Now or never for beleaguered Global FC

Matches today (Cebu City Sports Center)

4:30 p.m. - KRL FC (PAK) vs Yeedzin FC (BHU)

7:30 p.m. - Global FC (PHL) vs Dordoi (KGZ)

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Philippine club Global FC goes for broke in tonight’s AFC President’s Cup Group B qualifiers against fancied Dordoi of Kyrgyzstan in a determined bid to book a monumental berth to the tourney’s final round.

Smarting from a sorry 0-2 setback to Pakistan’s Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Global booters (three points on 1-0-1 win-draw-loss card) enter the 7:30 p.m. encounter needing no less than a victory against the Kyrgyz side (four points on 1-1-0) to move forward to another milestone.

“We know the stakes. We know we need to win to advance to the next round,” said Global coach Brian Reid, looking to steer the Phl club to the final round on its maiden appearance in the tourney for clubs from “emerging” Asian nations.

Global had actually gotten off to a good start in Wednesday’s opener with a 5-0 romp over Yeedzin of Bhutan, and zoomed to the top of the table, thanks to a surprise 1-1 stalemate between Dordoi and KRL in the other game.

But the Pinoy booters botched the opportunity to  advance outright via a second straight win and stumbled against tough KRL.  This left them stuck with three points while Dordoi, which smothered Yeedzin, 9-0, and KRL, wrested the top 2 spots with four points apiece.

Dordoi only needs a draw against Global to qualify for the final round for the seventh time. KRL, for its part, can take the other final berth by beating winless Yeedzin in the 4:30 p.m. first match.

“We understand that it was never going to be an easy task for us and we needed to step our level. It will be a good test on how the team will handle the pressure of playing an elimination game. It’s a tall order considering the strength of Dordoi, but I expect the team to fight until the end,” said Global owner Dan Palami.

“I hope we can get a good result on Sunday against Dordoi,” Reid said.

The Scottish mentor said he’s optimistic his wards can get a good result against Dordoi, a two-time champion. He believes that Global, despite its loss to KRL,  has shown it can compete against the best in the President’s Cup.

“I think we’re forgetting that KRL were finalists last year and they are more experienced than us and anybody can see that we have come far already because (of) how we played them,” he said after the match.

Reid went on to say that his wards actually played better than the Pakistanis Friday night.

“The better team lost. We were the better team, we passed them, we played our position, but two mistakes cost us. First, the corner kick the goalkeeper was off his line,” he said, referring to the corner that Mahmood Khan swerved past an off position Moussa Sanogo that put Global in the catch-up role.