Central Coast Mariners captain Trent Sainsbury said the “gap” has closed in Asia as he praised the growing quality of football in the region ahead of the club’s AFC Champions League Elite showdown with Malaysian giants Johor Darul Ta’zim.
The Mariners will host Johor in their penultimate ACL Elite fixture in Gosford on Tuesday night, with the two-time reigning Isuzu UTE A-League champions bottom of Group A and already out of the running to qualify for the knockout round as they still search for their first win.
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As for Johor – the most successful club in Malaysia with 10 league titles – they are sixth in the standings and on track to progress from Group A.
Sainsbury is no stranger to football in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), having also played for Chinese outfit Jiangsu and Al Wakrah in Qatar, and he hailed the investment of clubs who have closed the gap on the “bigger nations”.
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“The gaps closed,” the 33-year-old Australia international told reporters with Mark Jackson’s Central Coast looking to add to their one point from six matches having fallen narrowly short against Buriram United, Kevin Muscat’s CSL titleholders Shanghai Port and J1 League champions Vissel Kobe after holding Chinese giants Shanghai Shenhua to a draw.
“I think back in the day, you could kind of pick and choose. You knew who was going to beat which team.
“Now countries are investing a lot more money into it. They’re getting smarter with their investing, picking areas where they can gain that one and two per cent and start to close the gap on the bigger nations.
“And I really like the style that the league format that they’ve introduced with the Champions League now, I think it’s really good for the competitiveness and different countries competing against each other.
“So it’s always more entertaining, I think this way, and it’s going to be a lot more difficult in the coming years to really predict who’s going to come out on top.”
Match Details
Central Coast Mariners v Johor Darul Ta’zim
Matchday 6 – AFC Champions League Elite
Tuesday, February 11 2025
Industree Group Stadium
Kick-off: 7:00pm AEDT
