Nokor win closes door on Ceres

MANILA, Philippines - Rimyongsu Club of North Korea routed Tatung Company of Chinese Taipei, 5-0, effectively slamming the door on Ceres-La Salle FC’s bid to nail a milestone stint in the final round of the Asian Football Confederation President’s Cup Saturday night at Panaad Stadium in Bacolod City.

Skipper Park Song Chol scored a brace late in the game while Jang Song Hyok, Ri Hyok Chol and Jong Il Gwan took turns punching through the defense to lead Rimyongsu to the triumph that secured their spot to the finale in September alongside Group B topnotcher HTTU Asgabat of Turkmenistan.

Asgabat grabbed the first berth after hacking out a come-from-behind 2-1 squeaker over Ceres-La Salle in the first game to finish with a leading seven points on 2-1-0 win-draw-loss slate.

The North Koreans wound up with five points on 1-2-0, taking runner-up honors ahead of the Filipino representatives, who tallied four points on 1-1-1 and were left to shake their heads after their wasted opportunities.

Ceres needed at least a draw against Asgabat in Saturday’s first match to complete its march to history but just couldn’t pull through in the end. Carlie de Murga gave the home club a 1-0 cushion with a 20th minute strike but Ceres gave up a pair of late goals to Muhadov Suleyman (45+2’ and 90+4’) to put its bid in jeopardy.

With the hosts’ loss, third-running Rimyongsu got into a striking position to snatch the last berth when it battled winless Tatung in the nightcap.

Jang scored on a penalty seven minutes into the match then Jong joined the scoring fray at the 41st as Rimyongsu went into the break with a 2-nil spread. Ri slammed it home in the 51st afterwhich Pak connected in the 86th and 88th to complete the conquest.