Western Sydney Wanderers overcame what seemed like insurmountable odds to knock title-holders and tournament favourites Guangzhou Evergrande out of the Asian Champions League and book their place in the semi-finals.
The Wanderers lost the quarter-final’s second leg 2-1 in China on Wednesday night but went through on away goals following last week’s 1-0 upset win at home.
Western Sydney, who now join Adelaide United as only the second A-League team to reach the semis of the continental competition, will now meet FC Seoul for a spot in the final.
In the other semi-final, Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal will meet Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates, with the first leg in Riyadh on September 16.
The Wanderers survived a dominant display from the Asian juggernauts with goalkeeper Ante Covic’s first-half penalty save and Tomi Juric’s coolly-slotted spot kick proving the crucial moments for the Wanderers.
Former Italian international Alessandro Diamanti and prolific Brazilian striker Elkeson scored late goals for Evergrande but it wasn’t enough.
Despite a 1-0 advantage the out-of-season Wanderers weren’t given much hope against one of Asia’s richest and most successful clubs who boast a glut of internationals and who were pumped up after a drama-filled first leg at Parramatta Stadium last Wednesday.
Tensions were still high after the last week’s controversy which resulted in a touch-line ban of Evergrande’s World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi and suspensions for key players Goa Lin and Zhang Linpeng.
The Wanderers entered into a hostile atmosphere created by almost 60,000 fired-up Guangzhou fans, the 30-plus degree heat and severe humidity just adding to the already cauldron-like environment.
Starting Mark Bridge, Juric, Kwabena Appiah and Labinot Haliti, Wanderers coach Tony Popovic was clearly out to attack.
But it was Western Sydney’s defence who kept them in the match, withstanding a steady onslaught from the three-time Chinese Super League champions.
Guangzhou dominated from the opening stages as Diamanti found space for a superb through-ball into the box, Covic rushing off his line to defuse the danger.
Guangzhou’s Italian stars continued to threaten, this time it was Alberto Gilardino hitting the crossbar.
But the Chinese side’s best chance came in there 32nd minute when Iacapo La Rocca gifted them a penalty for a foul on Elkeson in the box.
The Brazilian, who has scored 41 times in 48 games for his side, fired a powerful strike from the spot, but a sensational save from Covic ensured he didn’t add to his tally.
The drama continued after the break when the Wanderers were awarded a penalty of their own after overzealous keeper Zeng Cheng raced off his line and took out the goal-bound Bridge.
Knowing a goal would mean the hosts would need three to go through, young-gun Juric stepped up to the mark and made no mistake, striking the ball past the outstretched Zeng and into the bottom right corner to break the deadlock in the 59th minute.
Evergrande’s Italian duo combined just two minutes later to keep alive their hopes of a comeback with Gilardino setting up Diamanti, who levelled with a clinical finish.
With the clock winding down Guangzhou weren’t done yet with an unmarked Elkeson ensuring some late drama with a goal in extra time for the 2-1 result.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Might have been on Australia 442 RF i forget now or maybe fox sports
Realfootball
Guest
Link?
Matthew Skellett
Guest
I'm not sure if anyone else here saw the photo of Lippi talking with Poppa after the game -it was a consummate study; a masterpiece photographic piece of art -the Master smiling at the Apprentice who bettered Him having none of the advantages that money and power can buy -what a piece of art
Post hoc
Guest
Still on a high after the game, even more so seeing the Video of how the team reacted to seeing the supporters meet them at the airport. I see the usual AFL trolls are staying away at the moment, appears they are unable to comprehend the phenomenon that is specifically the Wanderers and generally the emergence of Football as a force. Would love to know the TV numbers from China for that game
Leonardo
Roar Guru
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/2521452/western-sydney-wanderers-well-prepared-for-hostile-chinese-fans/?cs=12 In an email from the club, Wanderers confirm the ACL Semi second leg will be at Wanderland. The club will release member ticket sales dates shortly. Memberships are at 14,894, just 106 short of close off for Wanderland regular season memberships at 15,000, but you can still buy out of town and other memberships after that.
Griffo
Roar Guru
The pictures online look good - haven't seen footage yet but great work :-)
Griffo
Roar Guru
It's not surprising that FoxSports want to be the sole and exclusive broadcaster and the FFA put in the effort to protect those rights by not allowing streaming. Can see the argument as well on both FoxSports and FFA not wanting to brand streams that could drop (and reflect on them). Ideally I think the streams added to the community nature of The Cup. It supplemented where FoxSports didn't want to broadcast, and the interest was unpredictably high when it started, the streams only helped raise that further in the absence of FoxSports. While I think that it wouldn't hurt for clubs who are not the main broadcast match to stream themselves, I think after the first Round-32 night everyone was impressed with the 'round the grounds' single FoxsSports camera cross for goals and updates. Again I think this scenario is a perfect example of where the FFA should be cutting their teeth on broadcasting some of their own product...
AZ_RBB
Guest
Apparently several hundred received them at the airport tonight, at very short notice! Great stuff.
Realfootball
Guest
Yeah it was awful. Speed is just passable on a good day but Slater is, without doubt, one of the most inane sports commentators I have heard in action. He's much better as a pundit. He should never be allowed near the call of a live game.
josh
Guest
It would be impossible for me to like this post anymore than I do now. The scenes at Sydney airport were amazing tonight too, the RBB turned up with drums and flags and sung the team in.
Shadow
Roar Rookie
Maaate if you come to this country you are part of Team Australia. Oh god I feel like such an Abbott lol
yewonk
Guest
Anyway everyone is at the airport waiting for the team they will come through soon
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Oddly enough, yes. I was listening to the Fox commentators out of Singapore (one Brit, one Aussie) and they were very, very excited as they were expecting a barnstorming finish from the Chinese (which they certainly attempted). I then heard some of the Australian commentary as part of the Australia Network news and it sounded utterly banal.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Did anybody else think last night's commentary was plain horrible? I swear Speed and Slater stopped calling the game in the final 20 and just made banal observations now and then like "he looks tired" and "Diamanti is unhappy" and best of all "Guangzhou need another goal" Maybe they were tired after a long day.
Leonardo
Roar Guru
Under immense pressure during their off season, don't forget and with little sleep and whip-lashed necks.
Leonardo
Roar Guru
His nicotine withdrawals made him delusional and he started to fancy Saba's beard. He was heard to say under his breath in Italian, " Mama Mia, I could make a nice rollie out of that and smoke it for hours! " as he chased Saba down the tunnel.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Quality? West Asian teams have won the ACL 15 times and East Asians have won it 19 times. Hardly a significant difference.
melbourneterrace
Guest
Well its less of a distance argument and more of a quality argument. Having a tournament hamstrung by the arabs isn't benefiting anyone over on the east.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
The stadium at Parramatta will cater for our members more than adequately.
SVB
Guest
I think that is to do with a combination of the timeslot on a cold/winter weeknight, the lack of media coverage and the fact that these Asian teams are not known. Also people expect us to lose these games against teams with much larger budgets than us. If we get to the final it will be much bigger news. I didn't expect us to get this far, and I still don't expect us to progress through to the final. But this club keeps proving me wrong.