FOR ALL its dominance in the United Football League, Global couldn’t seem to find a way to overcome Ceres-La Salle the past two years.
That changed on Thursday night when the reigning UFL champions fought back from a goal down to trip the Bacolod side, 3-1, in extra time to reach the finals of the PFF Smart Club Championship at Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Mark Hartmann grabbed the equalizer early in the second half, before sealing an impressive display with another wonder strike in the 117th minute as Global eliminated the two-time defending champions in dramatic fashion.
With a penalty shootout looming, Global found an extra gear with substitute Dennis Villanueva knocking in the go-ahead goal in the 114th minute, pouncing on a weak clearance from the Ceres defense.
The victory sent Global into a duel with the Loyola Meralco Sparks for the title tonight.
“I knew we were in for a tough time as Ceres lived up to the expectation as defending champions,” said Global owner Dan Palami. “We have a very competitive rivalry against them (Ceres) and I’m happy for the boys that they were able to pull through.”
The match started the same way as the FA League Cup final won by Ceres late last year when the Bacolod side took the lead just two minutes into the match when Manny Ott’s curling corner kick crept into Patrick Deyto’s goal.
But Global quickly found its feet, forcing Michael Casas into a series of superb saves just before halftime.
The equalizer came in the 48th minute as Hartmann finished off a swift counterattack started by Misagh Bahadoran after clearing a Ceres corner kick.
Ceres could have sealed victory earlier when Patrick Reichelt was awarded a penalty after he was brought down inside the box by substitute Richard Talaroc in the 88th minute. But Ceres newcomer Martin Steuble skied the spotkick, sending the match into extra time when Global finally put the defending champions to the sword.
“We have not beaten Ceres for quite a while, but we dominated the game and a lot of our young players stepped up tonight for the win,” said Global coach Leigh Manson.