Wanderers cop Asian Champions League hammering

Western Sydney’s Asian Champions League campaign already looks to be in serious trouble after a 4-0 loss to Urawa Red Diamonds.

Western Sydney Wanderers players battle for the ball last night against Urawa Red Diamonds

It’s early days yet but Western Sydney’s Asian Champions League campaign already looks to be in serious trouble after their comprehensive 4-0 loss to Japanese powerhouse Urawa Red Diamonds at Campbelltown Stadium last night.

The gulf in class between the two sides was reflected on the scoreboard as the Japanese turned a 0-0 halftime stalemate into a four-goal rout in the second half thanks to two goals in two minutes from Shinzoh Kohrogi (56th minute) and Tadanari Lee (58th) and clinical finishes from Tomoaki Makino (68th) and Brazilian Rafael (85th).

Three days after their drought-breaking A-League win over Sydney FC, the Wanderers copped their worst defeat in their third campaign in the ACL and one they might struggle to overcome in the rest of the tournament.

The Wanderers fielded an undermanned side missing six regulars while Urawa, who have yet to start their J-League season, had close to their best side.

However, the Wanderers, who won the ACL in 2014 — the first Australian club to do so — weren’t good enough on a night that left the small crowd of 5590 deflated.

While this is only the opening game of the campaign, things are not going to get any easier for Western Sydney given they are in a group that also includes Koreans FC Seoul and China’s Shanghai SIPG.

Wanderers coach Tony Popovic refused to blame the changes to his side for the loss. Instead he was critical of a number of defensive lapses that cost them dearly.

“What happened is quite simple, you get punished for every mistake and that’s the reality,” Popovic said. “It’s a harsh lesson. You lose the ball, they get a chance and they score.

“The biggest thing to take out of the first half is all the little details we did well, we fought hard and stayed in the game.

“The second half the game opened up quickly once we conceded two goals in a short space of time.”

Popovic said he had no regrets over the number of changes he made, declaring it was a good enough side to have competed better. With one eye on Saturday’s A-League game against Perth Glory, Popovic made six changes to the side that beat Sydney FC 1-0 with Vedran Janjetovic, Scott Neville, Jack Clisby, Kearyn Baccus and Nico Martinez backing up last night.

Meanwhile a depleted Brisbane kicked off their Asian Champions League campaign with a scoreless draw against Muangthong United at Suncorp Stadium.

It’s a result they’ll probably take in the circumstances with a raft of key players missing. They had to rely on a string of strong saves from Jamie Young to keep the Thai Premier League champions at bay.

Skipper Matt McKay (broken nose), Thomas Kristensen (hamstring) and Luke DeVere were all ruled out as coach John Aloisi called on a number of youth players to scrape together a team for the Roar’s sixth match in 22 days.

Striker Jamie Maclaren and veteran playmaker Thomas Broich both came off the bench in the second half but neither could find the breakthrough Brisbane needed in front of just 4536 supporters.

The Roar were warm favourites to win but it was never going to be an easy task against Muangthong — six of their starters featured for Thailand in November’s 2-2 World Cup qualifying draw against the Socceroos.

Addtional reporting: AAP