Western Sydney Wanderers face another massive challenge at the Fifa Club World Cup against Cruz Azul on Sunday but that is just how Tony Popovic’s side like it.
The A-League’s upstarts have made a habit of clearing seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But their latest hurdle, one partly of their own doing, may prove just too high to clear.
The Asian champions tackle their North American counterparts, in Saturday’s (early Sunday AEDT) Fifa Club World Cup opener. Awaiting the victor is a meeting with arguably the world’s most decorated club, Real Madrid. The very notion seems the stuff of a particularly unlikely piece of fiction. Not even the A-League’s most developed clubs truly believed an AFC Champions League crown was attainable in the short term, yet the Wanderers, having just blown out the candles on their second-birthday cake believed.
While fighting against the odds seems to bring out the best of their blue-collar defiance, they tackle the champions of Mexico weighed down by a new type of burden. This week’s pay dispute, played out in the public eye, has been equal parts unseemly and unfortunate even if it has now been settled. How the team’s famed “belief” is affected holds the key to their hopes of another unlikely success. As if their poor recent form and decorated opponents were not enough off a challenge.
The Wanderers, of course, will not be able to call upon their strong home form in Morocco. Incredibly, they have not won an away match since April when they collected a 2-0 win against South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai. That is a run that now stretches to 11 away matches, including defeat at humble part-timers Adelaide City in the FFA Cup. Little wonder Sydney FC fans like to point out that Australia’s representatives at the Club World Cup are not even the best team in Sydney.
However, their overall record on the road in Asia is as good as any A-League club, and Popovic and his charges will have learnt much from their continental odyssey. They will need every ounce of that experience on Saturday in Rabat.
The draw for the Club World Cup has done the Wanderers few favours. While New Zealanders Auckland City won through to a play-off against Africa’s own surprise continental winners, Algeria’s ES Setif, the Wanderers are set for a meeting with what is, historically at least, Concacaf’s greatest club. Cruz Azul have won more continental crowns than any other club, and three appearances in the past six finals attests to their recent strength and consistency. Born out of a cement factory team nearly a century ago, their lengthy history could hardly provide a greater contrast than that of the Wanderers. However, La Máquina (The Machine) is a nickname that perhaps bears more in common with the Wanderers, at least during their untouchable Asian run.
Australia have a strong record against Mexico at international level. Indeed, until recent years Mexico suffered under a reputation as poor international travellers. A dreadful World Cup record,turned around only over the past 15 years, was testament to that view. Few Mexican players made the move outside the country, which itself was a strong football eco-system. It was easy to be big fish in a small pond, but that meant limitations when it came to greater football interaction and development. Ironically that is a label that has also been pinned on Saudi Arabia, where the Wanderers enjoyed their storied continental victory last month.
That insular approach is no longer so prevalent for Mexican footballers. La Máquina’s line-up boasts plenty of international experience and no little quality. Goalkeeper Jose de Jesus Corona and attacking midfielder Marco Fabian were both key personnel during Mexico’s dynamic charge to the gold medal at the London Olympics, with the latter the tournament’s top goalscorer. Mariano Pavone boasts a prolific goalscoring record in his native Argentina, while evergreen defensive midfielder Gerardo Torrado remains a legendary figure after a recently-concluded 15-year international career.
Against stronger, more experienced opponents, the Wanderers will surely adapt a controlled compact structure, hoping to stifle the Mexicans. Popovic would undoubtedly be happy to see them forced into wide areas where his backline are more than adept at dealing with crosses.
Set-pieces and quick counter-attacks will remain a key outlet in attack for the Wanderers. But, unlike during their Asian campaign, the Wanderers attack now boasts the blistering pace of Nikita Rukavytsya, the guile of Dutchman Romeo Castelen plus a fully-fit Tomi Juric, with the talismanic No9 only used sparingly during the club’s run to the Asian throne.
The Wanderers are outsiders to get past Cruz Azul. The challenge is significant, but invariably it seems the greater the odds the more Popovic’s team thrives. Few would confidently bet against another early-hours miracle to replicate the one achieved in Riyadh six weeks ago.
