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The Western Sydney Wanderers‘ dream run in the Asian Champions League continues after a 1-0 win against Al Hilal in front of a packed Pirtek Stadium on Saturday night.
Absolute guts from the Wanderers tonight who struggled for much of the game to get it out of their own half. The first 60 minutes Al Hilal controlled the possession but Juric’s injection tipped the game on it’s head.
Golec’s pass to find Juric was a gem and with just their second shot of the game the Wanderers hit the lead, they then grew in confidence where Al Hilal went into their shells.
Al Hilal had 19 shots to five which tells a story in itself, but Covic was massive late in the game with two saves and he gets my man of the match for the game.
FINAL SCORE:
Wanderers 1
Al Hilal 0
The Western Sydney Wanderers will be looking to get a good start in the first leg of the Asian Champions League final as they aim to become the first Australian side to win the league when they face Al Hilal. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:30pm (AEDT).
It’s an important clash tonight that could set the Wanderers well on their way to claiming the trophy. They’ve been excellent in this competition taking down some powerhouse teams on the way, but if they bring their A-League form it’s going to be hard to judge.
Al Hilal are two time champions of the competition and will have travelled to Australia confident of forcing a result out of this first leg. Al Hilal will be without the suspended Yasser Al-Qahtani, but forward Nasser Al-Shamrani has netted 10 Champions League goals this campaign.
Defender Kwak Tae-Hwi has already won the ACL with Ulsan and is shooting for a second title at new club Al Hilal. He appeared super confident his side was going to do well and his experience can’t be underestimated in this competition.
“My experience of winning the AFC Champions League gave me a huge boost. And now we have qualified for the final, I will try and pass on that to my teammates to make sure we win,” Tae-Hwi said.
The good news for the Wanderers though is Tommy Juric looks over his groin troubles and is set to play his first game for the Wanderers in over two months.
He was specifically not risked last week so that he would be set for this one, it eases the load on Popovic’s strike power after Nikita Rukavytsya was ruled out of the clash because he wasn’t signed before the deadline of the competition.
Juric could be joined by Socceroo Matthew Spiranovic, who is a chance to play his first game since the World Cup. These two would be a solid boost for the Wanderers and put them firmly in calculations for a good result tonight.
One man the Wanderers will have to be wary of is Brazilian import Thiago Neves who is a high quality player in midfield. Neves has seven Brazilian caps and can find the net with crafty touch, he was a teammateof Victor Saba’s at Fluminense so no don’t coach Tony Popovic has all the good oil on his opponent.
Prediction:
I’m factoring the crowd in this one and there is little doubt that Wanderland will be going crazy tonight so I simply have to pick the Wanderers in this one!
Wanderers 2-1
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