Macau Olympic Stadium was host to a significant piece of history on Wednesday when, for the first time, both Macau and Chinese Taipei were represented in the AFC Cup Group Stage.

And it proved to be a memorable debut, for the home side in particular, as coach Bernardo Tavares guided his Benfica de Macau team to 3-2 comeback win after going into halftime two goals down to visitors Hang Yuen FC.

The match was not only the first in the competition for the two sides, but also the first time both Macau and Chinese Taipei had been represented in the AFC Cup.

And it was the visitors who started the brighter with Yu Chia Huang firing just wide from inside the box after racing onto Chen Ching Hsuan’s flick-on.

Hang Yuen then took the lead just before the 20-minute mark when Lin Shih Kai’s cross from the left was headed home by Chen for his side’s first ever goal in the competition.

Chen then doubled his and Hang Yuen’s tally 11 minutes before the interval after Jean-Marc Alexandre found Hsu Yi, whose low centre from the left was finished off by the striker.

Benfica came out full of purpose after the restart and pulled one back in the 49th minute when Gilchrist Nguema drilled into the back of the net from just inside the box after the Hang Yuen defence failed to clear Chan Man’s long throw-in from the right.

Leonel could have levelled the scores soon after but saw his effort cleared off the line by Liu Yung Fu, before the forward did get on the scoresheet by heading home substitute David’s Tetteh’s cross from the right just after the hour.

Three minutes later Leonel added another when he bundled home Edgar Teixeira’s corner from close in, and the striker then could have scored his hat-trick in the final five minutes but shot just wide after being picked out by a long ball over the top from Chan.

Benfica's next task will be a trip to DPR Korea to take on Hwaebul SC in seven days’ time, while Hang Yuen will welcome 4.25 SC, also from DPR Korea, to Taipei.

After a goalless first-half, the 4.25 skipper netted with just six minutes of the tie remaining at May Day Stadium to secure all three points and put them as early frontrunners in Group I, with Benfica de Macau and Hang Yuen of Chinese Taipei playing later in the day.

The victorious DPR Korea club will next travel to New Taipei for a meeting with Hang Yuen, where they will be aiming to maintain their momentum in a bid to win the group and return to the Inter-Zone play-off semi-finals.

Hwaepul SC, meanwhile, will look to follow up their disappointing debut defeat with a better result on March 14 when they host Benfica de Macau in Pyongyang.

The away side were handed the opportunity to open the scoring in the 14th minute after a foul by Demerson on Ryutaro Karube resulted in a penalty. But Pape Omar Faye’s spot-kick was well saved by Wawan Hendrawan.

Five minutes later, Thanh Hoa came close again when a corner kick came off Demerson and rebounded back off his own crossbar.

It was no surprise when the Vietnamese side took the lead with a fine strike in the 29th minute. After they were awarded a free kick 20 yards from goal, Karube curled the ball into the top corner.

Just before half-time, Nguyen Trong Hoang fired in a powerful long-range shot that Hendrawan pushed wide.

But the hosts took the upper hand in the second half and levelled in the 66th minute through Yabes Roni. Nick van der Velden flighted the ball over the top and the substitute controlled the ball on his chest before prodding it past the advancing Tran Buu Ngoc and into the Thanh Hoa goal.

And Bali didn’t have long to wait for the second as Demerson headed home from Fadhil Sausu’s corner in the 72nd minute.

Incredibly, the home side went further ahead three minutes later. A free kick from van der Velden caught out the Thanh Hoa defence and Stefano Lilipaly latched onto the ball and lobbed it over Buu Ngoc to make it 3-1.

Bali United have edged one point ahead of Thanh Hoa in Group G and the Vietnamese side will be determined to take revenge when they face Bali on home turf next Tuesday.

 

Both teams were coming off losses on Matchday Two and were keen for a win to keep touch with Vietnam’s Song Lam Nghe An at the top.

It was the visitors, who fielded an all-Malaysian starting 11, that had the better of the going in the first half, with eight shots to four, but they couldn’t make the most of their chances and it remained scoreless at the interval.

The introduction of Safiq Rahim for the second half allowed the 2015 AFC Cup winners to continue to play on the front foot, and but for Tampines Rovers goalkeeper Syazwan Buhari, they would’ve taken the lead on the hour mark.

The home side’s defence failed to clear a free-kick whipped into the box by Safiq, with Aidal Zafuan turning and shooting from the edge of the six-yard box, but Syazwan was up to the task, spectacularly saving the defenders effort from point blank range.

As the match approached 90 minutes Amirul Adli came close to winning the match for the home side, but his header was cleared on the line by Afiq Fazail.

The two sides meet again next week in the return leg in Johor in what will be a must-win match for both sides.

 

Ceres enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession from the beginning but it wasn’t until midway through the first half that they had a clear sight on goal, when Mike Ott broke into the area from the left before side-footing narrowly wide.

Shan forward Christopher Chizoba's effort from the edge of the area was gathered by 'keeper Toni Doblas on 36 minutes, before Ceres frontman Maranon came close soon after but saw his curler hit the side-netting.

Then, on the stroke of half-time, Ceres’ Omid Nazari’s dipping free-kick from distance came down onto the roof of the net. Ceres continued to push for the opening goal after the restart and Kevin Ingreso drilled his shot from outside the box just wide as Shan held on.

It was beginning to look like it was not going to be the hosts’ night when an unmarked Maranon was off target with a header from six yards out after being teed up defender Manuel Herrera.

But the goal finally arrived with 11 minutes to play when Maranon fed Mike Ott, whose low delivery into the box was fumbled by goalkeeper Thiha Si Thu, before defender Hein Thiha Zaw made an even greater mess of clearing, allowing substitute Reichelt to finish from close in.

Ceres put the result beyond doubt when Mike Ott’s superb jinked run past three Shan defenders created space for him to roll the ball to Maranon, and the Spaniard made no mistake with the finish to put his side two up and round off the scoring.

Ceres and Shan will face off once more next week when the Filipino side travel to Yangon for Matchday Four of the AFC Cup.