Western Sydney beat Seoul to make Champions League final
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The fledgling Western Sydney Wanderers continued their fairytale debut run in the AFC Champions League by beating FC Seoul 2-0 in their semi-final on Wednesday to move within one step of becoming the first Australia winners of the tournament.
The Wanderers, founded in 2012 in swift fashion after Gold Coast United had their licence revoked, will face Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal in the two-legged final of Asia's Premier club tournament after comfortably negating last year's shot-shy runners-up.
Well drilled under the stewardship of manager Tony Popovic, they are just the second Australian side to reach the final and will be underdogs -- but undeterred -- against the impressive Saudis, who they host in the first leg on Oct. 25.
By then the new A-League season will be underway, with their impressive feats of knocking out Japanese champions Sanfrecce Hiroshima, holders Guangzhou Evergrande and now FC Seoul all coming in their off-season, where they have arranged friendlies and training camps to keep fitness levels up.
The Wanderers were defensive and cagey in a goalless first leg in Korea last month but they showed no energy concerns at their Parramatta Stadium as they grabbed the lead after only three minutes on Wednesday.
Midfielder Mateo Poljak cooly slotted a punched clearance by Yu Sang-hun back over the goalkeeper's head to leave the red-and-black clad fans buzzing.
Yu, who saved three penalties in the shootout win over Pohang Steelers in the quarter-finals, managed to get a hand to Poljak's effort but the South Korean goalkeeper appeared to be pushed by a Wanderers player in the crowded penalty area.
Forward Brendon Santalab had a great chance to make it 2-0 four minutes later after a neat chipped throughball by Italian midfielder Iacopo but the Australian's good chest control was followed by a shanked shot wide with only Yu to beat.
A flat Seoul side, fifth in the 12-team K-League with a handful of matches remaining, failed to respond to the early goal with the home side able to slow the tempo of the game and restrict their opponents to few attacking opportunities.
Wanderers defender Brendan Hamill was required to head one deflected cross by Ch Du Ri off the line eight minutes before the break but it was as close as the visitors came to scoring a first goal in four Champions League matches.
The second half continued in the same fashion as the first with the Wanderers, who have reached the A-League final in both their campaigns, able to sit deep and counter despite Seoul bringing on forward Kim Hyun-sung and midfielder Ko Kwang-min to try and spark a limp attack.
The Wanderers showed them how it's done, though, when they made the game safe in the 63rd minute with Labinot Haliti swinging in a deep cross from the left that Shannon Cole met to deflate the visitors.
Fullback Cole sprinted from deep to rise above Kim Chi-Woo and head into the far corner past a motionless Yu.
The loss meant the final will not have South Korean representation for the first time since 2008, when Japan's Gamba Osaka beat Australia's only previous finalist Adelaide United 2-0.
(Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
