YET to book a win and earn the full three points that go with it in its ongoing AFC Cup campaign, local side Global Cebu FC looks to do far better moving forward, knowing it now has less room to work on if it wants to advance to the next round of the tournament.
Currently at the bottom of Group G in the group stage of the AFC Cup with one point from a loss and a draw in its first two matches, Global needs to deliver in its last four remaining games in the classification round to stay in the hunt for a spot in the knockout stage.
Global was held to a 1-1 draw by Bali United FC in its last game on Tuesday at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium. Previous to that it lost, 1-0, to FLC Thanh Hoa in an away match in Hanoi on Feb. 10.
Against Bali, Global got off to a good start, beating the visitors to the punch with an early goal care of Curt Dizon at the 11th minute.
Bali though stayed the course despite falling a goal behind and kept on with its attack.
Its efforts paid off at the 74th minute as Ilija Spasojevic leveled the count at 1-1 with a header off a corner.
Bali had a chance to add on to it and claim the win minutes later with a penalty shot but Global goalkeeper Patrick Deyto proved up to the challenge and made the key save before the two teams settled for the draw.
The draw earned the two competing teams a point each for joint third place in Group G, behind leader Yangon United FC (2-0-0) with six points and FLC Thanh Hoa (1-0-1) with three points.
“Tonight, for me, was an excellent effort. We played well, especially Patrick. We were almost there but we could not get one more goal,” said Global coach Marjo Allado in the post-match press conference when asked for his assessment of his team’s performance.
His view was shared by Mr. Deyto, who nonetheless gave Bali credit for sticking to its game plan throughout the match.
“We deserved to win this game, but they just so happened to score also. We have to give credit to Bali, they kept coming at us even if we were leading, 1-0,” said Mr. Deyto, who is also the club’s team captain.
He went on to say that now, more than ever, the team has to bring on the wins to give itself a chance to still vie for the top spot and advance.
“We have to be better prepared, now we really have to win the next few games. We’ll just get as many points as we can in the next games, and hopefully, it will be enough for us to go to the next round,” Mr. Deyto said.
Next for Global is an away match with Yangon United on March 7, a game that Mr. Allado said they have to be at full strength to give them a good chance.
“We need to recover fast before our next match so we will have fresh legs,” he said.
Meanwhile, also held to a 1-1 draw was Ceres-Negros FC by Singapore’s Home United FC in Group F.
The home team was first on the board with Shahril Ishak on the scoring end only to be negated by Ceres’ Manuel Herrera “Super” Lopez (79’) late in the match that eventually forced the draw.
Despite the result, Ceres (1-1-0) remains on top of its group with four points.
Home United (1-1-0) also has four points but surrenders an eight-point lead in goal difference to Ceres — 9-1.
Ceres next plays on March 6 against Shan United FC at the Panaad Park and Football Stadium in Bacolod. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
