It was the Keisuke Honda show on Sunday and everyone at Kogarah was watching and learning, including Sydney FC midfielder Paulo Retre.
Honda continued his terrific start to life in the A-League with another influential display, drawing and then converting the penalty that ultimately clinched a 2-1 win for Melbourne Victory.
Learning experience: Paulo Retre soaked in what he could from his first match against Melbourne Victory star Keisuke Honda.Credit:AAP
Most of the team's best play went through the former AC Milan star, whose silky skills, close control and vision are unrivalled in the competition – at least on the evidence of the first five rounds.
The fact he had spent almost the entire international break away from his teammates made it even more impressive. Honda was overseas coaching the Cambodian national team and guided them to their first AFF Suzuki Cup victory in 16 years before returning to training in Melbourne on Thursday, a few hours after touching down at the airport. Questions about whether he could truly focus on his job with Victory given all his other commitments appear to have been answered emphatically.
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The 32-year-old also enjoyed a rockstar exit from Jubilee Stadium. Close to 100 screaming Japanese fans – most of them women – were on hand to catch a glimpse of Honda as he boarded the team bus.
For Retre, who was one of the better players for the Sky Blues, it was a largely educational experience as he grows more accustomed to life as an advanced midfielder.
In the dugout: Five days before steering Melbourne Victory to a win in Kogarah, Keisuke Honda was coaching Cambodia to a 1-0 win over Laos.Credit:AP
"He's a tidy player," Retre told Fairfax Media. "He just uses his experience. He's maybe not got the legs he used to have back in the day but he's just a smart player and good in tight areas. You can see the little tricks he does. He moves the ball quick. It was good to see."
Retre has been pigeonholed as a utility player for almost his entire A-League career but his days of plugging holes left vacant by injured teammates look to be over. The 25-year-old's form is so good that coach Steve Corica simply can't drop him, no matter how much he'd like to blood loan recruit Daniel De Silva into Sydney's starting line-up.
Retre's own bag of tricks is perhaps much deeper than people give him credit for – he bamboozled James Troisi and Terry Antonis with a textbook Marseille turn in the first half, not long after attracting the contentious penalty that led to the Sky Blues' only goal.
"I've been enjoying playing a bit higher," Retre said. "I'm really, really enjoying playing football. To be honest, I think anywhere in the midfield is probably my best position but at the end of the day, I'm [going to] give Sydney FC my best wherever that is. That's just how football is sometimes, you don't get to choose where you play."
Retre said Corica was disappointed with the result but not the performance against Victory. Neither team truly dominated, although it is clear the Sky Blues could do with a little extra pace in the final third to capitalise on the forays forward they are making.
"It's not always easy playing against Melbourne Victory, they make it hard," Retre said. "Sometimes you have to give a little bit of credit to them – but at the same time, we did play well enough to win the game. It just wasn't our night. That's just how it goes sometimes."
with Dominic Bossi
Vince is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
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