PHILIPPINE club teams remained winless in their 2023-2024 Asian Football Confederation tournaments.
Dynamic Herb Cebu FC was denied of a rousing debut in the AFC Cup, bowing to Cambodia side Phnom Penh Crown, 3-0, on Thursday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
READ: Stallion loses to Bali United in AFC Cup home opener
The Cebu squad was blanked by the reigning Cambodian league champions with goals from Shimizu Shintaro in the 42nd, Orn Chanpolin in the 54th, and Andres Nieto in the 85th.
DH Cebu made its AFC Cup debut on Thursday following its second-place finish in last season’s Philippines Football League campaign.
“If we had just made it into halftime at 0-0, I think the second half would have looked a little bit different,” said Dynamic Herb Cebu coach Joshua Schirmer. “I’m happy with the performance. Some of our players have never played at this level before. And now they see what it is all about.”
“Some raised their games and some need to learn to raise their game even higher for the next games because we don’t expect the opposition to get any weaker,” said Schirmer.
Cebu FC suffered the same fate as Kaya FC-Iloilo and Stallion Laguna FC, which also lost on matchday one of their respective tournaments at home.
Kaya FC, the reigning PFL champion, lost to Shandong Taishan FC, 3-1, last Tuesday in the opener of the AFC Champions League at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Stallion sent crashing
Stallion Laguna FC also went down against Bali United, 5-2, in the AFC Cup on Wednesday at the Binan Football Stadium.
DH Cebu will resume its AFC Cup campaign in an away game against Australian side Macarthur FC on October 5 in Sydney.
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