HEAVYWEIGHTS Global FC and Ceres-La Salle dispatched separate foes on Sunday to march into the Football Alliance Cup semifinals of the United Football League at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Reigning UFL champion Global pounced on nine-man Laos FC, 3-0, in a heated matchup between sister squads, while newly promoted Ceres repulsed pesky Stallion, 3-1.
The winners await the survivors of the other quarterfinals matches featuring Pachanga-Diliman against Manila All-Japan, and Kaya versus Loyola.
The league will hold a draw to determine the matchups in the Final Four slated November 4.
Global banked on an early lead with in-form Mark Hartmann scoring nine monutes into the match, then took advantage of a second-half commotion that saw two Laos players in Bryan Gumela and Carlos Guisso get sent off.
After the defense opened up, Filipino-Japanese midfielder Hikaru Minegishi doubled the Global advantage in the 72nd minute before Iranian striker Milad Behgandom sneaked in a goal right before stoppage time to complete the win against the Division 2 side.
“These players are actually friends, but on the pitch, there is no such thing as sister teams,” Global owner Dan Palami said.
Carli de Murga, Adrian Gallardo, and Cho Kyum Son found the back of the net for Ceres, an emerging UFL power, which leaned on a two-goal lead in the first half, before shrugging off a Stallion comeback behind a goal from Belinga Blanchard.