MANILA, Philippines - Ceres-Negros FC and Global FC made it a glorious Tuesday night for the Philippines in the AFC Cup as they scored big victories over separate rivals to vault into the lead in their respective groups.
Inspired by 8,000-strong home crowd at Panaad Stadium in Bacolod, Ceres-Negros annihilated Singapore side Tampines Rovers, 5-0, to overtake its victims on top of Group G with four points.
Over in Phnom Penh, Global FC raced to its second straight triumph at the expense of Cambodian team Beoungket Angkor, 2-0, for six points and the No. 1 position in Group F.
Bienvenido Maranon delivered a brace for the Busmen, who also drew scoring from new signing Iain Ramsay, Manny Ott and Spaniard Fernando Rodriguez in giving the visiting Stags a sound beatdown and Bacolod fans a great treat.
Ramsay launched a superb volley from outside the box barely 31 seconds into the match to start Ceres’ romp. Maranon pounced on a defensive mix-up to double the home squad’s lead in the 24th minute then Ott took advantage of an opening in the 38th to make it 3-0.
Maranon nailed his second goal on a counter in the 64th and Rodriguez completed the rout with a side-footed finish eight minutes later as Ceres matched its biggest win in the AFC Cup. The Busmen had the same winning scoreline against Bangladesh club Sheik Jamal last year.
“When we play like this, we have a good chance of winning,” said Maranon, whose team also got a confidence boost from its previous 1-1 draw with Hanoi FC in the Vietnamese capital on opening night.
Paul Mulders struck twice – the first via a long-range effort in the fifth minute and the second on the spot kick an hour later – to also put Global ahead in its group.
“Our early goal changed everything and we took advantage of that,” said Global skipper Misagh Bahadoran, whose side opened its campaign with a 1-0 disposal of Myanmar bet Magwe at home.
Global FC will try to sustain its winning charge on Tuesday when it plays Johor Darul Ta’zim in Johor Bahru. Ceres will seek the same objective on Wednesday against Felda United of Malaysia.