Western Sydney's dreams of facing Real Madrid have been washed away in controversial scenes at the Club World Cup, with coach Tony Popovic feeling cheated out of a quarter-final contested in near-unplayable conditions in Morocco.
The Wanderers suffered a 3-1 extra-time defeat at the hands of Mexican heavyweights Cruz Azul in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday after being just two minutes away from regular-time victory and a dream showdown with Cristiano Ronaldo and co.
The Wanderers ended the match with just nine men after central defenders Matthew Spiranovic and Nikolai Topor-Stanley were sent off, the latter in a farcical case of mistaken identity.
Popovic lamented "referees on training wheels" overseeing the match and also hit out at FIFA for a poor-quality pitch that descended into a nightmare after monsoon-like rain before and throughout the match left it waterlogged.
Western Sydney goalkeeper Ante Covic branded the match "disgusting" and "farcical" and several Wanderers players said they had never played in worse conditions.
The side came to Morocco dreaming big of a possible showdown with the world's best but Popovic said the Asian champions feeling they didn't get a fair chance to shine.
"I sit here really disappointed because this is the pinnacle, this is the highest you can have as a club and for us to experience that as a club leaves a sour taste in my mouth really," Popovic said.
"To play on that kind of pitch - we wanted to test ourselves against Cruz Azul and we never got a chance to show how good we are.
"We were two minutes away from that dream date with Real Madrid and we certainly felt we could compete with Cruz Azul."
The match featured a host of dubious decision, none moreso than the embarrassing gaffe from Ivorian match referee Noumandiez Doue which saw Topor-Stanley wrongly sent off.
With the Wanderers already a man down after Spiranovic saw two yellows in regular time, Topor-Stanley was marched when he received a yellow card in the first half of extra time, after an earlier one was mistakenly registered in his name instead of Seyi Adeleke's for a 57th minute foul.
"It just disappoints me really, because you expect the best in a tournament like this," Popovic said.
"I felt that we had referees on training wheels out there today and (they were) learning.
"I didn't know that you could do that in a tournament like this.
"In the end we were two minutes away which leaves us with a lot of disappointment but also pride at the same time that we were that close to beating a top side and another one waiting."
The A-League side was agonisingly close to victory after a 65th-minute long-range stunner from midfielder Iacopo La Rocca before Spiranovic saw red in the 74th minute and substitute Shannon Cole gave away an 88th-minute penalty which Cruz Azul captain Gerardo Torrado converted to force extra time.
The Wanderers were already under heavy fire when Topor-Stanley was ejected and Australian side simply couldn't hang on for a penalty shootout.
Striker Mariano Pavone pounced on a loose ball to put the Mexican side ahead in the 108th minute and Mateo Poljak's foul allowed Torrado to seal victory for the six-time North American champions with his second spot kick of the game.
Cruz Azul will now face Real Madrid in the semi-finals while the Wanderers will face Algeria's ES Setif for fifth place after the African champions were sensationally beaten 1-0 by New Zealand minnows Auckland City.
Western Sydney, who qualified with their historic Asian Champions League triumph last month, defied their poor A-League form and a pre-match pay dispute to push heavily-favoured Cruz Azul all the way - though the conditions were a genuine leveller.
Attacking fluency was virtually impossible as the ball stuck in parts and skidded in others.
"As difficult as I've ever experienced on a football field," Covic said after the match.
"That whole 90 minutes ... 120 (minutes) to me was disgusting.
"It's absolutely farcical what happened out there. It's unacceptable to me.
"The conditions are hard enough as it is and we've copped decisions that ultimately gave them the game."
Share
