Western Sydney Wanderers' Fifa Club World Cup squad are in a pay dispute with the A-League club's board, reports The Guardian. Tony Popovic and his squad have arrived in Morocco where they are scheduled to face Concacaf champions Cruz Azul in a quarter-final on Saturday.
However, there is still a possibility the game will not go ahead after talks between the club, the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) and senior players Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Shannon Cole and Ante Covic broke down.
"We have no intention of being greedy, we just want a fair deal. We certainly don't think we're asking for an amount that is unreasonable," one player told Fairfax Media. "We are hopeful of a resolution but the club isn't giving us much of a choice right now. We want to play in this tournament, to represent Australia and do the nation proud. They just haven't wanted to compromise at all.
"The club's attitude has been very disappointing. Surely what we are asking for - the same as what we had in the ACL - is a very reasonable request."
Unlike the Asian Champions League (ACL), the Club World Cup does not fall under the current A-League collective bargaining Agreement.
A PFA spokesman said the association was on standby to jet out should the situation not be resolved.
"This could rumble on for a few days yet," the spokesman told AAP.
"We have no plans to fly out just yet, but if we have to we will. For these players, it's the biggest game of their careers and the last thing they want to do is not play.
"But they feel they should be rewarded. The argument from the club is what used to happen back in the NSL days.
"We thought we'd moved away from that."
