Ceres-Negros and Persija Jakarta meet for the second time in history, this time in the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta for Matchday 4 on April 23.
Both teams faced each other for the first time last April 3 at the Panaad Stadium where Ceres produced a vital 1-0 victory against the visitors.
Maranon was the lone goalscorer of the match which saw plenty of near misses from both squads that would have changed the outcome of the tie. Stephan Schrock was named the man of the match after a stellar performance on the pitch.
The win put the Filipinos on pole position with nine points while the Indonesian have dropped into third with four points after three matches.
Persija would be hard-pressed to avenge their defeat in the Philippines and will maximize the home support to find the edge in staying alive in the competition.
The Liga One champions need to secure maximum points to be in step of at least the best second position in the ASEAN Zone. The return of striker Silvio Escobar and defender Novri Setiawan will be vital to compensate for the automatic suspension of Frenchman Steven Paulle.
The Philippine representatives will have a full squad available for the Tuesday afternoon match which is expected to be filled by thousands of home supporters.
Schrock, Maranon, and the rest of the busmen will compete for the challenge of the likes of Bruno Matos, Riko Simanjutnak, and the ageless Ismed Sofyan.
The busmen are fully aware of the difficulty of the match at hand, especially when playing against a big crowd.
“Every away game in the AFC Cup is hard because we already know the high level of the opponent,” said defender Carli de Murga. “Of course Indonesian fans are supporting their team very hard especially with Persija Jakarata.”
“This match is very important for us. If we win we almost go through so it means a lot. So we are focused a hundred percent to go there and get the three points,” he added.
Kickoff is set at 330pm (430pm PH time) in the historic stadium with the match shown live over 5PLUS channel, ESPN5 YouTube, and Fox Sports 2.
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