[dropcaps style=’2′]The Western Sydney Wanderers are on the verge of making Australian football history, following a exciting match which saw WSW take down Saudi Arabian power players Al-Hilal 1 to nill during last weekends initial leg of the Asian Champions League final.[/dropcaps]
Socceroo Tomi Juric was the hero for the Wanderers, getting back from a month out with a groin injury to return on within the last half and score the match-winner from an inch-perfect Antony Golec cross within the 64th minute.
Two-time Asian champions Al-Hilal had dominated the Wanderers in the initial starting, however the injection of Juric early within the second period of play evidenced a master-stroke by coach Tony Popovic and therefore the Saudis’ celebrated ‘Blue Wave’ were conquered.
Twenty-three-year-old five-game international Juric showed his skill to be in a higher category to guide the Golec ball past the Al-Hilal keeper, sparking bedlam among the packed crowd of 20,053.
[image src=’http://fnx.network/fnxnetwork/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/TomiJuric_2014_Oct.jpg’ width=’190′ height=’190′ title=’Tomi Juric, WSW’ align=’right’]A few minutes later, Juric nearly added the icing on the cake, once with strike from outside the box cannoned into the post.
The Wanderers’ A-League season has begun in unfortunate fashion with 2 straight losses.
But, the country’s newest club is 90 minutes off from turning into the first Australian team to win an ACL title following a resurgent performance.
The Wanderers visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday in preparation for the second and final leg, that kicks off at King Fahd Stadium next weekend.
Victory or a draw will be sure enough for the Wanderers to assert the trophy against a multi-million dollar backed team and be recognised by FIFA as the best in all of Asia.
Banner Image: “L” aka DerivativeOfCourse, Flickr