Checking in on NCAA Football
The ASCOM (Army Support Command) pitch in Fort Bonifacio is hard, sloped, dusty, uneven, and grassless in many places. The goal frames are leaning backwards. The crowds are sparse. But this is the venue for one of the Philippines' top collegiate Football leagues, the NCAA.
On a cool and windy Monday afternoon I drop by for opening day of Season 89.
I missed the first game, where San Beda topped Mapua easily. But I caught much of the second game on the schedule, which was Arellano University against an overmatched Perpetual Help side.
The Altas are receiving a hiding. The defense is weak and fitness is definitely wanting. I am told that their players are mostly walk-ons and not recruits. It shows, as Arellano carpet-bomb the Perpetual goal frame.
It's not a pretty sight, until one magical moment changes everything.
Arellano's towering #10, Alvin Obrero, is left unmarked on the top of the semi-circle of the Perpetual penalty box. A ball comes bouncing high towards Obrero. It happens a lot on ASCOM's rock-hard surface.
Obrero, who was last season's top scorer when the Chiefs finished second, swings his left leg over and meets the ball for a hip-high volley. The ball lazily arcs goalwards and deposits itself into the top left corner far beyond the reach of the Perp keeper. It's an astonishing piece of striking sorcery. Most impressive is that the kid from Floridablanca, Pampanga doesn't smash the ball, he places it with the touch of a surgeon.
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UFL scouts must be keeping a keen eye on this fellow.
The game ends 7-0 in favor of the Chiefs. Or 8-0. I'm not sure. At any rate, Arellano kick off their season in style.
The next match is Benilde against Lyceum Philippines University. LPU are a relative newcomer to the sport in the NCAA. The Pirates, Arellano, and Emilio Aguinaldo College have started Football programs in the last few years, a fantastic development for the sport. It only adds the upsurge in youth Football that we have been blessed with.
I'm mostly there to see Ronilo Vallies Bayan, Benilde's keeper. Bayan played for the U19 National Team when they valiantly held Indonesia to a 2-0 win in Jakarta during AFC qualifying last year. Here is the video of his awesome performance that day.
The keeper is from Nasugbu, Batangas, but went to high school in Arellano. Bayan is a tall, rangy fellow. Going forward, our Azkals and the youth equivalents will need keepers like him, especially since the UAAP goalkeeping has been spotty in Season 76.
In the recent preseason Binay Cup Bayan won both best keeper and MVP. On this day he plays his first game for Benilde in the NCAA.
In the first half, Bayan shows at least one very good trait: a willingness to venture out of his area when needed to. In one first-half passage he correctly recognizes a 1-v-1 early and disrupts the play outside his box. But the ball doesn't quite clean up and he hesitates to go after it again, since he's by now well out of his area. Eventually it gets sorted out.
Noel Marcaida, his goalkeeper coach and the head coach of Pachanga PLDT Home Fibr, says that Bayan should have gone after the second ball with as much bravado as the first.
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In the second half Bayan finally has the opportunity to show his shot-stopping prowess, and he blanks a stiff attempt from LPU's winger. In the ensuing corner he soars above the fray and punches out superbly to neutralize the threat.
Minutes later Bayan makes another sortie out of his box but can't control the leather. In one terrifying moment, the ball goes to LPU's number nine and he fires a long-range attempt towards the empty net. To the relief of CSB coach Marlon Maro, the attempt sprays wide.
Bayan has one definite Kryptonite: his kicking. His volley kicks are okay but his goal kicks are feeble, barely threatening the center circle. Marcaida says that he has already made progress on this front, though. Previously his goal kicks went only thirty yards out.
The keeper gets his clean sheet, but so does Bayan's opposite number, Nelson Gasic from Baguio. The game ends with goose eggs on the scoreboard. Oh wait, ASCOM doesn't have a scoreboard.
I believe that on a proper field we might have seen a goal or two. The poor surface in ASCOM isn't the best showcase for the boys. The UAAP players have it better on FEU Diliman's turf.
Bayan has a mixed day, but nonetheless I'm impressed with his size, agility and positioning in his first NCAA match. The kid, who was largely self-taught growing up in Batangas, will certainly be in the mix for future youth national teams. Marcaida also says his attitude is impeccable and he's doing well in school.
The goalie will face a bigger test in a week's time. A date with the defending champs, San Beda, looms.
Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH.
