Blog Posts by Bob Guerrero

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.

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But the UP star shot too

Honorio Banario. UNAUTHORIZED COMMERCIAL USE OF THIS IMAGE IS PUNISHABLE BY LAW. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

You might think that Honorio Banario's rugged, chiseled physique is merely a result of hours spent hoisting weights in the gym. But that's only part of the story.

The 23-year old ONE FC Featherweight champ hails from the sleepy town of Mankayan, in Benguet, four hours north of the provincial capital of Baguio.

He's the son of a farmer and local councilor, Dario, and Benita Banario. The family survived off a plot of land where potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and other vegetables are grown in the chilly mountain climate.

From about the age of fourteen to the age of eighteen Banario would gather up to 70 kilos of produce into a sack, load it on his back, and walk up to four kilometers on remote moutain roads on delivery runs for resellers.

For that work Banario would pick up a hundred Philippine pesos about US$2.50, which he would use for pocket money or school supplies.

No doubt those arduous treks steeled his resolve for his MMA career, where he has carved out an 8-1 record.

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Magassa congratulates Klok at the final whistle. UNAUTHORIZED COMMERCIAL USE OF THIS IMAGE IS PUNISHABLE BY LAW. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

Recaps of Tuesday's UFL Division 1 action from Emperador Stadium.

Nomads 2, Loyola Meralco Sparks 2.

Lightning has struck twice for Loyola.

Last year the Sparks were eliminated from league contention when they were held to a 2-2 draw by Nomads. Last Tuesday it happened again.

A plucky Nomads team hustled there way to a massive result with goals from Mikko Mabanag and Bafio Magassa. Loyola got goals from Jeong Byeong-yeol.

Eyebrows were raised when Meralco coach Vince Santos left midfield talisman Mark Hartmann and regular keeper Ref Cuaresma off the starting eleven.

Nomads took a shock lead in the 28^th minute when Mikko Mabanag executed a perfectly timed run past the Loyola backline on a breakaway and received a terrific through ball from Phil Connolly.

The Atenean coolly negotiated the ball past Sparks reserve keeper Mark Sorongon for 1-0. It's Mabanag's first Division One goal in the UFL. The diminutive winger was back in action after missing some games with chicken pox.

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Corteza. UNAUTHORIZED COMMERCIAL USE OF THIS IMAGE PUNISHABLE BY LAW. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

Last year it was Dennis Orcollo coming out on top. This year it's Davao's finest shooter who cops one of Pool's richest titles.

Lee Vann Corteza has won the lucrative China Open 9 Ball and the hefty purse that comes with it after vanquishing Chinese Taipei veteran Fu Che Wei 11-6 in the final in Shanghai.

The 34-year old has cemented his place as one of the best players in the world not to win a WPA World Title. This triumph is one of over dozen tournament wins for Corteza from around the world.

“This means a lot for me to win this tournament” said Corteza. It's been three years since I won a big tournament. This is a big win for my career.”

Corteza obviously does not consider his 2011 win in the San Miguel Oktoberfest tournament as big, even though he defeated Orcollo in the final of that event. Orcollo was the defending champ this week because last year he overpowered another Taiwanese, Lu Hui Chuan in the final to win the title.

Corteza pounced on some Fu errors to take a 4-1 lead

The Philippines (in blue) were too much for UAE. Image copyright Bob Guerrero. Unauthorized commercial use of this image is punishable by law.

It wasn't pretty, but it was what the Philippines needed: a win to keep their 2015 World Cup dream alive.

On Saturday night the Philippine Volcanoes hacked out a scrappy but gutsy brownout-marred 24-8 victory over UAE at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium in front of hundreds of enthusiastic fans.

With the triumph the Volcanoes finish fourth in the HSBC Asian 5 Nations Elite Division behind champs Japan, Hong Kong, and Korea Republic. That means they remain in the top tier of Asian Rugby and can still qualify for the 2015 World Cup in England.

The Gulf nation is relegated to the second-tier Division One and will be replaced in the top tier by Sri Lanka.

The Philippines scored four tries from Christopher Hitch, Gareth Holgate, Graeme Hagan, and Matt Saunders.

Hitch began the scoring in the tenth minute by peeling off a ruck near the tryline and bursting over for a score. Alex Aronson's conversion attempt from a tough angle was just wide.

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Patrice Olivier. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

A nightmare season can still have a happy ending for the Philippine Volcanoes this Saturday night.

The Philippines takes on the United Arab Emirates in the final match of the 2013 HSBC Asian 5 Nations at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium. Both teams have lost all three round-robin games going into the match up.

The Philippines were overran 121-0 by Japan in their first outing, then hung with Hong Kong for a half before falling 59-20.

Last week the Philippines (ranked 56^th in the world) traveled to Ansan in Korea and were mauled by Korea Republic 62-19.

UAE (ranked 96^th) suffered a 53-7 hiding to start their season, lost at home to the Koreans 75-10 then fell to Japan 93-3. That loss gave Japan its sixth consecutive top-flight title.

The “wooden spoon” recipient, or last-place finisher in A5N, Asia's top tier, is relegated to the A5N Division One, the second tier. Either UAE or the Philippines will be replaced in the top flight by Sri Lanka, who won Division One this year.

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Image copyright Bob Guerrero. UNAUTHORIZED COMMERCIAL USE OF THIS IMAGE IS PUNISHABLE BY LAW.

Today is the first year anniversary of the Passionate Fan sports blog here on Yahoo! Sports. Firstly I would like to thank everyone who has read, shared, retweeted and commented on my blog posts. It has been an honor to tell the story of Filipino sports to all of you. I'm very grateful for all of your support and participation.

This blog post is a special one, a piece I have had in my mind for years, long before I started writing for Yahoo! Although most of my writing is about Football, this one centers on the sport where I got my first break in sports broadcasting, Pocket Billiards.

This post is dedicated to three people who have inspired and influenced my writing. The first is Rick Olivares, an extraordinary sportswriter and friend who has been producing smart, insightful, fearless sports journalism for a long time.

The other is our good friend Jeffrey Joe Pe-Aguirre who taught me to play Pool and is now has a PhD in Journalism. He used to write for Business World. Now Jeff lives

Alquiros, shown here playing for DLSU. UNAUTHORIZED COMMERCIAL USE OF THIS IMAGE PUNISHABLE BY LAW. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

Stallion Sta. Lucia 6, Philippine Air Force 0

After an unimpressive first half the league-leaders let it all hang loose with five goals in the second half to solidify their position at the top of the table.

Air Force stumbled in their drive to avoid the final relegation spot with another subpar performance from a defense that was missing Neckson Leonora.

The Airmen were unable to gain a foothold in the midfield as Stallion hoarded possession.

The UFL Cup champs didn't seem to miss their talisman, Rufo Sanchez, who was suspended on account of accumulated yellows.

Stallion substitute Nathan Alquiros picked up the Man of the Match plum with a pair of goals, matching the output of Matthias Bonhevi.

Things started very poorly for Air Force when Lee Won Hyung's free kick from 40 yards out bounced in front of Air Force keeper Ken Dolloso, over his head, and into the net. 1-0 after three minutes.

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The egregious bit of keeping