SYDNEY — Australia's Western Sydney Wanderers scored two second-half goals to overhaul J-League champion Sanfrecce Hiroshima and reach the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League here Wednesday. The Wanderers, trailing 1-3 from the first leg in Japan, leveled the tie with goals from Shannon Cole and Brendon Santalab and got through to the last eight of the Asian showpiece thanks to their away goal. FC Seoul also advanced on away goals despite a 2-1 loss to Kawasaki Frontale at Seoul World Cup Stadium as the tie finished 4-4 on aggregate. Seoul, 3-2 winner in the first leg, took the lead through former Urawa Reds striker Sergio Escudero on eight minutes. Yu Kobayashi leveled for Frontale in the 29th and substitute Yoshihito Morishima made it 2-1 in the second minute of stoppage time. Al-Sadd of Qatar also advanced despite being held 2-2 by Foolad of Iran. Al-Sadd advanced on 2-0 away goals. Wanderers are the third Australian team to reach the ACL quarterfinals after Adelaide United in 2008 and 2012. The match turned when Cole lashed home a volley in the 55th minute after a cut-back from Japanese star Shinji Ono. Sanfrecce's defense played deeper in the second half and Wanderers mounted wave after wave of attacks in search of the clinching goal. It came with five minutes remaining in normal time when Santalab blasted home after more deft lead-up work from Ono. Wanderers saw out the five minutes of stoppage time to preserve their advantage and go into the draw for the two-leg quarter-finals in August. The victory was a fitting farewell for Ono and Dutch midfielder Youssouf Hersi. Ono is returning to Japan to join Consadole Sapporo, while Hersi is leaving Wanderers to join A-League rival Perth Glory next season. “It's been a great year and I'm really pleased for the players,” said Wanderers coach Tony Popovic, who played five seasons as a defender for Sanfrecce. “It's great to send the players who are leaving out on a high and I'm just honoured to be head coach of this club. “It's a very close unit. We understand the way football is, that players move on, but they gave everything they had for the club in their final game.” One said the victory made him very happy. “I believe in this team and we believe in ourselves and that's why we have a good result tonight,” he said. In a late match Tuesday, Saudi Arabia's Al-Ittihad advanced to the last eight with a 3-1 win over Al-Shabab in Riyadh. Mukhtar Fallatah, the star of Ittihad's first-leg win a week ago, put his team ahead in the eighth minute of the match and Fahd Al-Muwallad made it 2-0 in the 72nd. Abdulmajeed Al-Ruwaili pulled one back for Al-Shabab in the 80th minute but Al-Ittihad finished off in style with Al-Muwallad finding the net once again in injury time to give his side a comfortable 4-1 aggregate. — Agencies
