Adelaide United coach Aurelio Vidmar says the 2008 Asian Champions League remains a positive experience for the club despite the team’s disappointing result in the two finals legs.
The Reds went down to Gamba Osaka 3-0 in Japan last week before losing to the same opponent by two goals at Hindmarsh Stadium on Wednesday.
Vidmar said his team showed plenty of character in a tough situation.
“Full credit to our players as well. In that second half, down and out and they still played with a lot of pride and a lot passion and I think that’s extremely important,” Vidmar said.
“A little bit disappointed we couldn’t score a goal for the fans, we peppered it quite a bit in that second half with a lot of action in front of the goal, but just unfortunately couldn’t get that goal.”
Vidmar is also hopeful United can learn from the losses and become a better football side.
“Obviously Gamba took the game to a different level, a level that we are not used to over the two legs,” he said.
“That’s something that we can strive for, better technically, better physically all those sorts of things that can take it to the next level.”
Vidmar said the other positive was the publicity the ACL had generated for the club and football in Australia.
“We’ve certainly lifted the profile of the game, not just in Australia but right through Asia, let’s hope it doesn’t stop there,” he said.
“We’ve got thank the owners for putting their ‘howdy doodies’ on the line, they really did. They put in a lot of money, a lot of heart, a lot of time to give us this opportunity.”
“If we didn’t get that feedback and support from our owners and the rest of the club we wouldn’t have got here and I’d rather have got here than not at all.”
Meanwhile, captain Travis Dodd was bitterly disappointed with the result and said Gamba Osaka was far too good for the Reds.
“It seemed like they had 15 players out there, they found space, their movement off the ball was unbelievable and I think they are easily the best team we’ve played against in this competition and credit to them, they played fantastic over two legs,” he said.
But he was optimistic the experience could make Adelaide United and the Hyundai A-League better in the future.
“The league is only four years old so there’s room for improvement and there’s no doubt over the coming years we’ll slowly bridge the gap,” he said.
