Sydney FC coach Patrick Kisnorbo has launched a fiery attack on critics of the A-League club’s controversial decision to block Akol Akon from playing at the FIFA U-17 World Cup, accusing them of “killing the game” by manufacturing a controversy without knowing the facts after the Sky Blues reversed course and agreed to release the teenage star.
Akon, 17, will now be available to be selected in Australia’s squad for next month’s tournament in Qatar after Sydney reached an agreement with Football Australia, just days after informing the governing body he would not be released.
It is an outcome Kisnorbo said the club had been working behind the scenes to achieve for several weeks, detailing the injury crisis which had prompted their original stance.
An ankle injury to Abel Walatee, a winger like Akon, and another injury to midfielder Jake Hollman had left Kisnorbo with a thin squad for the opening weeks of the new season. Kisnorbo said he then spoke to Akon and explained that the situation could affect his ability to go to the World Cup because he was too important to the team.
Kisnorbo praised Australia under-17s coach Carl Veart for being “very understanding” after promising both him and Akon that the player would be released if Sydney could find the right “solution”.
That solution, it appears, has been found – but Kisnorbo was incensed that the dispute had become public while those discussions were taking place, hitting out at News Corp columnist Robbie Slater and former FA technical boss Ron Smith, who described Sydney’s position as a “disgrace” and “pathetic” respectively, the latter in a piece for the website Football360.
“I hear these words, and they’re big words, in my opinion,” Kisnorbo said.
“There’s a lot of people that I think talk a little bit too much ... all this talk and stuff for me is nonsense.
“People have got to be a bit careful and a bit wise in the words they use ...
“People say, ‘Yeah, we want the game to do well’. Well, I think they’re the ones really killing our game because it’s noise and narrative without knowing facts.”
An agreement between FA and the Australian Professional Leagues about player availability for national teams has lapsed, leaving A-League clubs with the ability to stop players from being called up for matches or tournaments which fall outside of FIFA international windows, like the U-17 World Cup.
Kisnorbo said that with A-League players increasingly reliant on young players, it was difficult to balance the competing interests of clubs and the federation.
“The A-League has changed. If we let the under-23s go today, we would lose six players,” he said.
“So what do you want to do, get the under-13s in? We have to find solutions. That’s the way the league is at the moment.”
Kisnorbo also revealed Sydney had sought to have an Australia Cup fixture moved to accommodate young striker Mathias Macallister’s Australia under-20s commitments, but the request was unsuccessful. The Sky Blues ultimately allowed Macallister to play in those matches, in which the Young Socceroos failed to qualify for the U20 AFC Asian Cup, in contrast to other teams which refused to do so.
Akon has already secured a multi-million transfer to Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids and played for Australia’s under-23s, while he is also being closely monitored for a Socceroos call-up by Tony Popovic.
Kisnorbo said there was nothing wrong with Sydney being reliant on a player as young as Akon, which the player’s agent Tony Rallis said was only because the club’s foreign recruitment attempts in recent years had failed.
“We love the kid,” Kisnorbo said.
“Six months ago, where was he playing? Now he’s signed a deal in the MLS, and he was 16. He’s 17 [now] … age is not a barrier in football. If you’re an important player, you’re an important player. That’s the way it works.”