Familiar foes Ceres Negros and Home United will clash in the 2018 AFC Cup's ASEAN Zonal Final on August 1 and August 8 when the 2017 ASEAN Zonal finalists meet once more in this year's edition. Filipino club Ceres also faced Singaporean side Home in this year's Group Stage, with the latter edging them out on head-to-head record to top Group F.

The-AFC.com spoke to two experts ahead of the vital tie to get their views.

Singaporean Gabriel Tan (@gabetan13) is the football editor at FOX Sports Asia, while Cedelf Tupas (@CedelfptINQ) is a Philippines Football Expert and Journalist for Philippine Daily Inquirer.

In five months of fixtures since the start of the 2018 AFC Cup group stage, 116 games have been played, 370 goals have been scored, and seven teams remain standing. With the tournament set to resume on August 1 with the ASEAN Zonal Final first leg, we look back at the 2018 edition so far.

After two preliminary rounds and a play-off round, the group stage of the 2018 AFC Cup got underway in mid-February and in the West, there were two teams in particular who shone.

Two scorchers from a semi-final classic in Kuwait, and a trio of unstoppable strikes from the ASEAN, Central and South Zones all make the grade in a quintet of knockout stage goals to whet your appetite ahead of the return of the 2018 AFC Cup.

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Barbaso, 30, began his career with Laos FC in 2009 before moving to Global Cebu FC, where he played for over nine years as a defender.

Filipino side Ceres’ attacking prowess has been further boosted by Dizon, who previously played in Spain with Gimnastica Segoviana CF in 2013, before making his debut in the Philippines Football League (PFL) in 2014 with Global Cebu.

A nation was expecting ahead of the visit of Tajikistan in March. Having won two and drawn three of their five games in the third round of AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 qualifiers, the Philippines stood on the verge of creating history ahead of their final Group F game against the Central Asians at Manila’s Rizal Memorial Stadium. 

Unbeaten and two points clear of their opponents, and Yemen, at the top of the standings, their task was simple: avoid defeat and qualify for the competition for the first time. The achievement would cap a remarkable rise from ASEAN minnows to joining Asia’s elite at the continental competition. 

The hosts had enjoyed the better of the first half but failed to make their advantage count; however, the game was turned on its head just after the hour. 

After the Philippines had failed to clear a Tajikistan attack, Nuriddin Davronov burst into the box and was impeded by the tracking back Kevin Ingreso. The referee pointed to the spot and the crowd was stunned into silence. Akhtam Nazarov converted and the Southeast Asians’ hopes of qualifying were up in the air.

The Filipino side knew just a draw at home would be enough to secure their spot in the knockout rounds, but they weren’t content with just sitting back for the point they needed.

Instead they dominated the proceedings in the first half, with the visitors pushed back deep to defend, but couldn’t find the key to unlock the Home United defence, with stars Stephan Schrock and Bienvenido Marañon guilty of wasting chances to give Risto Vidakovic’s side the lead.

That trend continued in the second half, with Marañon in particular proving to be incredibly wasteful in front of goal, while Rudy Khairullah also stood tall with a number of decisive saves.

 

The visitors had the best of the early running and were gifted a chance to take an early lead when Sirina Camara scythed down Patrick Reichelt in the box in just the ninth minute, with the referee having no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

But Ceres Negros’ joy soon turned to despair when Bienvenido Maranon’s resulting spot-kick thundered back off the post.

They were made to pay for that early miss when the referee awarded Home United a penalty of their own just over 10 minutes later, which Shahril Ishak had no trouble dispatching to give the Singaporean side a 1-0 lead.

The match turned again early in the second half when Camara once again caught Reichelt late with a tackle, earning his second yellow card to reduce Aidil Sharin’s side to 10 men for the final 40 minutes.

Risto Vidakovic’s men quickly started to make the most of their numerical advantage as the home side dropped numbers deep looking to protect their slender lead, and they made their advantage count when Herrera headed home from a corner with 10 minutes to go to earn a point and keep their unbeaten start to the campaign.

Ceres Negros now return home to face Myanmar's Shan United on Matchday Three next Tuesday, while Home United travel to Phnom Penh to face Cambodia’s Boeung Ket FC.