Amirul Asyraf/S-League (file photo) |
By Ivan Saldajeno
SINGAPORE--Global caught fire late in its extended match against Geylang and took a 4-1 win in the return leg of their RHB Singapore Cup quarterfinal tie at the Bedok Stadium on Sunday night.
The UFL club secured a seat in the semifinals after taking the two-game series, 4-2, on aggregate.
Losing, 0-1, in the opener on Thursday, Global forced the first series deadlock as Mark Hartmann scored the opening goal in the 20th minute.
Global, needing to win by two or more to clinch the series win, became more active offensively as the club made more attempts only to fail in finding the target.
Geylang threatened midway through the second half, but Patrick Deyto, taking over the goalkeeping post for Roland Sadia, kept Geylang from scoring with his saves including a tough back-to-back in the 57th minute.
Bruno Castanheira finally scored the equalizer in the 76th minute for Geylang. The goal put the S-League side up, 2-1, in aggregate.
But substitute Paolo Salenga forced the extra time as he scored on an 80th minute goal.
Salenga nearly gave Global the win in regulation, but his 82nd minute attempt hit the crossbar and so was Hartmann's follow-up.
Geylang had one last shot for the win from way out, but Deyto impressively saved the rocket try.
Twelve minutes into the overtime session, Hartmann found the net for Global to give the club a 3-1 match lead and a 3-2 aggregate advantage.
Global's defense held on in the final 18 minutes of extra time, and Hartmann nailed the dagger right in the final minute of play.
Global will face either Albirex Niigata or Balestier Khalsa in the semifinals. Niigata, the sister team of the J-League club of the same name, took the front end of their quarterfinal tie against Balestier, 1-0, on Friday with the rematch set on Monday.