The Western Sydney Wanderers will play in the AFC Champions League Quarter Finals after an away goals victory over Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
For the final game in the 2013/14 season the Wanderers came into the match needing at least two goals, having been defeated 3-1 away in Japan in the first leg. Several players were already confirmed as leaving the club, including Shinji Ono, Aaron Mooy & Youssouf Hersi, while several others such as Jerrad Tyson & Matthew Spiranovic look likely to move on.
Western Sydney came out firing, pressing hard and pushing Sanfrecce high up the pitch. The two best chances in the first half came within minutes of each other For Sanfrecce, Kashiwa released Ishihara on the right flank, but the attacker fired his shot wide. In front of the RBB at the other end, Ono ran onto a half-volley but could only fire wide.
The second half was all Western Sydney. Manager Tony Popovic made several attacking substitutions in the half as he looked to find the pair of goals his side needed to progress, and the first came 10 minutes after half-time. Ono, who had pulled the strings for Western Sydney in the midfield, passed to Iacopo La Rocca who fired in a pass to Hersi at the edge of the 18 yard box. Hersi laid it off for the run of Ono, who broke to the byline and clipped a cross to the far post. Sanfrecce were unable to deal with the cross, a rebound falling to Shannon Cole, who reacted first to chest down the ball then blasted his shot into the roof of the net. Knowing they had just one of the two goals, the team immediately ran back to the centre circle to restart play.
Youssouf Hersi in his last game was almost the hero in the 81st minute. The Wanderers packed the box for a set piece, the ball going all the way through to Tomi Juric at the far post who acrobatically put in a cross/shot with an overhead kick. Hersi was the only player to react and leapt into a diving header, with an open goal at his mercy the Glory-bound winger put the effort into the side netting.
Luckily for Hersi he was rescued by Brendon Santalab with 5 minutes of normal time to play. Santalab started the Wanderers ACL campaign with a goal in the 1st minute against Ulsan Hyundai and he finished off Hiroshima in the Round of 16. Ono chipped a ball toward Juric, who managed to cause enough of a nuisance to see the ball drop into open space in the middle of the penalty area. Santalab popped up to smash the ball home to give Western Sydney a two goal lead on the night and an away goals lead on aggregate.
Sanfrecce tried valiantly to score what would have been an aggregate winner, but stoic defence from Spiranovic & Covic kept out the Japanese premiers.
The Wanderers go into the Quarter Finals of the Asian Champions League in their first ever campaign, with another two-legged tie to take place in late August.
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now