A-League side Western Sydney Wanderers "weathered an alleged orchestrated disruption campaign including car crashes and lasers before upsetting Chinese holders Guangzhou Evergrande" in the Asian Football Confederation Champions League, players and media said, according to the AFP. Wanderers players said that they were "woken by people knocking on their doors and ringing their hotel phones throughout the night before the match in southern China." Despite the incidents, the Wanderers "sent the deep-pocketed champions and tournament favourites crashing out." Players said the Wanderers "were involved in two traffic accidents on the way to Guangzhou's Tianhe stadium." Wanderers defender Shannon Cole said, "Someone purposely swerved in front of the bus, slammed the brakes on
and the bus hit them and then another bus hit us from behind." Australian newspapers said that "during the match Wanderers players had laser
beams shone into their eyes from home fans, while bottles were also
thrown from the stands." There was no "immediate comment on the allegations from the Guangzhou
Evergrande, and local media did not report any disruption at the match" (AFP, 8/29).
