Australia 'bloody good life' for Sth American players

Australia's A-League coaches report that an influx of Latin American players into this season's competition will thrill fans and help secure the long-term strength of the league."They've got that real creativeness and flair which we probably don't have through our own players and maybe some European players don't have as much creativity as them," said Newcastle Jets coach Gary van Egmond, who gathered with his rivals and Football Federation Australia chief Ben Buckley for a coaching forum in Sydney. "Especially in the last third, they give us something a little bit different. I think it's excellent with the player recruitment now and the quality of players that are coming through and the number of South Americans and other European players," he told AAP.

Adelaide United coach Aurelio Vidmar said the trend would strengthen the league's future. "When I look at our competition, it's maybe a bit like the J-League when it first started or the Major League Soccer," Vidmar said. "South Americans are more or less flavour of the month and that's the sort of path our competition is going down as well. Obviously they put bums on seats, that's what we want. And it's very interesting to see how many player agents and how many DVDs you get during the week now. (Australia) is a really attractive base to come and play in now and if we can keep our head above water again this year, in two or three years it's really going to be thriving."

Vidmar said clubs were able to attract talent from Latin America without exceeding their salary caps or using their one allowed marquee player. "Maybe it's an affordability thing as well and the players from South America are willing to come here and it's a bloody good life for them as well," Vidmar said.