The club from the Philippines earned a surprise 1-0 win over Thai Premier League side Port FC in the second preliminary round in Bangkok last week, with Schrock scoring the only goal of the game as Ceres Negros recorded one of the finest results in the club’s history.

And now the 33-year-old midfielder is confident the Philippines Football League champions can give Kenta Hasegawa’s side a stern test in the winner-takes-all encounter.

Four games will take place in the East and a further four in the West, with former Asian champions Kashima Antlers, Al Ain and Esteghlal among those competing to secure a place in the 18th edition of the competition.

Since 2009, Asia's football fans have enjoyed the exciting addition of the qualifying stage to the AFC Champions League experience. Over a decade ago that entire process involved just five teams, a number that has risen to today's total of 28 sides.

There have been some classic encounters over the years involving late winners, penalty shootouts and upset victories. And, in one notable case, the winners of the entire tournament progressing all the way from the play-offs.

The 31-year-old midfielder spoke to the-AFC.com in an exclusive interview following Kedah's 5-1 win over Hong Kong's Wofoo Tai Po in the Preliminary Round 2 and the one-club man reflected on that match, the impressive form of new signing Kipre Tchetche and looked ahead to the crunch games against FC Seoul.

Stephan Schrock claimed the only goal of the game when the midfielder’s ball into the penalty area six minutes into the second half was punched over his own line by Port FC goalkeeper Worawut Srisupa and Ceres will now take on Japan’s FC Tokyo for a place in the group phase of this year’s competition.

Worawut’s skewed attempt to punch Stephan Schrock’s centre clear six minutes into the second half flew into his own goal and that was enough to take Risto Vidakovic’s side into the next round after holding off an increasingly desperate Port FC attack.

First-half strikes from Migjen Basha and Josh Hope gave the A-League club a 2-0 lead with Robbie Kruse, Ola Toivonen and Elvis Kamsoba completing the win in the second half.

Victory will now face 2018 champions Kashima Antlers of Japan in next week's Playoff with the winners to advance to Group E alongside China PR's Beijing FC, Thailand's Chiangrai United and another side from the qualifying rounds.