Japan is where the A-League should be looking as it continues to search for its identity. Sydney FC's opening match of the Asian Champions League in the northern suburbs of Tokyo this week will bear this out.

Eleven seasons in, the A-League still does not seem to know what it stands for, or what it wants to be. The Eurosnob mentality permeates the culture, as it has done for generations. The DNA of the A-League? Australian, or European? We do not know yet. And as long as fans, owners, coaches and players cannot make up their minds, that is how it will be.

There is a new Football Federation Australia board and a generational change in the boardroom. There is a Whole of Football Plan on the table, and a blueprint how to fund it. The vast majority of the focus is inward-looking. That tells us everything about white-hot competition in the domestic sporting market, perhaps the toughest in the world.

Yet for the A-League to grow, not just numerically but economically, culturally and strategically, it needs to look outside. To find the best ideas, the best methods, the best results, the best fit. That is Japan.