James Younghusband and Simon Greatwich. UNATHORIZED COMMERCIAL USE OF THIS IMAGE IS PUNISHABLE BY LAW. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

Loyola's search for silverware will once again take them to Singapore.

On Sunday night the Sparks square off against Harimau Muda B, Malaysia's under-19 squad, in the RHB Singapore Cup.

“I think it's going to be a good test” says Sparks right winger and captain, James Younghusband.

Last year the Filipino team defeated Singapore side Geylang United and Kanbawza of Myanmar to reach the semifinals. There they fell to Tampines Rovers in the semifinals. In the third place game Loyola succumbed to Gombak United 4-0.

The Singapore Cup is a single knockout competition that has a tradition of inviting foreign teams. This year Boeung Ket Rubbber Field of Cambodia, Lao Police Club from Laos, and two Pinoy clubs will parrticipate.

ALSO READ: League-leading Stallion and Global win unconvincingly.

UFL league champ Global has a first-round date with Warriors on June 1. Warriors, formerly known as Singapore Armed Forces FC, are the defending champs.

Albirex Niigata Singapore, a Japanese team

Martina Muller after scoring the match's only goal. (Getty)

Completing the German domination of the Champions Leagues this season, Wolfsburg beat Lyon 1-0 in the women's final at Stamford Bridge. This was a shocking result for two reasons: 1) Lyon had won the last two Champions League finals and over their last 120 matches, they had not lost in regular time. And 2) This was Wolfsburg's first time in the competition. Not a bad debut.

Any karma Lyon built up from offering to replay a French Cup match marred by a referee's mistake last week apparently wore off pretty quick. A handball in the second half gave Wolfsburg the deciding penalty and with the win, they completed the treble despite never winning a trophy before this season. Martina Muller, who has been with Wolfsburg since they were in the 2. Bundesliga in 2006, scored the goal that made history as Germany will now be the first nation to ever win both the men's and women's Champions Leagues in the same season.

Clearly the lesson here is that if you plan on having a football tournament anytime soon, don't invite the Germans.

(Getty)

The first ever all-German Champions League final is upon us and that means it's time for the third annuel DT Champions League final viewing companion. Wembley will host the match and though excitement in London has been dampened by the fact that all the English clubs in contention were eliminated long ago, the visiting Germans bring all the passion and leather pants necessary for a memorable game.

Of course, since Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich both play in the same domestic league, this is far from the first time they've met this season. Dominant Bayern won the Bundesliga with astounding ease, finishing 25 points ahead of second-place Dortmund in the table. But head to head, they've been much closer, with each of their league matches ending 1-1 — including their most recent earlier this month, which included Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp and Bayern sporting director Matthias Sammer going nose to nose (or, more accurately, chin to nose). Bayern did, however, beat Dortmund 1-0 in the DFB Pokal quarterfinals and 2-1 in the German Super Cup match way back in August.

Anyway, you can find serious business previews and primers for this match pretty much everywhere else online and in print. So here we'll do it the Dirty Tackle way.

Stallion defends PD indirect free kick. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

Recaps from Thursday's Division One games from Emperador Stadium

Stallion 2, Pachanga-Diliman 0

Sometimes in Football, the scoreline refuses to tell even a fraction of the true story of the game.

That was the case on Thursday as league-leading Stallion escaped a lively PD club that outshot but couldn't outscore them.

PD coach Noel Marcaida started eight Philippine-born players, admitting afterwards that he purposely rested his Guamanian stars so that they could enter later in the game, allowing the team to finish strong.

Stallion didn't start Jeremy Hohn. The American defender was resting an injury but will play against Global next Tuesday. Ruben Doctora was at the game in street clothes, presumably due to injury.

Jinggoy Valmayor nearly put Pachanga on the board in the the fifth minute when he latched on to a through ball and found himself in a 1 v 1 with Stallion keeper Guilherme Hasegawa.

