Australians don't understand how big this is: Culina
By Cameron Tomarchio
SYDNEY, May 21 AAP - Sydney FC coach Branko Culina believes most Australians do not appreciate the magnitude of what his men are on the verge of achieving in Asia.
If the Blues beat Japanese glamour club Urawa Reds in front of an expected 60,000-plus crowd at Saitama Stadium on Wednesday night they move into the final eight of the Asian Champions League.
It is arguably the biggest game an Australian club has ever contested and, should Sydney go through, Culina says it will be ``the greatest achievement in Australian football history, aside from World Cups''.
``It's been undervalued and it's probably because we've not been exposed to this kind of thing before,'' Culina said.
``It's a bit like the World Cup. I don't think the Australian media had any idea what the World Cup was all about until Australia got there and, even then, the real interest still wasn't generated until we beat Japan.
``Then you saw the Channel Nines and the Channel Sevens and everyone else send additional crews ... but until we got there it was just `yeah, yeah, Australia's competing, so what?'.
``We're locked into rugby league and the AFL over here. We think we're the best in the world, but not even 20 million people follow AFL or rugby league.
``I'm a big fan of rugby league and AFL, don't get me wrong, but football - our football - is played in places like China with a population of 1.3 billion people, Indonesia with 245 million people and Japan with 130 million or something.
``And the main sport - probably the only sport - in most of those places is football. It is absolutely huge.''
Culina said those who chose not to embrace the growing nature of football Down Under were unAustralian and insecure in their code.
``All Australians are sports minded people and if you're not going to accept football you're unAustralian,'' Culina said.
``These people within other codes - not all of them but a few - they're very insecure because they know that it is only football that is global.
``Let's face it, when Australia played at the World Cup and got all that publicity, what football was doing was promoting our country. It was a greater promotion than any tourism company or politician ever could have hoped to achieve.''
By Cameron Tomarchio
SYDNEY, May 21 AAP - Sydney FC coach Branko Culina believes most Australians do not appreciate the magnitude of what his men are on the verge of achieving in Asia.
If the Blues beat Japanese glamour club Urawa Reds in front of an expected 60,000-plus crowd at Saitama Stadium on Wednesday night they move into the final eight of the Asian Champions League.
It is arguably the biggest game an Australian club has ever contested and, should Sydney go through, Culina says it will be ``the greatest achievement in Australian football history, aside from World Cups''.
``It's been undervalued and it's probably because we've not been exposed to this kind of thing before,'' Culina said.
``It's a bit like the World Cup. I don't think the Australian media had any idea what the World Cup was all about until Australia got there and, even then, the real interest still wasn't generated until we beat Japan.
``Then you saw the Channel Nines and the Channel Sevens and everyone else send additional crews ... but until we got there it was just `yeah, yeah, Australia's competing, so what?'.
``We're locked into rugby league and the AFL over here. We think we're the best in the world, but not even 20 million people follow AFL or rugby league.
``I'm a big fan of rugby league and AFL, don't get me wrong, but football - our football - is played in places like China with a population of 1.3 billion people, Indonesia with 245 million people and Japan with 130 million or something.
``And the main sport - probably the only sport - in most of those places is football. It is absolutely huge.''
Culina said those who chose not to embrace the growing nature of football Down Under were unAustralian and insecure in their code.
``All Australians are sports minded people and if you're not going to accept football you're unAustralian,'' Culina said.
``These people within other codes - not all of them but a few - they're very insecure because they know that it is only football that is global.
``Let's face it, when Australia played at the World Cup and got all that publicity, what football was doing was promoting our country. It was a greater promotion than any tourism company or politician ever could have hoped to achieve.''
![C4[2]Yo`DooR](https://www.bigfootycontent.com/avatars/m/21/21849.jpg?1724656646){kind=avatar}
