Travelling to the Gold Coast by train is a bit like watching cricket. ItâÂÂs slow, boring and slightly pointless.
I say this because I caught the train down from Brisbane to watch my former home-town team Sydney FC lose 2-1 to Gold Coast United in Round 5 action.
As an ex-Sydney FC season-ticket holder I sniffed an upset, but it never eventuated thanks to a calm and composed display from the A-LeagueâÂÂs new glamour club.
âÂÂWe simply didnâÂÂt get going very well,â claimed SydneyâÂÂs giant Swiss defender Stephan Keller on TV program The World Game the following day.
âÂÂAnd Gold Coast⦠some things they simply did better than us.âÂÂ
A simple explanation, but it aptly summed up the difference between the two sides.
The fact that Gold Coast could also call upon New Zealand international striker Shane Smeltz helped immensely.
He played because New ZealandâÂÂs scheduled friendly with Iraq was cancelled over security fears, and Smeltz made the most of his start â scoring twice â to make it eight league goals in just five games.
Gold CoastâÂÂs win was all the more impressive given that they were missing their other international star, Jason Culina, to national team duty.
While his club side were grinding out an impressive victory, Culina was chasing shadows in Seoul as Korea Republic thumped Australia 3-1 in a friendly.
Football Federation Australia are yet to accommodate international dates in the A-League fixture list â perhaps because the FFA originally thought A-League players would not be of the standard required to play international football.
Whatever the reason, it makes a mockery of Gold Coast signing Culina as a âÂÂmarquee playerâ only for United fans to be denied the chance to see him play in their top-of-the-table clash with Sydney.
The counterpoint is that Gold Coast barely have any fans to begin with.
The official attendance was first posted as 6,800 fans inside the 27,000-capacity Skilled Park, before that figure was later revised down to 6,406.
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