Of all the remarkable milestones achieved by the Western Sydney Wanderers in their two short years of existence, Wednesday night's 2-0 semi final win over FC Seoul must surely rank as their biggest.

An early goal to Mateo Poljak, which took a generous deflection, set the platform for the Wanderers to advance, and while Seoul dominated large swathes of the match, they seldom looked capable of grabbing the away goal they desperately needed.

Just as the Koreans were looking to increase their assault, the Wanderers – as they are so adept at doing – counter-attacked with venom, and Labinot Haliti's cross was met perfectly by Shannon Cole to seal the victory.

At the final whistle, the 18,896 on hand burst into scenes of jubilation, with the result booking the Wanderers' place in the final of the Asian Champions League.

It is there they will face Saudi Arabian giants Al-Hilal over two legs. The first leg takes place on October 25, most likely at ANZ Stadium. The second leg will be a week later in Riyadh at the King Fahd Stadium, infamous among Australian fans for being the scene of the Socceroos' 1997 Confederations Cup final massacre, losing 6-0 to Brazil.

Should the Wanderers emerge victorious, they will be the first Australian men's side, club or country, at any age, to claim silverware in Asia.

They will also qualify for the bounty of the FIFA Club World Cup in December, alongside Spanish giants Real Madrid and Copa Libertadores champions San Lorenzo.

But regardless of what happens in the next two months, all Wanderers' fans – and all Australian football fans, for that matter – will look back fondly upon the events of Wednesday night.

Perhaps it wasn't as dominant as Adelaide's famous 3-0 win over Bunyodkor that booked their place in the 2009 ACL final, but that has never been the Wanderers' style. This was a game executed exactly how coach Tony Popovic likes it.

Not that anyone will remember in hindsight but the Wanderers were already up against it before kick-off when they revealed first-choice striker Tomi Juric had not recovered from a groin injury. In his place, Brendon Santalab was at the point of attack, Labinot Haliti on the left and Mark Bridge, unusually, as the number 10.

The omission didn't bother the hosts early on as they went ahead after only four minutes. Poljak let fly with a speculative effort from 30 yards, one that benefited from a kind deflection which left Seoul keeper Lee Woong-Hee stranded.

An early advantage to the hosts and suddenly the question was thrust on the visitors. They now had no choice but to respond and force the issue. To Seoul's credit, they tried to launch attack after attack.

Yet even though coach Choi Yong-Soo opted to play both star pair Everton Santos and Mauricio Molina – after using them only for the second half in the first leg – the visitors lacked imagination.

It was so repetitive that it was hard to believe Seoul didn't try anything different. They'd go wide and then whip in a cross that was routinely cleared by one of Brendan Hamill or Nikolai Topor-Stanley, or the midfield support staff who often dropped deep to assist.

Hearts were in mouths when an inswinging corner fell neatly for Kim Jin-Kyu, the defender was only stopped by a desperate lunge from Daniel Mullen. Topor-Stanley had to clear his lines soon after as the Koreans looked for a weakness.

The match had plenty of feeling, too, and physical challenges were frequent. Qatari referee Abdulrahaman Abdou eventually pulled out the yellow card for Mullen's mistimed tackle on Kim Chi-Woo as the first half-half wound down.

Unperturbed by the rough stuff, and Seoul's best efforts in attack, the Wanderers sealed the result when Haliti curled in a splendid cross that Cole – suspended for the first leg – smartly converted. Seoul would come again and again as the clock wound down but their efforts were pervaded by predictability and, ultimately, a sense of the inevitable.

There would only be room for the Wanderers on the road to Riyadh.