Melbourne Victory's 3-0 loss to South Korea's Ulsan in the Asian Champions League overnight was the latest in a long list of Australian failures in the peak continental competition, a sequence that is becoming an embarrassment for the A-League.
Jake Brimmer, right, and Marco Rojas, left, console each other after Melbourne Victory’s loss in Qatar. Credit: Simon Holmes
Not since Western Sydney Wanderers pulled off their stunning triumph in the 2014 ACL has an Australian club even gone remotely close.
Victory went to Doha, Qatar to complete this year's rearranged tournament with a ragtag squad made up of kids, British journeymen and A-League squad players hastily thrown together by rookie coach Grant Brebner.
In making it to the knock out stages they surpassed the lowly expectations that were held of them.
To get to the round of 16 they were runner-up in a group dominated by Beijing Guoan, whose squad value, as estimated by the German website Transfermarkt, was over 42 million euros ($68,646,270). Victory's, in contrast, was put at just over six million ($9,805,210) - one seventh of the worth of the Chinese Super League club. Ulsan Hyundaido not spend as heavily as Beijing but their squad was nonetheless estimated to be worth over 18 million euros ($29,413,890), three times the value of Victory's.
A-League champions Sydney won one of their six games and drew two but failed to make it into the knockout phase.
Perth Glory finished bottom of their group (won by Ulsan) with just one point from a solitary draw and five defeats in their six games.
Even so, Victory's and Sydney's performances represented a relative improvement on more recent Australian ACL efforts.
Money is an issue, of course. The A-League clubs operate under a strict salary cap, which is a fraction of the budgets of some of their big East Asian and Middle Eastern rivals. Australian clubs cannot afford to buy and pay big name strikers as marquee men like their well-heeled opponents can.
Travel and logistics also play a part. Australia is a long way from anywhere, so jetlag and fatigue have an impact - although it does tend to work in reverse for Australian sides when they play Asian rivals at home.
Victory’s Brandon Lauton, right, chases after Lee Chung-yong, left, of Ulsan Hyundai. Credit: Simon Holmes
But it's not all about cash and the tyranny of distance, according to two men who have both gone deep into the ACL in the past.
Ante Covic was the Wanderers hero when they won the title, the goalkeeper scooping the man of the match award, as Tony Popovic's side survived a battering at the hands of Saudi team Al Hilal in the second leg of the final in Riyadh to force a scoreless draw. They won the two-legged final 1-0 on aggregate thanks to Tomi Juric's solitary goal in the first leg in Sydney.
“It might not have been pretty football, but every professional wants to win and that’s what it took for us to do it.”
Ante Covic
Covic believes that Wanderers won by harnessing phenomenal discipline, defensive structure and organisation, tactical awareness and huge self belief - a combination that no other Australian club has been able to replicate since.
"It is a really tough competition where opponents are at a much higher level and your mistakes are punished more than they are in the A-League," Covic said.
"Their imports are high quality and it is only getting harder now. Clubs from what we would have called smaller nations, or developing leagues have money and can sign good players and make life hard for our teams.
"Discipline is essential. I remember that campaign, in our first game [against Ulsan Hyundai] we scored after about 30 seconds. But during the next 90 minutes we made three mistakes and they punished us every time to win 3-1.
"After that Poppa sat us down and hammered home to us that we can't play loose, we had to be tight, structured, not give anything away and be disciplined enough to stop opponents playing and good enough to take whatever chances came our way.
"It might not have been pretty football, but every professional wants to win and that's what it took for us to do it."
John Kosmina coached Adelaide to the quarter finals of the ACL in 2012 where they lost 5-4 after extra time on aggregate to Uzbek champions Bunyodkor.
The lessons he learned then are just as relevant now: Australian clubs need to defend well and be physically and mentally strong if they are to progress.
"The budgets are an issue but it's not just that. The Asian teams are very good in the forward third," Kosmina said.
Storm Roux crosses the ball. Credit: Simon Holmes
"They have clever, smart players, either foreigners or locally developed, who have a creative spark and can improvise and adapt and punish you for mistakes.
"Their leagues are more competitive. Too many of the Australian players don't have those skills or qualities, that creativity, which can make a difference.
"I think a lot of it is to do with the coaching the players get when they are younger. Brebner has done really well to get as far as he has but it's not getting any easier."