While it sees playing in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League as a bonus, Philippines Football League champion Ceres-Negros is determined to put up a creditable showing as it continues its qualifying bid on Tuesday against one of the top Aussie sides in Brisbane Roar.
A couple of weeks after returning from the holiday break, the Busmen are looking to pull off one of the biggest upsets in tournament history against a team that finished third in the Australian League last season.
Kickoff is set 5 p.m. (Manila time) at Queensland Sport and Athletic Stadium.
Making the task even more difficult for the Busmen, who won the Asean zonal finals of the AFC Cup last year, is the fact that Brisbane is already in the middle of its season, although the Roar is running eighth.
“It’s still the second week of preseason for us so we are obviously unprepared to play these kind of games,” said Ceres coach Risto Vidakovic, who survived Myanmar’s Shan United to set up a meeting with the Roar.
The winner of the match will travel to China to face Tianjin Quanjian in the final round of qualifying.