Kosmina building resilient Reds for ACL success

Reds coach John Kosmina knows full well his team’s chances of success in the Hyundai A-League are dead and buried this season. But that doesn’t mean the competition can’t serve a purpose.

On Sunday afternoon the Reds played out a 1-1 draw against Championship contenders Brisbane Roar on a rugged and well-worn Suncorp Stadium pitch.

After the game, the Adelaide coach had nothing but praise for his players who had little downtime following a whirlwind trip to Uzbekistan in the AFC Asian Champions League, where they emerged 2-1 victors.


“I think we finished Tuesday night, got on a plane, got off the plane, came back up here and continued where we left off,” Kosmina said post-match.

“Today capped off a fantastic week and the players need to be congratulated.”

In a shabby afternoon of football from the home team, Adelaide got off to a flying start with a first half goal through Iain Ramsay off a brilliant cross from Bruce Djite. The powerful forward proved to be a handful for Roar defenders throughout the game, particularly on the counter.

As the only Australian team to have won in their opening ACL match, Kosmina was hopeful the club could make up for it’s failures in the domestic competition with an all-out assault against the best in Asia.

“We came here [tonight] to practice what we want to do in the Champions League and the shape worked quite well,” he said.

“It’s just about building confidence, it’s about building discipline, it’s about building mental strength and resilience.

“We want to be successful in the A-League still. There’s not much of it left but it’s still about what we’ve got to do against Gamba Osaka in ten days time, so this all helps.

“This all goes towards it.”

The story of the night for Brisbane was their out-of-sorts performance which was riddled with errors, as well as an inability to score when gifted the best chances of the evening.

Roar coach Ange Postecoglou fell short of admitting star German playmaker Thomas Broich had a bad day at the office.

“I wouldn’t say he had an off night. In front of goal he had a couple of opportunities but he still created some great openings for us and he still got into those areas,” he said.

“On another night he would have had a couple of goals.”

Injuries to Luke Brattan and Rocky Visconte are further concern for the Roar whose squad strength will be tested as the Hyundai A-League finals approach and their ACL campaign begins.

With Central Coast Mariners losing to Perth Glory overnight, a win against Adelaide would have put Brisbane in prime position for a run at the Premiership, atop the Hyundai A-League ladder on goal difference.

Instead the draw keeps the race well and truly alive with just five points between first and fifth place with two and a bit rounds of football left in the regular season.