Spiranovic embracing Wanderers' gruelling schedule

Matthew Spiranovic says Western Sydney Wanderers accepts its horror A-League schedule without complaint because it hates the idea of the alternative - not playing in the AFC Champions League.

Matthew Spiranovic

Western Sydney's Matthew Spiranovic (R) battles for the ball in the meeting with Guangzhou Evergrande. (Getty) Source: Getty Images Asia Pacific

After losing 3-2 at home to Guangzhou Evergrande in its second ACL group game on Wednesday night, Wanderers will play away against Brisbane Roar on Sunday, at home against Melbourne City on Wednesday and at home against Melbourne Victory on Friday.

Then they will fly to South Korea for their next ACL game against FC Seoul the following Wednesday and return for a home game against Newcastle Jets on Saturday 21 March.

That's six games in 18 days but Sprianovic says he and his team-mates have just got to suck it up and get on with it.

"There's no doubt it's a massive challenge," Spiranovic told The World Game. "It's not easy, it takes its toll on everyone, but we've been down this road before and they're obstacles we've overcome in the past and we have to do it again.

"We've always said this is a situation we embrace rather than shy away from. Because of our success we've found ourselves here and I'm sure that every other club and player would like to be in our position rather than watching the ACL games on TV.

"It's difficult, from a mental and physical perspective. It's gruelling, but we as players, that's what we work towards, that's what we train every day for and if you ask me what would I rather be doing, playing three days a week or training five days a week, I'd rather the games.

"These are all big games in front of big crowds and it's a fantastic opportunity for everyone and something I embrace - something we all embrace."
Spiranovic felt Wanderers played well enough to get something out of the game against Guangzhou Evergrande.

"Another game where it felt like we deserved more," he said. "Controlled the game for large parts, created opportunities, but conceded soft goals and against a team like that, full of quality, you get punished, and, yeah, it's a tough one to take because I thought we definitely deserved more.

"The overall game seemed to be in our control. Conceding early obviously wasn't ideal, but then we found ourselves level and before we could catch our breath we were down again. That definitely hurt our momentum.

"Conceding the third goal was a big blow, but again we got a goal back and we had our chances after that, so it's disappointing that we couldn't level it up again."

Wanderers are in a very tough group with not only Guangzhou Evergrande, which won the title in 2013 and was eliminated by Western Sydney in last year's quarter-finals, but also FC Seoul, which finished runner-up in 2013 and was eliminated by Wanderers in last year's semi-finals.

After two of the six group games Wanderers are in second place on three points, behind Guangzhou Evergrande (six) and ahead of FC Seoul on goal difference.

Kashima Antlers, which Western Sydney beat 3-1 away last week, is still on zero after losing 1-0 away to FC Seoul on Wednesday.

Spiranovic said Wanderers were confident of making it out of the group stage.

"It's definitely one of the toughest groups," he said. "But, while we respect all those sides, we don't fear any of them.

"We've set out to defend the title. We decided we wanted to create history again. That's the aim and we find ourselves on three points after two games and it's still in our hands, so we look forward to the upcoming games."

In the meantime, Spiranovic said Wanderers would continue to commit themselves to doing as well as possible in their A-League games, even though the season is effectively gone for them in terms of making the finals.

"It has to be that way, that's the expectation of our club," he said. "We go out there and give it our best every time and we expect to win. There's no two ways about that, we'll keep giving it our all and we'll fight to the very end."


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4 min read
Published 5 March 2015 11:55am
By Greg Prichard

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