MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – The Western Sydney Wanderers have penned more fairytales than the Brothers Grimm in their short history in Australia’s top-flight and another storybook ending beckons them in tomorrow’s A-League title-decider against Adelaide United.
The Wanderers will contest their third Grand Final in four years, having reached the championship match on debut in 2012-13 as a hastily-assembled grab-bag of locals and foreign journeymen before repeating the feat the following year.
Although both games ended in heart-break, the darlings of Sydney’s working class west captured a far bigger prize when they upset Saudi giants Al-Hilal to win the Asian Champions League in 2014.
The roaring success under coach Tony Popovic could not be sustained, however, and they crashed out of their ACL title defence in the first round, while finishing second-bottom of the A-League and the FIFA Club World Cup.
“When you have adversity, it can destroy you or make you stronger,” Popovic said after the club’s ACL elimination last May, vowing to return with a stronger outfit.
A former central defensive hardman for Australia and English Premier League side Crystal Palace, Popovic pulled no punches in turning his side around.
After conducting a ruthless clean-out of his playing roster, the 42-year-old added a possession-based game to the team’s hard-nosed defensive style.
Their more enterprising mindset was on full display in the 5-4 semi-final win over Brisbane Roar as they came back brilliantly from a 3-0 deficit on the back of a hat-trick from Dutch forward Romeo Castelen.
“Had we been down 3-0 to Brisbane in year one or two, maybe it would have been difficult to score four or five goals,” Popovic told Fairfax Media this week.
“Now, with the control we had throughout that match, I always sensed if we got the chances we would come back.”
Formidable opponents and an away game at a stadium packed with 50,000 hostile fans stand in the way of the Wanderers’ hopes of a maiden title.
The Reds also boast a lauded coach in former Spain and Barcelona midfielder Guillermo Amor, and a chip on their shoulder after two fruitless trips to the final in 2006-07 and 2008-09.
Amor, named the league’s coach of the season this week, was under enormous pressure two months into the campaign as his team languished winless at the bottom of the 10-team table.
But the Reds mounted a majestic comeback to capture the Premier’s Plate as the first-placed team at the end of the regular season.
Although the final will be played at Adelaide Oval, a 130-year-old cricket ground in the heart of the sleepy South Australian state capital, the A-League’s showpiece match will boast more than a lashing of Latin flair.
Reds midfielder Isaias and forward Sergio Cirio will face off against another Barcelona duo in the Wanderers’ midfield pairing of Andreu and Dimas.
Western Sydney’s Cordoba-born defender Alberto may also keep a close watch on Adelaide’s Cadiz-born forward Pablo Sanchez.
The tug-of-war between the Spanish stoppers and scorers could ultimately prove decisive.
“I’m expecting a hard game, a tough game,” said former Espanyol midfielder Isaias.
“I expect a beautiful game for us, for them, and also for the fans.”
