GLOBAL Football Club fights for survival as it simultaneously eyes history when it takes on Singapore’s Home United in the deciding second leg of their Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup 2017 Asean Zone semifinals series tonight at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore.
The deciding match kicks off at 8:30 p.m. with Global needing to win big to become the first Filipino club to reach the Zonal Finals of the AFC Cup.
Global was down to 10-man in the final stretch of the first leg at it failed to capitalize at home with substitute Stipe Plazibat lifting Home United to a 2-2 draw. The Filipino club was just seconds away from escaping with a win but Plazibat nailed a heartbreaking header in a crazy sequence at the 95th minute.
“After that disappointment, we needed to regroup, organize and focus on what’s in front of us,” said Global interim Coach Marjo Allado, who will call the shots for the team as Japanese tactician Toshiaki Imai is still in his country to attend to personal matters.
“We’re going to face them all out. For us, we already managed our disappointment so we’re here again to give a good fight and the players are well-prepared because it’s a deciding game,” Allado added.
Global’s prime defender Amani Aguinaldo, who gave his team a 2-1 lead before blowing it, will serve a one-game suspension after he was slapped a red card in the 76th minute.
Global will lean on skipper Misagh Bahadoran, Hikaru Minegishi, Darryl Roberts, Patrick Deyto, Paul Mulders, Matthew Hartmann, Dennis Villanueva, Shi Sasaki and Sekou Sylla.