Global set for titanic Ceres duel

TITLE favorites Global and Ceres-La Salle warmed up for their highly anticipated showdown this weekend with convincing victories on Thursday in the United Football League at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Misagh Bahadoran rediscovered his scoring touch as Global overpowered Manila Nomads, 12-0, to extend its unbeaten start to 10 matches, before Ceres, getting two goals each from Lee Jeong-woo, Adrian Gallardo and Jeff Christiaens, rolled past Green Archers, 7-1.

Bahadoran grabbed five goals to raise his total to 10 for the season, while Hikaru Minegishi and Dennis Villanueva also scored twice for Global, which has 30 points. Also on target for Global were Paolo Bugas, Ivan Petrovic and Arthur Kouassi.

Ceres also got a late strike from Nate Burkey in its ninth win in 10 outings, before Gerald Layumas nailed a goal for Archers.

The results meant Global and Ceres kept their 1-2 positions heading into their clash to end the first round of play on Sunday.

Archers remain in seventh spot with 13 points after suffering their fifth defeat of the campaign, while Nomads are in 10th with two wins against eight losses.