Australia’s Sasa Ognenovski scored as Asian champions Seongnam Ilhwa crushed local side Al Wahda 4-1 on Saturday to set-up a Club World Cup semi-final showdown with European champions Inter Milan.
Ognenovski, the Asian player of the year, Mauricio Molina, Choi Sung-Kuk and Cho Dong-Geon were all on target with Fernando Baiano hitting the Gulf team’s consolation.
The South Koreans were ahead after just four minutes when a mix-up between Hamdan Al Kamali and goalkeeper Adel Al Hosani allowed Colombian midfielder Molina to score into the unguarded net from 20 yards.
Al Wahda were level on 27 minutes when Baiano headed Eisa Ahmed’s cross beyond goalkeeper Jung Sung-Ryong.
But Seongnam were back in front on the half-hour mark when their Australian captain headed in from six yards.
That became 3-1 with 19 minutes remaining when an unmarked Choi Sung-Kuk scored following some good work from Cho Dong-Geon.
Cho added the fourth, heading in a Molina cross beyond Al Hosani.
Seongham Ilhwa will face Inter Milan on Wednesday with Internacional of Brazil tackling African champions Tout Puissant Mazembe on Tuesday in the first semi-final.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Congratulations - SASA!! What a fantastic effort and what a year it has been for him. Not a bad story ... ... a boy, from the northern suburbs of Melbourne, who learnt his football amongst the "ethnics" at Preston-Makedonia and, only 5 years ago, was playing football in the VPL for Fawkner-Whittlesea Blues is 3 days away from playing against some of the most taltented and most-recognisable sportsmen on the planet, including: Julio Cesar, Javier Zanetti, Dejan Stankovic, Lucio, Samuel Eto, Wesley Sneijder, Sulley Muntari, Maicon and, of course, the footballer who was involved in one of the most infamous incidents at a modern FIFA WC ... Marco Materazzi! Can any other sport fulfil such dreams for Aussie youth?