Ceres Negros to exploit home edge vs Myanmar

MANILA, Philippines — Set for its first ever home match in the AFC Champions League, Ceres Negros FC seeks to pounce on this opportunity to boost its chances against Myanmar’s Yangon United and move up to the second round of the qualifiers.

The Busmen host the Burmese side in a knockout Round 1 setto on Feb. 5 at Panaad Stadium, marking their maiden appearance on their turf after playing all three matches in the ACL qualifiers on the road in 2018.

“Everyone’s focused, everyone wants to win this game and give everything. We are playing at home so it’s a good opportunity for us to bring our crowd to the stadium,” Ceres coach Risto Vidakovic  said in an interview on Sports 5’s Sports Center program.

“It’s always harder when we play away, the opponents play in their own field and they know it well. Whereas here, we know how to play in Panaad and our oppornents know we are strong in Panaad so it (having home field advantage) is much better as we’re confident to play,” added veteran defender Carli de Murga.

In 2018, the Busmen tackled Shan United in Myanmar, emerging victorious on penalty shootout, 4-3, to advance to the second round, where they scored a massive 3-2 upset of Aussie home team Brisbane United to get to the playoff round versus China’s Tianjin Quanjian. The Chinese squad got the better of the Phl champs in the dispute for a spot in the group stage, 2-0.

This year, the host Busmen first need to hurdle Yangon – a side they defeated in the semis of the second tier AFC Cup in 2018 – then get past Thailand’s Chiangrai United on Feb. 12 to progress to the play-off 4 round versus Japan’s  Sanfrecce Hiroshima and get a shot at a historic berth in Group F. 

Although they lost key players in Patrick Reichelt and Manny Ott, who left to ply their trades overseas, the Busmen signed up Azkals defender Alvaro Silva, Miguel Tanton, Dennis Villanueva, Angelo Marasigan and Dylan de Bruycker to bolster their roster.

“We have very good additions,” Ceres star Stephan Schrock said during a meet and greet with supporters in Bacolod. “The team’s mindset is always winning and I’m very confident we will win.”