After a long and winding regular season, the 2017 Philippines Football League has closed its doors on the eliminations and finalized the standings for the upcoming Finals Series.
In the last game of the eliminations, Global Cebu defended home court with a 2-0 victory over Ceres Negros, Tuesday evening at the Cebu City Sports Complex.
Cebu sought to start fast, and perhaps should have opened the scoring three minutes into the contest when Darryl Roberts latched on a Pika Minegishi pass, only to shoot over the goal.
Despite the early miss, Global’s momentum did not waiver and a goal came soon afterwards. Rufo Sanchez capitalized on a Darryl Roberts assist to shoot past Ceres goalie Louie Casas and break the deadlock after just seven minutes of play.
The home side then saw their cushion double in the 33rd minute when Misagh Bahadoran took advantage of a Casas mishap to turn the ball in.
Ceres failed to find any answer after the break. Their best chance came early in the second half when Arnie Pasinabo eluded two Global defenders and laid the ball off to OJ Porteria, whose attempt was saved by Global goalie Patrick Deyto.
Global held on for the 2-0 victory over Ceres that finalized which club finishes where at the top half of the table..
The Cebu victory means that Meralco Manila that finish on top of the standings with 58 points. Ceres remain in second place with 57 points, while Kaya Makati and Global round up the top four with 47 points each. Kaya’s goal difference of 17 put them higher in the standings, as Global have a GD of 10.
There is still no official word about the dates and kickoff times for the playoffs. Meralco will play Global, while Ceres shall go up against Kaya in the Finals Series. Global and Kaya will have home court for the first leg, while Meralco and Ceres will enjoy that advantage for the second leg.