ALSO READ: James delivers winner as Heat beat Pacers in OT.

But the UP star shot too

NBA coaching legend Phil Jackson is something of an authority on what it takes to win championships, but he typically hasn't weighed in on the more contentious basketball topics about which players are best or give their teams the best chance to win. In promoting his new book "Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success," Jackson has switched up his approach and made some stronger statements on these debates. For instance, he's directly compared Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant for the first time ever, adding to an argument that probably won't stop even after science allows us to pit their clones against each other in hand-to-hand combat.

However, that does not mean Jackson believes that Jordan is the best player ever to serve as the centerpiece of a championship team. In a new interview with Time.com, Jackson gives that edge to Boston Celtics great Bill Russell. As transcribed by Ben Golliver of The Point Forward:

In the immediate aftermath of Wednesday night's bonkers Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers, discussion has focused on the failings of Pacers head coach for not having center Roy Hibbert in the game to protect the rim on LeBron James's game-winning, buzzer-beating lay-up. Analysis has covered how LeBron was able to finish so easily, various alternate realities in which Vogel did put Hibbert on the floor, and the Pacers' own reaction to the situation. Even those who have provided some explanation of Vogel's decision-making process — or at least argued that he was choosing between a bunch of insufficient options — have discussed the issue in terms of how Indiana was to contend with the Heat in this scenario.

This approach makes a great deal of sense, because Hibbert is one of the NBA's top defenders and just recently stonewalled Carmelo Anthony on a dunk attempt. Yet, while digging into the Pacers' side of the play is eminently reasonable, it also ignores the most readily apparent fact of the game-winner, which is that LeBron James did something really incredible.

Thankfully, we have the NBA's Phantom Cam to help us focus on LeBron's exploits. The clip is bereft of context — it's entirely LeBron making his move. The lack of perspective communicates the visceral experience: James catches, turns, dribbles, explodes, and finishes. No Pacers can stop him, because he is a unique basketball force.

'What? What's the big deal?' (Issac Baldizon/NBA/Getty Images)

A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: The Point Forward, 8 Points, 9 Seconds and SB Nation. Rob Mahoney, Brett Koremenos and Mike Prada all come to the defense of Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel — or, at least, explain the reasoning for his decision-making for removing Roy Hibbert for the Miami Heat's last two offensive possessions of Game 1, including LeBron James' game-winner.

PF: TrueHoop. Kevin Arnovitz considers several other options Vogel had that would have kept Hibbert on the floor for those fateful final 2.2 seconds.

SF: Miami Herald and SB Nation. Amid all the parsing, picking and probing of the Pacers coach and his choice, Dan LeBatard and Paul Flannery would like us to stop second-guessing for a second and just appreciate how remarkable and ridiculous LeBron's game-winning finish really was.

Donnie Nelson did not appear to be enjoying his time at the NBA draft lottery (Getty Images)

You’re going to see a whole heck of a lot of this over the next few weeks, leading up to the NBA draft on June 27. The Dallas Mavericks did not plan to be and are not happy to be in the lower 14 picks of the draft, due to their first playoff absence in 12 years, and though the team has a fantastic front office and scouting staff (complete with myriad analytic plans they don’t let anyone in on), this is a thin draft and the Mavericks have their eyes set on bigger and better things than their 13th pick in next month’s draft.

Like Dwight Howard, the free agent center that is looking to embark on a tour of suitors this summer that we’re all already annoyed with. In order to clear up more cap space (the 13th pick is set to make $1.7 million next year) to sign Dwight, the Mavericks are reportedly considering shopping their first rounder. From Eddie Sefko at the Dallas Morning News discussed one option on Thursday:

[Dallas owes] the Oklahoma City Thunder a first-round pick before 2018. That pick is protected through the first 20 picks of the draft. But if the Mavericks don’t convey it by 2017, the Thunder gets the pick no matter when it is in the 2018 draft.