Ceres stuns Shan United in Champions League

PHOTO COURTESY OF TIEBREAKER TIMES
PHOTO COURTESY OF TIEBREAKER TIMES

MANILA – Ceres-Negros F.C. progressed to the next round of the 2020 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League preliminaries after a 3-2 escape over Shan United of Myanmar last night at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

Robert Lopez Mendy and Bienvenido Maranon fired a goal each in the opening half, while Jose Elmer Porteria netted another conversion for the Busmen in the second half.

Ceres-Negros set the game pace early with Lopez Mendy curling a beautiful left-footed strike from a cross by newcomer Hikaru Minegishi to go 1-0 within five minutes of the match.

Shan United attempted several times to score an equalizer, but Ceres-Negros goalkeeper Roland Muller’s defense was impenetrable. Ceres-Negros doubled the edge just before the half with Marañon’s volley at the 40th minute.

Shan United became aggressive in the second half and was able to trim the deficit with a glancing header from Zin Min Tun at the 73rd minute, but the Busmen upped its lead anew with Porteria converting a cross by Mike Ott from inside the box at the 79th minute.

The Burmese football club, however, made its last push with Djedje Maximin Djawa converting from inside the box at the 88th minute. They even had a chance to tie the game but Nanda Kyaw blew his free kick.

With the victory, Ceres-Negros will advance to the second preliminary match against Thailand F.A. Cup Champions Port F.C., which is led by former Busmen Martin Steuble in Bangkok, Thailand on Jan. 21.

The winner of the second preliminary match will then advance to the play-off round encountering J. League’s F.C. Tokyo on Jan. 28, with the victors earning a spot in Group F alongside South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai, China’s Shanghai Shenhua, and Australia’s Perth Glory./PN

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