By Jerome S. Galunan Jr.

Ceres-Negros FC remained unbeaten at home after kicking off their Philippine Football League debut with a 1-nil victory over visiting arch rival Global Cebu FC over the weekend at the Panaad Park and Stadium.
Jeffrey Christaens scored the winning goal beating Global keeper Patrick Deyto in the 83rd minute off a cross from Stephan Schrock, who made his PFL debut in the 63rd minute replacing Omid Nazari.
Schrock had the chance to nail the first goal in the league 10 minutes after his entry with a strike from 15 yards but his shot hit the crossbar.
Earlier, Ceres FC could have scored goals from Bienvido Maranon, Iain Ramsay and Manny Ott but attempts failed.
In the first half, Global FC also had some clear goal opportunities in the early minutes from Shu Sasaki, Pika Minigeshi, Amani Aguinaldo and Wesley Dos Santos, but efforts weren’t enough to threaten Ceres FC defense.
“I think my players today were true professionals and they gave a good result,” Ceres Coach Risto Vidakovic said during the post-match press conference.
“Of course it’s nice to score but the most important is the 3 points. Now I’m the lucky one who scored but we just have to get on with the next game,” Christaens, who scored the lone goal of the match, said.
Meanwhile, six Ceres Negros FC standouts were again called up by the Philippine Football Federation to be part of the 23-man team for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers match against Tajikistan on June 13 in Dushanbe. They are Christiaens, Kevin Ingreso, Jim Junior Munoz, Manuel Ott, Iain Ramsay and Luke Woodland./WDJ