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| (photo by AFC/Lagardere Sports) |
It was a night to forget for Global Cebu as Johor Darul Ta'zim stamped the class above them with a routine 4-0 blanking to take the Group F lead at the Larkin Stadium in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
The 2015 winners scored twice in each half to take the fight out of the reigning Philippine champs to move on top of their group with their second home win of the season at 7 points, one more than their victims.
JDT stamped their class right at the half-hour mark to score the first of the match, with Mahali Jasuli latched on Safiq Rahim's ball and fired it to the bottom right corner past Patrick Deyto.
Four minutes later, the ex-Malaysia skipper doubled the advantage from the spot in a controversial fashion, as replays showed that Hazwan Bakri dived to get the call off Amani Aguinaldo's foul as the Southern Tigers enjoyed a 2-0 lead at the break.
Despite Misagh Bahadoran coming on for Kemy Agustien in the 38th minute, Global almost found their grip in the match at the restart but found JDT's backline a tough nut to crack, especially reserve netminder Izham Tarmizi preserved their clean sheet with a close stop on Shu Sasaki in the 83rd minute.
And in the end, the home side were too much in the battle of the defending domestic champs, as substitute Brian Ferreira (87') and Marcos Antonio (90+2') put the finishing touches to remain unbeaten against Filipino clubs for the second successive match in as many seasons in the AFC Cup.
But all is not lost for Global though, as they will have three weeks to regroup before meeting them again here in Manila on April 5.
Follow him on Twitter: @KevinLEstrada
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