AFC president’s cup Global FC starts campaign vs. Bhutan’s Yeedzin today

CEBU, Philippines - The Global FC booters representing host Philippines will start their campaign against Yeedzin of Bhutan in Group B action of the historic AFC President’s Cup today at the Cebu City Sports Center.

Global FC will lock up horns with the Bhutanese side in the 7:30 mainer, right after the opening showdown between Kyrgyzstan’s Dordoi Bishkek and Pakistan's KRL (Khan Research Laboratories) squad scheduled at 4:30 pm.

Scottish coach Brian Reid of Global FC admitted that they did not have time to scout their opponents, but he is hopeful that they could meet the expectations of their Filipino fans.

“We have prepared reasonably well except for the foreign players. Just like the other countries, we are hoping for the best. We just have to be confident,” said Reid in the event's final press conference yesterday at Marco Polo Hotel.

Global FC is loaded with some members of the national team known as the Azkals. They are Juani Guirado, Carli de Murga, Denis Wolf, Jeffrey Christiaens, Jason de Jong, goalkeeper Ed Sacapano and Fil-Am Patrick Reichelt.

That will surely work to their advantage especially that Bhutan doesn't have a national team.

Also, Yeedzin star player Yeshey Dorji said they did not have much time to prepare for this battle since their team is composed mostly of student-athletes and some veterans who have works.

“We did not have so much time to prepare. Maybe like a month only. Our team is composed of those in the office and students. We don’t have a national team in Bhutan. We are on a cold place. We may have a bit of difficulty with the temperature, but still we are hoping to have a good game,” said Dorji.

Dordoi Bishkek, on the other hand, is packed with about 90 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s national team players. They have been preparing for this ground-breaking event in Cebu sports since December, but they have not yet played in an actual tournament this year.

The good thing for the two-time AFC President’s Cup winner Dordoi is that they haven't changed much of their system, according to their coach Sergey Dvoryankov.

“We have good preparation. We went on hard with our program. We hope to do the best that we can this year. I hope we will have the Cup,” Dvoryankov said.

Although Global FC will be playing for the first time in an AFC tilt of such magnitude, Dvoryankov still thinks the country’s bets are surely the team to beat.

On the other hand, KRL will be bannered by four Pakistani veterans in the AFC Challenge Cup.

“In the last three years, we have performed well in the regional level .Our team is composed of youngsters and five to six national players. We have one month training for this, a good preparation. But I will not promise so many things, we will just try to do everything we can,” said KRL coach Tariq Lutfi.

Lutfi looks forward to having a good game ahead here especially that humidity is not as bad as they thought it would be.

“We have been practicing in Islamabad and it’s also hot. The breeze may be harder, but humidity here is not as bad as we thought it is,” said Lutfi.

The four squads will be playing in single round robin format, with the top two proceeding to the final stage against the best of Group A and C later this year.

Meanwhile, the organizing Cebu Football Association has informed the public that they could still purchase tickets for the five-day joust today at the CFA office located just beside the Cebu City Sports Center. (FREEMAN)