Western Sydney have vowed to be aggressive as they vie to book a place in the decider of their maiden Asian Champions League campaign.
The Wanderers continued their impressive run in the continental competition by holding FC Seoul to a scoreless draw in the first leg of their semi-final clash in South Korea on Wednesday.
They now sit in the box seat to join Adelaide United as only the second A-League club to advance to the ACL final when they host the return leg on October 1.
In a huge boost, key strikers Tomi Juric and Brendon Santalab, along with utility Shannon Cole will all be back from suspension for the Parramatta Stadium clash.
Western Sydney had scored in every game of their ACL campaign until Wednesday’s stalemate at Seoul World Cup Stadium and have won all but one of their matches at home.
Coach Tony Popovic says his charges will be back on the attack in two weeks.
“We’re always aggressive at home and we have a fantastic record,” he said.
“Our goal is simply to win the game and we go into the match with lots of confidence.
“We’ve shown in the ACL our home record is very good and come two week’s time we believe we can take the next step and make the final.”
Just as crucial as finding the back of the net however, will be to stop FC Seoul doing the same as an away goal for the five-time K-League champions could be enough to see them through.
The Wanderers’ defence delivered on Wednesday night and midfielder Mateo Poljak is confident they will again in a fortnight.
“Of course we just need to score and I think we can do much better in our attacking shape but the defence will be vital,” he said.
“If we keep our structure and defend as well as we did this match we will be able to stop them and punish them.”
With still a month before the A-League kicks Popovic admitted the lack of match practice was evident on Wednesday but is confident they’ll lift their for the second leg.
“It was a difficult game but when you come away from the first leg 0-0 you go home happy for the second leg,” he said.
“Conditions were difficult. We’re playing in pre-season, you could see that last 20 minutes were difficult physically. But it was a fantastic effort from our players.
“We know we can play better and we will be better in two weeks.”
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