The Philippine Star

Global FC kicks off bid vs Singapore

- – Olmin Leyba

Global FC sets out to play its best game against Singapore side Tampines Rovers tonight at Rizal Memorial Stadium as it tries to take the next step in its bid to crash the prestigiou­s Asian Football Confederat­ion (AFC) Champions League.

The Cebu-based club makes its historic debut in the Champions League’s Preliminar­y Stage 1 qualifiers in the 7: 30 p. m. home fixture and hopes to take full advantage of this opportunit­y to further its cause.

“We’re representi­ng the Philippine­s for the first time in the AFC Champions League and this is the biggest game we have to play so we have to go 100 percent,” Global skipper Misagh Bahadoran said during yesterday’s pre-match presscon.

“This is the biggest tournament for any club in Asia and everybody dreams of playing in it. For us, we want to go through this, we want to go to the group stage so we’re entering this game with a strong mentality,” he added.

Global needs to win three successive KO matches to nail that coveted place in the group stage of Asia’s premier club competitio­n. A win over the Stags will give the 2016 United Football League titlists a stint in the Preliminar­y Round 2 against Australia’s Brisbane Roar on the road. If successful in Brisbane, Global will move up to the competitio­n’s Play- off phase against Shanghai Shenhua with a spot in Group E already at stake.

Global aims to sustain its historymak­ing run for Phl football. Before vying in the ACL prelims, it earned the distinctio­n of being the first Pinoy club to play in the defunct AFC President’s Cup and then the secondtier AFC Cup.

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