Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Seoul: Coach Tony Popovic has set his sights on continuing Western Sydney Wanderers remarkable run in the 2014 AFC Champions League on Wednesday by taking another step towards a place in the final ahead of last season's runners-up FC Seoul.
Having already eliminated defending champions Guangzhou Evergrande in the quarter-finals last month, the A-League side meet an FC Seoul team seeking to become the latest Korean club to be crowned kings of Asia.
But Popovic, whose side have seen off Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the Round of 16 and former champions Ulsan Hyundai in the group stages, refuses to be overawed as his team go into the first leg of their meeting with Choi Yong-soo's side at Seoul World Cup Stadium.
"They're both very good teams and that's why they were in the final last year," said Popovic of Guangzhou and FC Seoul. "But at this stage of the competition you expect to play the best and to win such a prestigious competition you need to beat the best.
"We have beaten one of the best and along the way in the group stages we have beaten past champions, the J.League champions, in the quarterfinals the reigning champions and now we have to do it once more against the finalists from last year.
"We don't expect it to be any easier but we also expect ourselves to be much improved physically. This is our pre-season so we don't have a lot of competition match conditioning, but we believe we will be better prepared this time around.
"We haven't played a game yet that we don't go out to win and the players will vouch for that. Tomorrow will be no different. The first leg is away, and it's a good advantage to play the second leg at home but if we come in with a negative mindset we will be in trouble, so we will be positive tomorrow."
Western Sydney have yet to start their domestic campaign, but that lack of match fitness caused them few problems against Guangzhou and, after a training camp in the Middle east, Popovic believes his team is closer to their peak than in August.
"The fact is simple is that we will not be at our best until the second half of the A-League season," said Popovic, whose side will be without suspended trio Shannon Cole, Tomi Juric and Brendan Santalab.
"We will be better physically than we were against Guangzhou, but that does not relate to us winning, it doesn't mean we will win but we will be better. The training camp was a great exercise and mentally we will be strong having got through the quarter-final.
"We're in a semi-final, as FC Seoul is, to make the final. We're not here just to make up the numbers, we want to perform well and we want to go through and that's why we're here."