GLOBAL Football Club Head Coach Leigh Manson is wary of the high level of competition the reigning United Football League (UFL) titlists will face when they begin their Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup campaign.
The UFL’s perennial contenders in both league and cup tournaments is clustered in Group G, with their first assignment in the home-and-away group stage against Hong Kong’s South China Athletic Association at 8 p.m. on Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Also part of the Group G cast is last year’s Myanmar National League champions Yadarnabon, and reigning Malaysia Football Association Cup titlists Pahang Football Association.
Despite the team having six veteran Azkals and being no strangers to regional club competition after qualifying twice in the last two years in the now-defunct AFC President’s Cup, the Scottish coach had his reservations on how his team would perform on the pitch come game time.
“I think the experience most of our players have will help, both with the national team and in the previous competitions. But we have to stress that this competition is a lot higher than the previous intercontinental [club competition]…it’s only the AFC Champions League that is above this,” Manson said.
“This is a real challenge to be in with these clubs, especially against South China, which is a highly supported club in Hong Kong. So this is a great, great benchmark on where Philippine club football is, and I’m excited,” he added.
The team will parade goalkeeper Patrick Deyto, midfielder Dennis Villanueva, defender Daisuke Sato, defender Amani Aguinaldo, forward Mark Hartmann and captain Misagh Bahadoran—all veterans of the men’s national squad that competed in last year’s Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup.
After coming off a highly-physical encounter against rival Stallion FC over the weekend, Manson was not chipper in terms of his squad’s preparations against the youthful South China roster under the guidance of newly-installed veteran Argentine mentor Roberto Mario Carlos Gómez.