Wanderers just a win away from ACL final

Western Sydney are one win away from the Asian Champions League final and coach Tony Popovic says he doesn't care when they score so long as they do.

Western Sydney Wanderers' coach Tony Popovic

Western Sydney coach Tony Popovic is confident the team will be in the Asian Champions League final. (AAP)

Just one goal.

That's all that separates Western Sydney from a spot in the Asian Champions League (ACL) final.

Having held FC Seoul to a scoreless draw in the first leg of their semi-final in Korea earlier this month, the Wanderers host the return leg at Parramatta Stadium on Wednesday where a win - any win - will secure their place in the decider of their maiden ACL campaign.

They'll also join Adelaide United as the only two Australian teams to reach the ACL showpiece.

Should the game end in another 0-0 draw the match will be forced into extra time and possibly penalties.

Wanderers coach Tony Popovic says he doesn't care when it happens, as long as his side scores.

"We've been in that situation before. We had Sanfrecce here and had to win by two goals and we did," he said.

"We know we can win this game. Whether that's doing it in the first minute or whether that's scoring the winner in the last minute. We'll just take the win whichever way it comes."

FC Seoul coach Choi Yong-Soo on the other hand says being sure to score first will be crucial.

He said being so close to lifting the trophy last year only to fall to Chinese giants Guangzhou Evergrande in the decider will motivate his side.

"The first goal will be very important but we have experience and we do have a lot of passion and belief so we are ready for this game," he said

"The Wanderers at home will want to show their fans how strong they are but whether they are defensive or offensive is not important for us.

"We have a lot of strategies to deal with them so we are prepared."

It was Brendon Santalab who scored in the dying minutes in the Wanderers' round-of-16 clash against Sanfrecce Hiroshima to secure the 2-0 victory and a spot in the quarters.

Popovic gets him, fellow key striker Tomi Juric and Shannon Cole all back from suspension for Wednesday's clash and the coach says he's close to settling on his starting line up.

Both Juric and Santalab have scored three crucial goals in the ACL so far with Juric showing nerves of steel to cooly slot home two penalties in the knock-out stages.

While the Wanderers have scored in all but one of their ACL matches FC Seoul haven't found the back of the net once in their last three games with all three ending in 0-0 draws.

The second leg of Seoul's quarter-final clash against Pohang Steelers was forced to penalties and Choi is prepared for the same on Wednesday.

With the coach expecting the game to go down to the wire he's likely to again use dangerous forwards, Colombian Mauricio Molina and Brazilian Everton Santos, off the bench given their game-changing impact up front.

Choi also gets key Spanish centre-back Osma Barba back from injury.

Popovic is all too aware of the quality the Korean side's foreigners bring but says his charges can match them.

"They're very well structured, very well organised and they put their foreign players on the bench so you can see how much faith they have in their squad," he said.

"They have those individuals who can make a difference but so do we."


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