Strong finish powers Global past Singapore

MANILA, Philippines – Global debuted in the AFC Champions League on a fiery note, nipping Singapore’s Tampines Rovers, 2-0, to march into the second phase of the Preliminary Stage qualifying for Asia’s premier club competition Tuesday night at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

The People’s Club struck hard in the second half with new recruit Ahmad Azzawi (61’) and skipper Misagh Bahadoran (73’) delivering the goals and keeper Patrick Deyto leading the defense as it moved two wins  near a coveted spot in the ACL.

Cebu-based Global will seek to sustain the momentum when it faces the Brisbane Roar in a Preliminary Stage 2 away match at the latter’s turf on Tuesday.

“It was a tough game but we followed coach (Toshiaki Imai’s) strategy in the second half and it worked. I’m so happy to be part of this biggest victory ever for a Philippine football club and hopefully we do well again in Australia,” said Bahadoran.

Global took the front seat a little after the hour mark with Bahadoran feeding the Japanese-Iraqi Azzawi for the ice-breaker to the delight of a home crowd of 1,120. Bahadoran then scored on a counter to double Global’s lead even as Deyto stopped a late penalty kick by Khairul Amri to complete the shutout.

“Their central defense are kind of heavy and big and they’re strong in the air so we talked and agreed to do short, short passes and do counter-attackts and it worked,” said Bahadoran.

It was also sweet revenge against the Stags team that dealt Global two losses in the quarterfinals of the Singapore Cup last year.

“We lost twice against Tampines in Singapore but as I told you, we will win it in our home because this is our home and we owe it to a lot of our supporters,” said Bahadoran.