Ognenovski spurred on by ACL success
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E-mail China.org.cn, October 22, 2013
FC Seoul and Guangzhou Evergrande will go head-to-head in the first leg of the AFC Champions League final on Saturday at Seoul World Cup stadium, and for one former winner of the continental club championship, the match-up will bring back memories of a success that sparked a major upturn in his football fortunes.
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Sasa Ognenovski led Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma to the AFC Champions League title in 2010. |
Sasa Ognenovski had been continually ignored by the Socceroos coaching hierarchy until he led Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma to the AFC Champions League title in 2010, a success that kick-started a remarkable uptick in a career that has seen the Melbourne-born defender amass a host of accolades over the last three years.
After captaining Seongnam to a 3-1 win over Iran's Zob Ahan in the final in Tokyo – a game in which the defender opened the scoring – Ognenovski was named the AFC Player of the Year, and by the turn of 2011 he was featuring at the heart of the Australian defence at the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar.
"When you have good team success like that and you are part of it, obviously people can't ignore you anymore," says the 34-year-old of his stellar 2010 campaign.
"In the past you might have been playing the same level of football and doing everything right but unless you win something, even in domestic competition, you don't get noticed.
"Fortunately for me we had a decent team and we went right through to the final, and won the final and the individual accolades came after those performances for me."
Ognenovski was no stranger to the sharp end of the continental club championship having reached the 2008 AFC Champions League final with Adelaide United only for the A-League side to suffer a 5-0 aggregate defeat by Japan's Gamba Osaka.
But after Seongnam overcame Beijing Guoan, Kawasaki Frontale and Melbourne Victory in the group stages, the Korean side brushed aside 2008 champions Gamba Osaka in the Round of 16.
Fellow Koreans Suwon Bluewings were bypassed in the quarter-finals before a narrow away-goals win over Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia took Seongnam into the final of the continental club championship for the first time since 1997.
And with Cho Byung-kuk and Kim Cheol-ho adding to Ognenovski 29th minute opener at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Seongnam ran out comfortable winners to keep the coveted trophy in Korean hands after Pohang Steelers' 2009 success.
"I think we just had a feeling in the team that we were invincible," he says of Seongnam's successful campaign.
"I don't think I've ever played in a team like that, where every time we went on the park we knew we had a decent chance to win against any opposition. We knew, for that final that we played against Zob Ahan, within ourselves that it was ours to lose.
"That's the sort of a feeling you rarely get in a team. I suppose the top teams in the world, like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea or Man United have that same feeling and we had that. We had that feeling as well, even in the domestic competition.
"Three quarters of the way through the league we were first but we ran out of steam in the league, but we still achieved a lot. There was a feeling of invincibility."
Success for Seongnam in the AFC Champions League certainly gave Ognenovski the platform he needed and the defender has more than made the most of the opportunity after missing just two of Australia's outings in the final round of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
"I've crammed in a lot in the last five or six years of my football career," says the defender, who is currently playing in Qatar with Umm Salal. "I had that recognition and then I came in and did the job as well.
"I think it's one thing winning the prizes and having individual success and having team success, but then playing at national team level is a little bit different as well. The football's a little bit different and there's different pressure.
"In the end, I had the opportunity and I think I've done enough in those games and I showed that I could play at that level."
Ognenovski steered Seongnam to the title as they became the second Korean club in a row to win the AFC Champions League after Pohang Steelers' success in 2009. Since then, sides from the K-League have continued to dominate, with FC Seoul becoming the fifth Korean club in a row to reach the final.
Choi Yong-soo's team are hoping to become the fourth Korean winner of the competition since 2009 with Ulsan Hyundai claiming the title last year while Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors – who won the title in 2006 – lost in the final of the 2011 tournament in a penalty shoot-out to Al Sadd from Qatar.
Guangzhou, meanwhile, are seeking to become the first Chinese club to secure the title since the dawning of the AFC Champions League era in 2002 and the first Chinese champions in any Asian competition since Liaoning FC won the Asian Club Championship title in 1990.
The first leg of the final will be played in Seoul on Saturday, while Guangzhou will host the second leg at Tianhe Stadium on November 9.
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