Ceres Negros advances in AFC Champions League

MANILA, Philippines — Ceres Negros FC marched into the second round of the AFC Champions League preliminary stage after overcoming Myanmar counterpart Shan United, 3-2, last Tuesday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Robert Lopez Mendy (5’), Bienvenido Maranon (40’) and OJ Porteria (79’) provided the offensive as the Busmen hurdled the first of three obstacles in their bid to land into the group stage of Asia’s two-tier international football meet to the delight of 3,704 fans.

The Busmen next face Thailand outfit Port FC on Tuesday at the FAT Stadium in Bangkok, looking for a followup victory and a ticket to the succeeding playoff match against J-League side FC Tokyo. Interestingly, Port will feature Pinoy Martin Steuble, who left the Bacolod-based team to join the Thai club.

“We only had three, four days of preparation but I’m happy with how the players played in the first half and about 15 minutes in the second half. For me they deserved to win,” said coach Risto Vidakovic.

Playing their first game since an undefeated golden double in the Philippines Football League, the Busmen came out charging and bombarded the visiting Burmese with repeated attempts.

It took the home team just five minutes after kickoff to get on the board, with Mendy sending in a left-footed strike off a Pika Minegishi cross. Maranon doubled it five minutes before halfttime, making good on Porteria’s delivery from the right side.

Shan pulled one back via Sin Min Tun’s diving header at the 73rd but Porteria restored a two-goal margin six minutes later with a short-range effort.

Djawa Maximin made it a 3-2 contest at the 87th when he scored off a scramble at the Ceres goal. But the Busmen held tough heading home to complete the conquest.

“Obviously our (lack of) match fitness showed in the second half but I’m just proud of the boys for grinding it out, showing a lot of heart, and fighting it out until the final whistle,” said Porteria, the Man of the Match.