They’ve just suffered a shock loss to a semi-professional side and now Western Sydney are preparing to face a cashed-up Asian juggernaut boasting a World Cup-winning coach.
The Wanderers go into the first leg of their Asian Champions League (ACL) quarter-final against title holders Guangzhou Evergrande on Wednesday fresh off a 1-0 loss to state league side Adelaide City in the FFA Cup last week.
But while the Wanderers are considered giants by Adelaide City, they will appear dwarfed by one of Asia’s most powerful clubs and their endless stream of money.
Marcello Lippi, who guided Italy to their 2006 World Cup triumph, has a squad worth several million dollars stacked with former and current internationals.
Last month he brought in one of the players form his victorious ’06 Italy side, Alberto Gilardino for over $7 million, having also signed Alessandro Diamanti in February for almost $10 million.
Mind-boggling figures when you consider the A-League salary cap is just $2.55 million for the entire squad.
Wanderers striker Brendon Santalab knows better than most just how big Chinese Super League outfit Evergrande are having played in China for three years.
“They are absolutely massive. They’re very wealthy and have players on ridiculous amounts of money,” Santalab told AAP on Monday.
“They wanted to put themselves on the world football map and they’ve done that.
“So for us this is just a great opportunity to come up against a giant like this.”
While Evergrande will be heading to Parramatta Stadium looking to keep their ACL defence on track the Wanderers will be eying redemption after falling to minnows Adelaide City.
But far from rattling their confidence Santalab insists the defeat will make them more resolute to prove themselves.
“It hasn’t really shattered the confidence,” he said.
“This will be a test of our character. When you lose to a semi-professional side it’s not nice but we just have to cop it on the chin and we have to make up for it and bounce back in the ACL.”
Having played their last ACL fixture in May the Wanderers have since lost several of the stars that got them to the quarters with the likes of Shinji Ono, Youssouf Hersi, Aaron Mooy and Jerome Polenz having left the club.
They’ve acquired the likes of Dutch import Romeo Castelen, Brazilian Vitor Saba and Australian youngsters Brendan Hamill and Dean Bouzanis.
All but Castelen will be eligible to play on Wednesday and Santalab says while there’s no replacing the past stars, the new recruits will be eager to prove their worth.
“Obviously the players we lost were fantastic for the club but now it’s up to those new players to step in and show what they’ve got,” he said.
“It’s hard to compare these boys with the last but they’ve blended in well and I’m excited to see them play.”
AZ_RBB
Guest
Absolutely spent, physically and mentally. That was easily one of my all time favourite nights at WSW. What drama and quality football. Bring on the second leg! Adelaide City > Guangzhou
Josh
Guest
17,000 people were there tonight, talk about a slap in the face to the other codes and those in our own code that didn't give WSW a chance.
Brian Orange
Roar Guru
Good result. The giants of Asia taken down a peg or two. Looked like a pretty good crowd too. WSW take a slight lead into the second leg, where the biggest challenge lies ahead. But with no away goals conceded could be a chance of a Wanderers upset, if they can hold them out. The second leg is right up Poppovic's alley and his favourite game plan - hold them out in defence and hit them on the counter.
Davo
Guest
FTA surely though wouldn't be conducive to higher attendances, yet in the UCL they still manage to pack their do or die matches. We should be seeing the same here. Not necessarily for group games but these knock out games should be viewed as the pinnacle, especially when you're coming up against the best team in Asia. Between coaching pedigree such as Lippi and players such as Diamanti and Gilardino, they are surely worth a see.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Yeah what happened to that? We never start singing before kick off nowadays, even at big fixtures. We really need an RBB forum to get all these suggestions out :P
ciudadmarron
Guest
I was walking to the ground well before a game last season and crossing the bridge that goes straight up to the stadium, and I could hear the Roxy loud and clear. In season one when there used to be a lot more singing before the game started you could hear the stadium from well away. Magnificent.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Actually they're not travelling fans, they're just members of the Chinese community in Sydney. Guangzhou bought 4k tickets and distributed them amongst the community. They're all taught a handful of chants to do through the night. But I'm sure you'll have a few travel down from China to help out with the active support. For the first time the entire south end will be taken up by away fans. Will be an interesting sight, we're not used to being matched at home.
Tom
Guest
Another difference in Europe is that there are no domestic comp games on free to air tv, but Champions League / Uefa Cup games are. They have a special status like internationals (which are free to air as wel)
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Apparently WSW have signed a 23 year old nigerian striker woohoo!!Poppa will whip him into shape perty soon :-)
LewDub
Roar Rookie
There should be plenty of travelling Guangzhou fans. I remember watching them at Gosford in 2013. I'm not exaggerating when I say there were more Guangzhou fans than Mariners fans. Anyway, they'll fill a few bays and the latest weather says 16 degrees and fine. Tigers of the south to get home comfortably. As their defence isn't exactly rock solid, I'll be brave and predict 3-1.
Davo
Guest
That's my point though, that both the media as well as the supporters are still a little behind on this front. We focus so much on our domestic competition in the hope to reach the ACL, yet when we get there we all treat it half arsed. To me that's a bit strange that's all. I wouldn't expect the neutrals to necessarily tune in, but surely the home support should be trying to attend these games that don't come around that often and can be quite rewarding on different levels.
Ben
Guest
The Australian public will only embrace the ACL when Australian teams become consistently competitive. Tomas, I strongly disagree with your sentiment about the All-Stars - they were unlucky not to get a result against Juve. Despite the advantages of being a "club" team, I can't see the Wanderers bossing Guangzhou for long periods like the All-Stars did Juve. Guangzhou to comfortably win by 2 and put paid to the "club team advantage" argument against the All-Stars.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Hopefully I can make it too :-)
Josh
Guest
No probs Az, see ya in Bay 56 !
striker
Guest
Post I think the ACL in 5-10 years will be bigger than the a league but it will take time, definitely the ACL is the future for our game.
Post hoc
Guest
Once again a game like this will show how big football really is to the Australian Media. Gatty tweeted that at the Press Conference Chinese media outnumbered Australian media 10-1. The chinese TV audience, will be huge
deebhoy
Guest
davo are you comparing the ACL to the UEFA CL? surely its obvious that's besides the sport being played that these 2 comps have very little in common if supporters of aleague clubs don't really get behind the ACL why should the media?
Davo
Guest
What leagues are you referring to? because i can tell you having lived in London, Florence, Paris and Hamburg that a playoff quarter final match for a club that is coming up against a bigger team in the Champions league, will always hold priority during that week or even that month during the season. The preparation for a knock out match in the champions league is MASSIVE!! And it should be viewed that way. One day it will be like that here. The only exceptions given could be for local derbies. This is understandable and I didn't mean to say that this game should be bigger than an FC WSW derby obviously (as this brings in 2 sets of local fans), but it should certainly out rank a mid season game against all other teams, or at least be on par. Anything less than 15k should be seen as disappointing considering the circumstances. And really considering the attendances WSW pull, they should already have the "sold out" sign.
whiskeymac
Guest
good atmospheres and prestige yes, but utmost importance? big derbies (local) reign supreme. but i could be wrong. i guess its subjective perceptions - and i haven't been to the UK since last century (albeit i was there for a long time in London and Liverpool) =)
Leonardo
Roar Guru
The rain might keep a few away, but it will help Wanderers' chances of winning. The wet slow pitch will help Poppa's combative tactical style. After the rugby league and rain, a goat track will slow down the slick passing Evergrande. Santalab will bob up for the winner late on.