A proud night for Australian football

Talk about redemption! If ever a man was in need of it, it was Adelaide United defender Robert Cornthwaite. His own goal in the first leg of United's AFC Champions League quarter-final clash with J. League champions Kashima Antlers was just about the best in the business. But it could have been a fatal blow for his side's chances of progressing to the final four of Asia's premier continental showdown.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man as they say, and who else but Cornthwaite should pop up to head home the winner in Adelaide's epic second leg victory over a ragged Kashima Antlers? It's a wonderful story that made for gripping drama, and Adelaide now march on to face Uzbek side Bunyodkor in what will be another money-spinning tie for the South Australian club, after seeing off Kashima 2-1 over the two legs.

For now Adelaide are basking in the glory of a superb Champions League win, and over the 180 minutes of football no one would dare suggest that they didn't deserve it. Any allusions that Kashima dominated possession or Shinzo Koroki missed a hatful of chances is a moot point; the business of football is putting the ball in the back of the net, and one might point out with a hint of irony that Adelaide managed to do that three times.

They can also thank a superb performance in both legs from goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic. It's a testament to the quality of Australian keepers that he could not dislodge Michael Theoklitos from the Melbourne Victory starting eleven, but in the kind of form he's in, surely no one would be surprised if Galekovic replaced Ante Covic in Pim Verbeek's Socceroos squad.

The big shot-stopper was outstanding again at Hindmarsh Stadium, pulling off a pivotal one-handed save to keep Koroki out after just eleven minutes. That save seemed to calm United nerves, and roared on by a capacity crowd of 16,965 United grew in stature, with veteran striker Paul Agostino proving a menace up front in the first half.

For their part Kashima clearly missed talismanic midfielder and captain Mitsuo Ogasawara - out for the rest of the season after picking up cruciate knee ligament damage in an incident-packed clash with Kashiwa Reysol last Saturday. Yet Kashima's bullish mood before the match now seems hopelessly optimistic. A glance through the team-sheet suggests that the Antlers shouldn't have missed Ogasawara as much as they did, but once again his Japanese team-mates appeared to be struck by a case of stage-fright, with Masashi Motoyama - making his return from injury - turning in a forgettable display.

Australian media headlines that Kashima would field a "$4 million Samba Soccer Trio" at Hindmarsh Stadium no doubt prompted howls of laughter in Japan. Danilo seems closer to the exit door than the starting eleven at Kashima, and last season the former Sao Paulo man was unable to dislodge Takuya Nozawa from the run-on team. He's been given more opportunities by coach Oswaldo de Oliveira in 2008, but the fact is that he never was and never will be a key player for the Antlers.

Another of Kashima's Brazilians in the form of Marcinho spent the grand total of zero minutes on the pitch against Adelaide, with only Marquinhos - now in his eighth season in Japanese football - expected to contribute anything of note against the Reds. How that less than illustrious trio is supposed to comprise a "$4 million Samba Soccer Trio" is anyone's guess, but the lack of attention to detail shown by the Australian media is irksome.

Indeed the constant failure of Australians to acknowledge the strengths of their opponents is a worrying trend. This obsession with Brazilian players in Japan is grating. The key players for Urawa Reds, Gamba Osaka and Kashima Antlers are Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Yasuhito Endo and Mitsuo Ogasawara respectively - all Japanese. So too is the obsession with "money" in the J. League. The real money in Asian football is in the oil-rich Gulf States, and now, Uzbekistan. Whatever money J. League clubs possess, it's because they have earned it. A more salient point is that all three of the clubs mentioned have promoted countless numbers of professional footballers through their youth ranks.

None of that should take away from Adelaide's momentous achievement, however, and surely Kashima Antlers will likewise have learned some lessons. The half-heartedness with which the Ibaraki side seemed to approach the quarter-final fixture stood in glaring contrast to Adelaide United's eagerness. If Japanese clubs continue to approach the ACL with such reticence - hedging their bets by holding back key players for their domestic campaigns - it is their loss.

Adelaide United couldn't care less. It is they who will face off against Rivaldo's Bunyodkor in the semi-finals, it is they who can bank another sell-out crowd at Hindmarsh Stadium for the first leg of that tie, it is they who are marching onwards to continental glory, with the highly-fancied Kashima left to rue what might have been, and it is Aurelio Vidmar and his team who deserve all their plaudits after a gripping, and truly deserved quarter-final win over Kashima.