What a season it has been for A-League club Adelaide United. They began 2008 at the back end of a disappointing A-League season in which they finished out of the top four for the first time.
They then had to prepare for their second foray into the Asian Champions League. Adelaide entered with high hopes but low expectations.
Their first match was an away fixture against highly rated Korean outfit, the Pohang Steelers. Adelaide won the match 2-0 and showed a good glimpse of how they would approach almost every game of their Asian journey.
They battled hard defensively and after scoring very early worked hard to limit the opportunities of Pohang. Despite going down to 10 men at half time after a second Yellow card to midfielder Jonas Salley, the Reds stuck to their tasks and Bruce Djite helped matters by scoring a second on the hour mark.
They arrived home to take on the favourites for the group, Chinese side Changchun Yatai FC. Again the Reds played a counter attacking game based around solid defence which kept the game to a hard fought 0-0 draw.
Two games against group minnows Binh Duong came next resulting in a 2-1 away win and a 4-1 home win for Adelaide.
Pohang came to Adelaide next for the return match and once again an inspired defensive effort coupled with a great goal from midfielder Diego resulted in a 1-0 win and put Adelaide on the edge of a berth in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
All they needed from the last game away to Changchun Yatai was a draw. And that's what they went there to get. They frustrated not only Changchun the team but their fans to the point that they were throwing items onto the running track around the pitch near the end of the game.
It finished 0-0 and Adelaide United had become the first Australian A-League team to make the knockout stages of the AFC Champions League in only their second attempt.
During the break between stages there was a lot of change at the club. Evergreen right back Richie Alagich retired and young stars Nathan Burns and Bruce Djite moved on to greener pastures in Europe among others.
There were also additions to the squad including returning Australians from England, midfielder Paul Reid and young left back Scott Jamieson. These two in particular would prove to be inspired recruits.
For the first time though, The Reds would have to deal with midweek games during the regular season of the A-League. It would be a test of the fitness of the Australians if they could stand up to the rigours of four games in 14 days.
Their first leg quarter-final matchup was away to the Kashima Antlers of Japan on the 17th of September. The game was going almost perfectly to script after Captain Travis Dodd put Adelaide ahead in the 36th minute but it went pear shaped just on half time when defender Robert Cornthwaite unwittingly redirected a cross into his own net.
Fortunately it didn't inspire the Kashima team to go on with it and the game ended 1-1, a good result if ever there was one.
One week later back at a packed Hindmarsh Stadium, knowing that their away goal was good enough to see them through and also expecting the Antlers to come at them with everything, the Reds played the defensive side of the game almost to perfection.
And then midway through the second half redemption came in a way that only sports can provide.
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