Bacolod City: AFC Cup debutants Ceres La Salle will be banking on the support of their home crowd at Pana-ad Park and Football Stadium in Tuesday’s AFC Cup last 16 clash with Hong Kong’s South China according to coach Franklin Muescan.
The Filipino club won Group E ahead of Singapore’s Tampines Rovers with an undefeated record, chalking up two of their three wins on their own turf.
But with first-ever place in the quarter-finals at stake against 2013 semi-finalists South China, Muescan (pictured) is looking for a landmark performance from his side in front of their fans.
“South China is a big opponent and probably the best team we will be playing against in the history of the club. But we are the home side and we want to use this advantage,” said Muescan.
“We know that the Hong Kong Premier League is strong and their local players are good. South China is an established club and playing against them will be a great experience.
“It’s hard to pinpoint any weakness in South China, but from our end, we want to show that we have good team spirit and we believe in the quality and capability of our players.”
South China crucially beat India’s Mohun Bagan on the final Matchday a fortnight ago to finish second in Group G behind the I-League side and edge out Myanmar’s Yangon United by a point.
By the mid-way point of the group stage, though, that outcome looked unlikely after three straight defeats. However, under the management of Ricardo Rambo the side surged back to snatch a place in the Round of 16 after a run of three consecutive victories.
“We’ve had good results in the past three games, but this game is very important and we want to do well in the AFC Cup,” said South China coach Rambo, who saw his side defeated at the semi-final stage of the Hong Kong Premier League Season Play-Off after a 2-1 defeat to Southern District on Saturday.Eriksson is wary of the threat a well-drilled FC Tokyo side poses, and knows that the level of competition is set to step up with the arrival of the knock-out stages.
“FC Tokyo are very organised, and they are a very hard working team,” he said.
“If you get to the knockout stages, you don’t expect to face a bad team. So, it’s going to be difficult but it will be difficult for them as well.”
FC Tokyo, meanwhile, know all about Chinese competition, having been defeated by Guangzhou Evergrande in this round of competition back in 2012, and having to contend with Jiangsu FC in this year’s group stages.
“Jiangsu is a wonderful side but Shanghai has additional strength in the quality of their Chinese players,” said coach Hiroshi Jofuku. “They are fast and attack-minded while also well organised in defence, and so we are expecting a tough match tomorrow.
“However, this is our home game and we’d like to make sure to get the win here before heading to our second leg away in Shanghai. We will look to create scoring chances while shutting down their attack and we are focused on getting the win tomorrow with the help of our supporters.”
FC Tokyo are languishing in 12th place in the J.League, and are eager to make up for it with a strong showing in the AFC Champions League.
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