The Western Sydney Wanderers come away from the opening leg of their Asian Champions League semi-final against FC Seoul with a scoreless draw – a result they would have wanted.
Heading into the second leg in Sydney, the Wanderers are now well placed to secure a maiden berth in the ACL final.
FINAL SCORE:
Western Sydney Wanderers 0
FC Seoul 0
The Western Sydney Wanderers will try to continue their fairy tale in the Asian Champions League with a win against FC Seoul in the semi-finals tonight. Join The Roar for live scores from 8:30pm (AEST).
Tonight is all about conservation mode for the Wanderers. Playing away from home, in a two leg match, the Wanderers can’t win the contest in the 90 minutes tonight.
They can lose the contest though with a big loss to FC Seoul at the World Cup stadium.
Making the semi-final a contest heading into the second leg in Sydney, is the aim of the Wanderers in the first leg.
It promises to be a tough match with FC Seoul only losing once in the Champions League at home this year. That was against Kawasaki Frontale who defeated the Korean team 2-1 in the second leg of their Round of 16 match.
In their quarter final match, against the Pohang Steelers, they didn’t score or concede, as they won on penalties.
The best guide to this match comes from the group stage when FC Seoul played the Central Coast Mariners. They won 2-0 against the Mariners as they progressed in the group on top.
The Wanderers would have watched that match and learnt as much as they could about their opponent heading into tonight. One area they are strong at is in defence.
In the current season of the K-League they have only conceded 19 goals in 26 matches. They are also on a 210 minute run without conceding a goal in the Champions League.
On the same token though, they can certainly attack, when they need to.
They have scored 30 goals in the K-League this season and also put three past Kawasaki Frontale in one of their legs against them.
Leading the attack is Sergio Escudero who scored a couple of goals in the Asian Champions League this year already. If the Wanderers give him space tonight then he can cause problems to the team.
Tonight will all be about minimising the chances of FC Seoul. It will also be about playing on the counter, and snaring any chances that they can get.
They did this well against Guangzhou Evergrande when they scored against the run of play in their away leg against the Chinese champions.
The Wanderers will need to do the same tonight.
They will have to do it without Tomi Juric and Brenton Santalab who are both out of the match after gaining a yellow card against Guangzhou.
Labinot Haliti looks to be the player to replace Juric for this important clash.
Tonight is a huge night for the Wanderers and Australian football.
A good result could give Australia just its second ever representative in an Asian Champions League final.
I think they can get something out of tonight and make it everything to play for in Sydney.
I’m predicting a 1-1 draw.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
Need a big performance from the boys at home. We can do this.
Bondy
Guest
midfielder 13 k turned up for the Wallabies on the Gold Coast last Saturday night, 5k turned out for the Tuggeranong Tuggies last night , who'd a thought hey .....
Bondy
Guest
Wanderers are positioned nicely for the second leg tie there were a few Stevie Wonders out there for Seoul, fair dinkum . It'll be a full house for the second leg ....
Josh
Guest
The result we all wanted, keep them at bay then draw them into the fortress Wanderland and unleash Juric and Santalab on them.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Permiso -soy a lil' bit tiddles toonite ;-)
AZ_RBB
Guest
Chelsea in their UCL run? Dominated by Barca and Bayern yet still lifted the trophy in the end.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Congrats to da boys for keeping a clean sheet Covic wuz robbed of MOTM i think lol anyways we'll take it and continue on our winning way
Realfootball
Guest
Good on you, AZ. More power to the Wanderers. Wish I could see the second leg.
Realfootball
Guest
I have to also say, AZ, that I have never, ever seen a team ride its luck so much for so long as the Wanderers in this ACL campaign. I really thought it would come to an end tonight, but no - you did it a again. Completely outclassed but still, somehow, not beaten.
Leonardo
Roar Guru
Yes you're right. You'd have to give Popovic and the WSW squad enormous credit for what they have achieved in just over 2 years and their amazing efforts in the ACL at their first attempt. On reflection, it was a great effort to get a draw tonight under the circumstances and I'm quietly confident AZ that they will go all the way in the ACL, especially if the final is over 2 legs.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Haha no, it's a law exam. Pretty sure I would fail any FFA exam for making too many complaints about active support measures.
Realfootball
Guest
I see. So having no particular strengths with Hersi and Polenz gone will confuse the opposing team. Interesting strategy.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Cheers, mate. Won't be able to do the same for the return leg. Good to have a few Roarers on here during the game. Made the 90mins go a little faster haha
midfielder
Guest
AZ Great call and well done wsw
Leonardo
Roar Guru
Will be a great night and be leaning on my little RBB mate to get me a ticket. What exam are you sitting, the FFA's Football Curriculum?
Paul Nicholls
Roar Guru
A round of applause for AZ _RBBs call of the game - thanks mate.
AZ_RBB
Guest
When your team is built on individual talent, the opponent can focus and nullify that talent. When you have 11 players all equally capable of creating a threat, you're much more dangerous. Of course, that's not always the case but I think WSW over the past 2yrs is a very good example of its strengths. Last season, we were much stronger down the right side with Hersi and Polenz and teams knew that if they kept them quiet they could go a long way towards defeating us. This season I think we're going to be a little more even across the pitch. No one rated the squad before 12/13. We won the Premiership and made the GF. Only some rated our chances in 13/14. Came second, made the GF and topped our ACL group. This season is a return to people writing us off and we've already knocked out the best team in Asia. We love the criticism :D so keep it coming.
Paul Nicholls
Roar Guru
That's a bummer. You will have to repeat that subject next year. I'm thinking about going to that game to be honest...
Realfootball
Guest
Sadly I will be in the far west of Queensland, but I live in hope that there will be a tv there somewhere with Fox. A pub. If I can find one.
Leonardo
Roar Guru
Yes kind of agree there and tipping WSW to struggle to stay in the top 4 in the A-League this season. Although they are doing very well in the ACL and no real reason now why they can't win it. Will be a great atmosphere at the return leg and WSW will have to attack, score goals and win. They can't rely on a draw to get through now.