Money no barrier for Bunyodkor

As much as it seemed folly at the time, a high-ranking Bunyodkor official confirmed to TWG that the current Uzbekistan league leaders were only days away from signing Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o back in July.

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Eto'o sent his agent ahead to Tashkent to speak with another of the side's foreign contingent - Chilean Jose Luis Villanueva - who spoke highly of both the country and club. The Cameroon international arrived in Uzbekistan shortly thereafter for talks and subsequently agreed terms only for Barcelona to get cold feet at the last minute.

This however didn't dent the ambition of a club who, when new owners arrived at the beginning of the season, completely remodelled an outfit that was already only a few years old. The newly branded 'creators' of Bundyodkor went about creating history.

In fact they told me that in the next transfer window they will bring in any player the coach wants. Money is no object, and that stretches to names such as Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The aim is to make Bunyodkor not just the biggest club in the Asia, but the biggest in Asia. Seriously.

No Eto'o? OK, we'll have to make do with Rivaldo - and throw in a current Brazilian youth international in Luisao for good measure. Oh, and while you're at it Zico too.

All of which is quite dizzying, but just as important for Adelaide's hopes of progressing to the final is to focus on those players in the shadows. Rivaldo, six years past his mesmeric best may still be the drawcard, but he won't be the difference and for the Reds to pay too much attention to the Brazilian is folly. Not just folly, but it also opens the way for the side to miss the two real heartbeats of the side.

Villanueva, a forward with vast potential whose recent career has been hobbled by injury is on a massive salary - and has been repaying his employers with the best currency known - goals. In fact, one in every match he's played for the club thus far - including a hat-trick in the quarter-final win over Saipa a fortnight ago.

The second of the two keys is Server Djeparov.

At Tuesday's official pre-match press conference Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar observed that not many Australian supporters, let alone the media know much about Bundyodkor, or Uzbek football (and this was only strengthened by a farcical episode where Villanueva was forced to translate for Zico - and more than one member of the assembled press thought that was as far as his football talents stretched) - but this is not a side that, or players that sprung from nowhere.

In fact, until only a week ago, they had the most important name in the history of Central Asian football at the club.

I saw the majestic Mirdajol Kasimov live in the twilight of his career at the 2004 Asian Cup, and since finishing his playing career he has forged an impressive record as a coach - so impressive the National Team poached him last week - and in came Zico at Bunyodkor.

All of which leads back to Djeparov who many observers believe will ultimately inherit the Kasimov mantle. A fine creative midfielder equally adept with either foot, but especially the left; a superb striker of a dead-ball, and a tireless worker, Djeparov is the real beat that makes Bunyodkor tick.

The fans may want Rivaldo; the players though must not focus exclusively on his huge presence.

Those that do know Uzbek football, know the dangers lurking on shirts marked Kapadze, Djeparov and Villanueva.

One of those who also knows is Aurelio Vidmar. How he deals with the questions they will ask, is the real challenge.

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