Rintaro Hama (21) of Cebu Football Club during their AFC Cup match against Macarthur FC. | Photo from AFC Cup Facebook page
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu Football Club (CFC) Gentle Giants continued their losing slump in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup on Thursday, October 5.
Cebu FC suffered another defeat against Macarthur FC, 2-8, during their game at the Campbelltown Stadium in Sydney, Australia.
The defeat put Cebu FC on the bottom of the teams standings of Group F in the ongoing AFC Cup. But there is still hope for the Gentle Giants to bounce back from their back-to-back defeats against the Aussies and Phnom Penh Crown FC of Cambodia in their opening match.
Meanwhile, Macarthur FC’s dominating victory against Cebu FC elevated them to the top of the team standings with six points from a 2-0 (win-loss) record with nine goals in hand, while the Cambodian squad is at second place with the same win-loss slate, but with seven goals tallied.
Shan United FC of Myanmar is also winless in Group F.
During their match on Thursday, Macarthur FC initiated their scoring spree with a penalty kick from team captain Ulises Davila at the sixth minute.
They made it 2-0 after Baris Tasci suffered an own goal at the 19th minute.
Worse, Valere Germain scored a brace within 10 minutes that stretched Macarthur FC’s lead to 4-0.
Kearyn Baccus and Jed Drew scored another goal at the 37th and 44th minutes, respectively to end the first half with a dominating 6-0 lead.
In the second half, the Aussie club made it 8-0 from Raphael Borges Rodrigues’s 49th minute and Jake Hollman’s 81st minute goals.
It was until the 84th minute when Cebu FC earned a goal after Matthew Jurman had an own goal. The own goal from Jurman prevented Cebu FC a shutout defeat, putting the scores at 1-8.
Rintaro Hama made it 2-8 with his 89th minute goal.
Cebu FC has a chance to clinch a win in Group F as they face Shan United on October 26, 2023 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila. They will head to Yangon, Myanmar as Shan United FC hosts them on November 9, 2023.
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