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

Match reports from UFL's Division One matches on Tuesday in Emperador Stadium.

Because of the poor weather in the Kaya-Loyola game I was not able to snap a shot of the game.

Kaya 3, Loyola Meralco Sparks 1.

Kaya's players made like a bunch of kids who frolicked in the rain. In the process they picked up a huge three points with a 3-1 win.

A booming strike by Anton Del Rosario, plus a pair of goals by Chris Greatwich gave Kaya one of their most handsome wins of the season in a steady downpour.

Meanwhile Meralco's title hopes received a significant dent. With the loss they are stuck on 32 points, adrift of league-leaders Stallion by four points and behind Global by two.

Global has a game in hand over the Sparks.

Kaya pulls one point within Pachanga-Diliman, who are solo fourth.

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The game started badly for Kaya with Alex Obiang somehow blazing over the bar from point-blank range after OJ Porteria centered to him in front of an

Sean Hungerford of the Dolphins. Image courtesy Denrei Catalan.

I'm in the Beach Football Association of the Philippines office in the Philsports complex in Pasig, and president Mike Athab is about to teach me a whole new way of kicking a Football.

Wearing a somewhat unusual ensemble of red shorts and a pink and white long-sleeved shirt, coach Mike removes his red espadrilles and gets a Football close to his right foot.

The Iraqi who has spent most of his adult life here cocks his toes skyward and hits the ball with the fleshy of the front ball of his foot.

The ball rockets towards the wall and back, powerfully.

I try the technique myself and end up with nothing but sore toes.

Athab (red) coaches the team. Image courtesy Denrei Catalan.

“I tried to teach the boys to shoot like that” says Athab, who coached the Philippine Dolphins during their stint in the qualifying for the Beach Soccer World Cup in Qatar last January.

Unfortunately the players found it hard to ignore the years of instinctively kicking with the inside of the foot. The Dolphins, who were a last-minute replacement and lacked preparation,

Mirlan Murzaev scores then silences the crowd. Image by Trisa Carlos.

CEBU CITY – In the nine-year history of the Asian Football Confederation President's Cup, Dordoi Bishkek have won the event twice and have finished runners-up on four other occasions.

On Sunday night, we saw why.

In front of a throaty Cebuano crowd at Abellana Field Dordoi spotted Global an early goal, then took command of the game with six unanswered strikes.

Mirlan Murzaev struck four times for the Kyrgyz champs, upping his total for the week to nine goals.

With the 6-1 victory Dordoi win Group B on goal difference over Pakistan squad Khan Research Laboratories. The Bishkek team and KRL both finish with seven points from two wins each and a draw against each other.

Dordoi's goal difference is +14, four more than the Pakistanis. Both teams now qualify for the six-team final round of the competition in September.

Global, with three points from a solitary win over Bhutan's Yeedzin, are eliminated in third place.

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The Filipinos just

KRL kept Misagh Bahadoran and his mates in check. Image by Trisa Carlos.

CEBU CITY- It was a goal of such ludicrous beauty that it deserves to be on every highlight reel of every sports show in the world.

In the 12^th minute of their match on Friday against Global FC in AFC President's Cup play, Khan Research Laboratories FC were given a corner kick on the right side.

KRL's midfielder Mahmood Khan, a right-footer, teed the ball up and let fly.

Usually in situations like this the ball is struck with the inside of the foot, making the ball an “out-swinger” away from the goal.

But Khan intentionally struck it with the outside of his foot, causing it to start off to the left then swing wickedly to the right.

ALSO READ: Ginebra forces do-or-die Game 5.

It flew two feet above Jeffrey Christiaens, who was by the near post. Global keeper Moussa Sanogo, who was several meters off his line on the kick, scrambled to come back to defend.

He was too late.

The ball rocketed across the goal frame past the Ivorian keeper and in off the far post, just above Jerry

Bahadoran (left) scored a goal and made an assist. Image by Trisa Carlos.

CEBU CITY- Global relied on a ruthless display in the first twenty minutes to dispatch Bhutanese side Yeedzin 5-0 in their first game at the AFC President's Cup qualifying round.

The result vaults them into the top of group B after Pakistan's Khan Research Laboratories and Kyrgyzstan's Dordoi Bishkek opened play with a dour 1-1 draw also at Abellana Field.

The top two teams in the four-team group make it to the final round of six teams in September.

Global dominated proceedings against the plucky but overmatched side from the Himalayan kingdom, whose national team is ranked tied for 207^th in the world. A small but vocal group of supporters chanted and cheered their support.

Just five minutes into the match Patrick Reichelt nodded in Jeffrey Christiaens' free kick past Yeedzin goalie Tshering Dendup to begin the scoring.

Carlie DeMurga picked up a yellow card for standing within the center circle on the restart.

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Four minutes later

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

CEBU- Once again Azkals are coming to Cebu, but this time wearing a different jersey.

National team stalwarts Carlie De Murga, Jeffrey Christiaens, Misagh Bahadoran, Patrick Reichelt, Marwin Angeles, Marvin Angeles, Jason De Jong, Juani Guirado and Denis Wolf, return to Abellana Field for the 2013 Asian Football Confederation President's Cup qualifying stage here.

Last December they suited for the Azkals when the Philippines downed Singapore in a friendly on that ground.

The 2012 UFL League champs face Yeedzin from Bhutan, Dordoi Bishkek from Kyrgyzstan, and the gloriously named Khan Research Laboratories from Pakistan.

Global begins its campaign against the Bhutanese side on Wednesday, takes on KRL on Friday, and locks horns with Dordoi on Sunday.

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The last game is widely expected to be the toughest game for the home side. Dordoi features seventeen players from Kyrgyzstan's national team.

The competition is for clubs from Asia's