The Western Sydney Wanderers defence of the Asian Champions League rests on a knife edge after a late goal from Kashima Antlers saw the J-League side win 2-1.
With FC Seoul & Guangzhou Evergrande playing out a 0-0 draw in the other Group H match, the Wanderers must defeat Guangzhou in China and hope for a draw in the Kashima vs Seoul match played at the same time.
In dreadful conditions following days of torrential rain, just over 5000 supporters showed up for the clash, including a reasonable contingent of away support for Kashima. Nikita Rukavytsya opened the scoring for the reigning champions, taking advantage of a defensive mistake from the central defence of Kashima to pounce on the loose ball and fire it past the keeper.
The second half was yet another capitulation that has become so typical of the Wanderers this season, and it started with another of the semi-regular Ante Covic mistakes of judgement that have plagued the veteran gloveman in the second half of this season. Covic hesitated instead of coming out strongly to collect a Kashima through ball, stopping halfway to the ball and allowing Shoma Doi kill the ball, stop, turn back on the ball and place it past the stranded keeper.
Kashima had the run of the game from that moment, the home side barely managing a shot on target. That failure to control the game saw one point into zero in the 90th minute, the left side combination for Kashima breaking down that flank and delivering a pinpoint cross along the ground to the near post, where Kanazaki took advantage of stop-start tracking from Matthew Spiranovic to slide the ball past Covic at the near post.
The Wanderers can still qualify for the knock-out round, but they must defeat Guangzhou Evergrande and hope the result goes their way between Seoul & Kashima.
The Wanderers next game is against Perth at Parramatta Stadium on Saturday the 25th of April.
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