Two first half goals held up for Tokyo Verdy as the J-League 2 side defeated A-League premiership holders Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1 at the Tama City Stadium on Thursday. Brendon Santalab scored again for Western Sydney after hitting the post earlier in the second half, but it was not enough to prevent the Wanderers from failing to get a result in the final game of the club’s WanderTour of Japan and China.
Western Sydney lose final WanderTour match in Tokyo
Brendon Santalab scored his fourth pre-season goal but it was not enough to get past Tokyo Verdy on Thursday.
After a draw against J-League side Shimizu S-Pulse and a big win against Guangzhou R&F of the Chinese Super League, Tokyo Verdy was supposed to be the easiest of the three WanderTour games. Yet even with a strong line-up featuring Shinji Ono, Youssouf Hersi, Mark Bridge and Tomi Juric, the Wanderers could not get on the score sheet in the first half. Verdy scored twice in four minutes before the 20th minute mark and Western Sydney’s inability to finish good chances left the score 2-0 at the break. Santalab, a half-time substitute for Juric, had the two best chances for the visitors, ringing the post with the first and scoring on the second.
Western Sydney round out the pre-season with games against Adelaide United (September 22 in Penrith) and Melbourne Victory (September 29 in Kingston) before facing Bankstown City Lions (October 3 in Sefton) as a final warm-up.
Scoring:
TV Yoshina 15’
TV Takahara 18’
WSW Santalab 56’
Line-ups:
Tokyo Verdy: Nakajima, Chugo, Yasuda, Mori, Takagi, Yoshino, Killoran, Santos, Takahara, Caio, Bueno
Western Sydney: Covic (Tyson 46’); Topor-Stanley (McGing 63’), Beauchamp (Olsen 63’), Heffernan (D’Apuzzo 46’), La Rocca (Haliti 63’); Poljak (Trifiro 63’), Polenz (Cole 63’), Ono (Mooy 46’), Hersi (Appiah 63’); Bridge (Minniecon 63’), Juric (Santalab 46’)
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