More and more money is being spent by the Chinese clubs with Guangzhou Evergrande flushing £45m on Atletico Madrid flop Jackson Martinez. It's hard to believe that Martinez only joined the club last summer scoring just 2 league goals in 15 appearances, Atletico must be licking their lips. This transfer smashed the record for the highest amount Chinese side has ever spent on a player with the previous record being £25m - set a week before with the transfer of Ramires from Chelsea to Jiangsu Suning. Similarly, Hebei China Fortune FC, forked out £13.5m to acquire Gervinho from AS Roma in their bid to remain in the Chinese Super League after gaining promotion last year. And he wasn't even that good.

It has been confirmed today that Liverpool's transfer target, Alex Teixeira has been signed by a Jiangsu Suning who are willing to pay the €50m fee to release him from his contract. He's just another one of the contingent that have plied or the potential to ply their trade in the Premier League moving to East Asia. Looking at the Asian club Championship (Asian Champions League), South Korea have the most wins by nation with Pohang Steelers leading the pack with 3 titles. Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande have won two out of the last three competitions and with the signings made by the former and other Chinese sides, we could witness the nation dominate the competition in the near future. These transfer are firing Chinese football and football in Asia up the rankings and it would surprise me if it were to become the most watched league outside of Europe.

In recent history, the Asian sides don't tend to do too well in the World Cup. When Japan and South Korea hosted the event back in 2002, South Korea reached the semi finals under the stewardship of Guus Hiddink, the best an Asian side has done in the history of the tournament. On their way to the fourth place finish, South Korea beat Portugal in the group stages, Italy in the last 16 and Spain in the quarter finals. They didn't have the easy route. In the most recent competition, none of the four sides that qualified, made it out of the group stages.

For all their riches in the domestic game, China have really not made an impact on the international stage, reaching just the one World Cup in 2002 where they were knocked out in the group stages. Surely with the huge population the likes of India and China should be doing better on the international scene than they already are?  Obviously we need to take into consideration other sports that the nations play with cricket being the dominant force in India. In Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski's book entitled Soccernomics, they mention a chapter on Guus Hiddink's journey with both South Korea. Hiddink took over in 2001 and instilled the ECC philosophy of football, (European Economic Community) a fast, powerful, collectivist style of play. Safe to say it worked. Another impact into the disappointment on the world stage for India and China is that they can be considered developing countries. China are listed 91st and India are listed 135th on the human development index (HDI) as of 2013. If the children of a country are succumbing to illnesses, their growth will be stunted leaving not as developed as someone who was fed three times a day and lived comfortably.

With the likes of Australia and South Korea high in the HDI table, where does that leave them? When Prime Minister Paul Keating announced intentions of Australia joining the Asian confederation in 1994, many thought this would drastically improve the national team, and it has, but probably not to the extent that they thought. Guus Hiddink left Australia at the end of the 2006 World Cup after a very positive experience in the tournament but the players to supplement stars such as Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill weren't up to standard and Australia drifted back into mediocrity once again.

After the spirited performance of the Socceroos in 2006, Financial Times Sydney Reporter, Raphael Minder, described their slump as an 'Aussie inferiority complex' aided by the island's geographical isolation and colonial history. This is something that is plausible, particularly as psychology plays a big part in modern sport. Australia failed to pick up a point in the 2014 World Cup group, but that's rather unsurprising considering the copious amounts of talent within the ranks of the Dutch, Spanish and Chileans.

Domestic football in Asia seems to be going from strength to strength however the same cannot be said for the national sides. With the influx of new talent into the Indian and particularly the Chinese leagues, the foreign players may aid the home-grown players in their development as they learn more efficient skills from their experience in Europe. The only way is up for the domestic football in Asia.

Mesut Özil: A Fair Weather Player?

After a poor start to the season, I ponder the question, is Arsenal's Mesut Özil anything more than a fair weather player?

If we rewind back to the Summer Transfer Deadline Day of 2013 at 11pm, I'm sure most Gooners were ecstatic at the purchase of Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid. Ozil was considered a vital cog in a Madrid side steeped with world class talent. 13 months on, the adopted German has been hit and miss for the North London side and this can be narrowed down to 2 reasons.

To begin with, we can scrutinise Wenger's tactics as to whether he is playing the former Bremen man in his optimum position. Recently, he has been shunted out to the left in order to accommodate Aaron Ramsey, where he has largely been ineffective. I draw immediate comparisons with Shinji Kagawa at Manchester United, who has returned to Jurgen Klopp at Dortmund. 

It is quite evident that Ozil doesn't look comfortable on the wing, particularly as he often seems disinterested when deployed there. A prime example was in the Champions League home tie against Bayern Munich last season. Wojciech Szcezsny was sent off, and in order to bring on a new keeper, Santi Cazorla was sacrificed. In hindsight, it looked like Ozil would have been the correct choice to replace as his inability to track back made Keiran Gibbs and Nacho Monreal's day a nightmare. However, what also should be noted, is that he played on the left in his early days with Werder Bremen.

On the other hand, he is getting paid £100k so Arsenal will expect him to play in the position Wenger wants him to. If Wenger feels that there are better players at present that play in his position then he will definitely pick them. It is up to Ozil to perform in training and when he gets the chance on the pitch, and so far he has not done that. During the Bayern game last season, Mesut Ozil's attitude was abysmal. He looked lethargic and that he only wanted to be back in the changing rooms. Ironic for someone who says his Germab heritage gives him his 'hardworking trait'. Surely this repugnant attitude is unsatisfactory for a club with the stature of Arsenal?

I've cherry-picked all the bad examples of when Özil has been nothing more than a liability for his team so it would be highly subjective if I were to gloss over the games in which he delivered performances that we expect of a player of his calibre. On Saturday past, Özil presented us with a first rate performance in Arsenal's 3-0 demolition of Aston Villa. A 92% pass completion rate meant that he dominated proceedings at the Emirates Stadium. This also included 2 key passes, one of which resulted in a goal. Not only did he assist Danny Welbeck with his goal but he also buried his own chance to cap a commanding afternoon from the German.

Prior to his multi-million pound move to North London, Mesut Özil was a sensation in Madrid. While Cristiano Ronaldo often stole the headlines, it is hard for anyone to disprove the theory that he was a vital cog in Jose Mourinho's team. The World Cup winner excelled in the Spanish Capital regularly playing behind Gonzalo Higuain or Karim Benzema and was arguably one of their top performers when they sold him for £42.5m. He assisted a massive 67 times in 137 appearances, that's not a bad return.

Whether you believe Mesut Özil is a big game player or not, he was simply sublime in Germany's young and vibrant World Cup team of 2010. During the competition he helped the Germans to a 3rd place finish with 1 goal and countless assists. In addition to this he was also nominated for the Golden Ball Award. Özil aided the Germans in their World Cup triumph in July by putting in stellar performances which included a decisive goal against Algeria in the round of sixteen.

It is quite evident that some Gooners find Özil a tad frustrating at times, and who can blame them? But we all know what the German international can do, and it's only a matter of time until he dazzles on the top club stage.