MISERY is heaped upon misery for the Wanderers, with the Asian Champions League turning into an even more painful experience than their domestic campaign.
A 5-1 defeat to Shanghai SIPG left Western Sydney with no points, one goal scored and nine conceded in their first two ACL games. Exhausted by three games in eight days, and a flight path taking them from Sydney to Perth to Shanghai, the visitors were simply blown away.
It was a chastening experience for Popovic’s side from the beginning, with SIPG cutting through them at will. For all that excuses are made for the travel and itineraries of teams in the ACL,
Western Sydney looked utterly out of their depth.
ROAR TORN APART IN SOUTH KOREA
Shanghai’s Elkeson and Western Sydney’s Brendan Hamill clash. (Photo by Visual China/Getty Images)Source:Getty Images
They were hardly not forewarned of the threat posed by SIPG’s imports, but still Oscar was able to carve them open in the second minute. It was a simple but perfect little pass inside fullback Scott Neville that allowed Zhang Wei space in the box to cross to the far post — there, Hulk met the ball with a thumping header past Jarred Tyson in the Wanderers goal.
Before a quarter-hour was gone, there was a second goal, and a delightful one to watch. Oscar was the prime force behind it, slicing through the Wanderers rearguard with a series of one-twos. The last of those, with Hulk, found Oscar running into the box and his right-footed shot went across Tyson and in.
Haritz Borda tries to hide after another goal. AFP PHOTO / Johannes EISELESource:AFP
So far, so bad for Western Sydney, and at times they were hanging on for grim death. Suddenly, out of the blue, there was a lifeline for the visitors — Dimas’s splendid pass over the top dropped in the path of Neville on the right, and the fullback’s low cross was expertly sidefooted home by Mitch Nichols.
For a few moments silence descended on the ground … but not for any longer. On 25 minutes it was 3-1, with Tyson’s apparent nerviness coming to the fore. Brendan Hamill’s foul on Oscar was a long way out but Hulk elected to shoot from some 30m — his shot skidded in front of Tyson who spilt it, allowing Shi Ke to prod home the loose ball.
Hulk was unstoppable for Shanghai. (Photo by Visual China/Getty Images)Source:Getty Images
It got worse before half an hour was up, Wu Lei’s cross to the far post being mis-hit by Hulk but then turned in by Elkeson. Surrounded by white shirts he was still unchallenged in scoring, a carelessness that summed up the night.
There was little for Western Sydney to offer in return, with Ryan Griffiths ploughing a lonely furrow upfront, but the sheer number of turnovers and mis-hit passes made life even more difficult than it might have been. Wu Lei added a fifth goal, jogging past Clisby to accept a ball over the top and guide it past Tyson.
SIPG should have had a penalty when Hulk was brought down minutes later by Tyson, and for good measure Neville’s arm deflected Elkeson’s follow up shot. Somehow none was given, perhaps out of sheer sympathy for Western Sydney. It was that kind of night.
Originally published as Wanderers smashed in Shanghai
