Lucas Pantelis laughingly calls himself part of the “forgotten species” – the team that won a Premiership but in some ways have been relegated to a footnote in history.
Any focus on the first campaign of the A-League Men tends to dwell on Dwight Yorke and the bling of champions Sydney FC, when it was Adelaide United who cruised to the top of the table and finished seven points clear at the end of the regular season.
A squad bristling with European and NSL experience and know-how hit the ground running, helped by the fact that they had effectively been in pre-season since the end of the NSL. Thirteen wins from 21 games confirmed their superiority, coupled with the league’s best goal difference. But a couple of stumbles in the finals left them spectators as Sydney stole the glory inherent in the inaugural A-League campaign by winning the Grand Final.
The year after Adelaide finished second on the ladder and qualified for a Grand Final they would rather forget, going down 6-0 to Melbourne Victory. Now, as the current iteration of United stars aim to shoot down defending champions Melbourne City in a two-legged Semi-Final this week, Pantelis recalls how pre-primed for on field success the original model was, under the coaching of John Kosmina.
“It was a bit hard for us, knowing that 95% or more of the world has the first past the post system, but we lost a semi-final and we’ve almost been slightly forgotten,” Pantelis, speaking to KEEPUP, says now.
“Watching the Grand Final was a bit frustrating because we knew we’d done the hard work in winning the Premiership, but to our credit we came back the next year and finished second in the league and actually got to the grand final – even if it did turn into a drubbing.
“But we were ready for the first season because we were one of only two clubs from the NSL guaranteed to join the A-League, so from about November 2004 we were training several times a week. It wasn’t rushed, and we were having a great time building a culture.
“We also had a strong local core, players from Adelaide City and South Australian guys from other clubs like myself coming back to join United. The culture was all about the work ethic and never giving up, so I wasn’t surprised we were successful.”
As Pantelis notes, many of that team have made their mark in coaching since retiring from their playing days, whether at senior levels overseas or developing young talent in SA.
Michael Valkanis worked with the Greece national team and is now coaching at KAS Eupen in Belgium, Ross Aloisi is assisting Kevin Muscat at Yokahama F.Marinos in Japan, while Ange Kostanzo and Richie Alagich are working with youth teams in SA.
Carl Veart, meanwhile, is bidding to land United’s second league title as head coach, deploying many of the young players he helped to bring through previously through his work at the South Australian national training centre.
“One thing that stood out with Carl was his absolute never-say-die attitude when he played, and you can see how that has permeated the team he coaches now,” Pantelis said.
“You keep going, no matter what. I’ve noticed that with the team this year, the number of times they come from behind or scored goals late on.
“It’s a similar culture to what we had, but Carl has helped to instil it in those young boys.”
Adelaide United v Melbourne City
Wednesday, May 18 2022
Coopers Stadium
Kick-off: 7.05pm AEST
Broadcast: 10 Bold, Paramount+
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