All-conquering Brisbane Roar are destroying everything in their path at the moment – but it’s a stretch to suggest they’d be competitive in Europe, according to Gold Coast United striker Maceo Rigters.
All-conquering Brisbane Roar are destroying everything in their path at the moment – but it’s a stretch to suggest they’d be competitive in Europe, according to Gold Coast United striker Maceo Rigters.
The Roar, regarded by some as one of the best Australian domestic sides ever seen, have been lauded by critics and fans alike over their style of play which saw them capture the Hyundai A-League double in remarkable fashion last season.
But some of the highest praise came last week from FFA Technical Director Han Berger, who said that if Brisbane could maintain their current form they would be more than able to hold their own in the Dutch top flight.
“The way they play, they really impress me … they are certainly better than the bottom six in the Eredivisie,” he told Fox Sports.
That headline-grabbing assessment from Berger has been questioned by fellow Dutchman Rigters who has been all but cleared to make his debut for Gold Coast in Friday’s M1 Derby at Suncorp Stadium after being held up by visa issues for the past fortnight.
Once heralded as one of most promising players to come out of The Netherlands in recent years, Rigters said it was pointless to discuss such hypotheticals no matter how well the Roar are playing.
“I heard about that but I don’t know. If I played good against a small team you might be able to say that I’m Lionel Messi,” he laughed.
“Only if you’re there can you know the truth. They talk like that in England too, that the Glasgow teams (Rangers and Celtic) would do good in the English competition.”
“But you never know how it is, it’s completely different.”
The 27-year-old did, however, conceded that Brisbane’s philosophy shares some key tenets with the football preached in his homeland.
“They do play the Dutch way, though. I’ve seen them play and they play very good football,” he said.
“They’re very relaxed and they like to pass the ball around. They’re very controlled, they move around good and know each other very well.”
“But we have a good team as well. They haven’t lost in 30 games and we’re here to break the record. I think we can beat them, to be honest.”
Rigters said he was relieved to be able to play in Friday’s grudge match having spent two frustrating weeks on the sidelines waiting for his visa documents to arrive from the UK after a mix-up when he signed with Gold Coast.
“I was waiting on it, everyone was asking me about it and telling me ‘do this, do that’ and I just had no power to do anything,” he said.
“I’m happy it’s all sorted now, they have arrived and we’re just waiting for the 100 percent confirmation but everybody knows it won’t be long.”
