By beating Tampines Rovers in the First Preliminary Round of the AFC Champions League, Global earned the chance to play against Brisbane Roar in Australia with the winner of the tie heading to China to face the Carlos Tevez-bannered Shanghai Shenhua in the playoff round of the competition.
The prospect of meeting the giants of Asian football was mouth-watering, perhaps too much that in their attempt to meet one of China’s finest sides, Global proved to be a level below the Australian team as Brisbane Roar strolled to a comfortable 6-0 win, Tuesday night at Suncorp Stadium.
Roar’s Brandon Borello led the way, scoring a first-half hattrick that made it a mountain too steep for Global to climb. The first of his goals came in the 12th minute. The breakthrough play started with Matt McKay dashing into a promising position. He might have lost the ball but it presented the chance to Borello to weave past the Global defense and open the scoring via a deflection past Global keeper Patrick Deyto. The 21-year-old Australian forward nearly doubled his account six minutes later, but Deyto came up with a better reaction to keep the deficit at one.
21 minutes into the match, Global wanted a penalty as a scramble in the box led to an alleged handball by a player in orange. The referee, Khamis Mohammed Al Marri of Qatar, was not interested and waved play on. Despite going a goal down, Global made sure they would take the game to the Roar and not sit back to limit the damage. A positive approach to the game until Brisbane netted their second of the night four minutes after the penalty shout.
Again, it was Borello who delivered the touch to put the ball into the net. Defender Corey Brown supplied a magnificent pass to the striker who provided a neatly finish for his team. The Roar banked on their striker’s sensational performance with their third goal also coming from Borello in the half-hour mark.
The young striker pounced on poor Global defending that got rattled when the ball got loose off the Spaniard Manuel Arana. Unfortunately for the Filipino team, the most composed person near the ball was the Australian who guaranteed he’ll be taking the match ball home.
Roar then had to make an early sub as Joey Katebian couldn’t carry on in the game following a collision, but the incident did nothing to derail the hosts’ momentum going into halftime. In the 37th minute, Arana compounded Global’s misery as he tucked the ball home off another assist made by Brown.
The floodgates were definitely open and Borello nearly made it harsh for Global, who felt slightly relieved the four-goal deficit didn’t turn into five. 4-0 was the score come the halftime whistle.
Early in the second half, Global attempted to pull one back through captain Misagh Bahadoran. The Filipino international forced a good save from Jamie Young while a later shot went off the mark. It was the best spell for the reigning Philippine champions to make their mark as the Roar regained control of the affair approaching the hour mark.
Despite the gargantuan lead, Roar still kept their feet on the gas.
Their fifth goal came in the 65th minute courtesy of the Spanish midfielder Arana, who ended the night with a brace. His teammates, Shannon Brady and Nicholas D’Agostino, had decent looks on goal but neither could not conjure a touch good enough to make it six for Brisbane.
Ultimately, it was the man of the hour, Borello, who grabbed his fourth of the game and Brisbane’s sixth with a left-footed finish ending the game on a sweet note for the Roar.
As for Global, their AFC Champions League run finishes here.
Fortunately, their Asian exploits do not end in Australia as they are set to compete in the group stage of the AFC Cup. The said competition kicks off later this month with another Filipino team, Ceres-Negros also in the mix.
