UFL: Meralco hammers Army 10-1, Global overcomes Pasargad
Game recaps from Tuesday's Division 1 action in Emperador Stadium.
Loyola Meralco Sparks 10, Philippine Army 1
Army played Meralco tough for the first 53 minutes, holding them to a 2-1 advantage, creating chances, and playing clean, hard, Football.
And then suddenly, all hell broke loose, as Meralco unleashed a torrent of six goals in the next 25 minutes, then for good measure, another two just before the final whistle.
Mark Hartmann was in devastating form, tallying four goals, as did Phil Younghusband. Matt Hartmann and Jang Joo Wong rounded out the scoring in the biggest rout of the league season.
It truly was a game of two halves, with Army going toe-to-toe with Meralco for the opening 45 minutes.
Mark Hartmann put Loyola up 1-0 in the fourth minute with a clinical finish off a Phil Younghusband center.
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Army keeper Victorino Troyo made a couple of well-timed sorties out of his area to corral loose balls.
In the 29th minute Army leveled, when a superb ball by Yok Becite found an unmarked Luisito Brilliantes, who blasted past Ref Cuaresma for 1-1.
Just before the half Phil put Meralco back on top with a penalty kick after Wilson De La Cruz fouled Jang in the penalty area.
Nine minutes after the half Meralco got a two goal cushion when Jang skated through a sluggish Army defense and booted on target for 3-1.
Two minutes after the hour mark Phil made it 4-1 with a composed finish on a counterattack.
Two minutes later Troyo was relieved by little-used reserve keeper Josh Singson. It was a substitution Army would regret.
In the 72nd minute Phil upped the score to 5-1 with a glorious long-range shot.
One minute later, thanks to Matt Hartmann's well-taken left-foot shot, it was 6-1.
Three minutes later, Mark Hartmann picked up his second when he exploited some dodgy positioning by Singson to steer the ball into the lower right hand corner. 7-1
Only 120 ticks later, Singson somehow lost control of a ball near his penalty area to Mark, and he drove the ball in from a narrow angle. 8-1.
In just sixteen minutes, Loyola had scored five goals, one more than Air Force has scored all season long.
In the 89th Phil got his four-bagger, beating Singson after Simon Greatwich's good work. Three minutes later Loyola got into double digits when Mark Hartmann negated De La Cruz's clear off the line with a simple volleyed finish.
OTHER NOTES: Loyola coach Vince Santos says that he will likely choose centerback Rodrigue Nembot as one of the foreigners he will bring to the Singapore Cup in late May. Park Min Ho is still injured and Santos says if he is healthy, he will go too. Santos also revealed that Paolo Bugas, one of FEU's stars, could crack the Loyola lineup. Bugas supposedly scored two goals in a recent scrimmage, and the current Loyola players are already asking for him to join the team. Amani Aguinaldo could also play for Loyola but will transfer to UP in the coming school year.... Armand Del Rosario, Anton's brother, made a rare start for the Sparks at right back but was replaced by Roxy Dorlas in the the 34th.... Army was missing Roel Gener (suspension because of red card) and Meliton Pelayo (suspension due to three accumulated yellows) while James Younghusband, who was redcarded in the Sparks' last game versus Stallion, was also unavailable.... I spoke to Eddie Mallari of Kaya before the game. He revealed that Kaya had gone on a Gawad Kalinga build on Tuesday morning and had helped construct a house in General Trias. Mallari said it was extremely tiring, especially since it was very hot. The team didn't train that day.
Global 2, Pasargad 0.
It was scrappy. It was at times ugly. But unlike Global's last two games, it was three points, just what the defending champs needed.
Global relied on second-half goals from Izo Elhabbib and Koray Gündüzoglu to subdue sixth-place Pasargad.
Each squad had a man sent off for two yellows, Global's Jason de Jong and Pasargad's Emmanuel Mbata. Global coach Brian Reid was also tossed by referee Michael Barajas after arguing with Pasargad's coach Essie Sedigh as well as some of the Pasargad players.
Global began the game without Jeffrey Christiaens, who has a hamstring issue. Misagh Bahadoran started in his place.
Elhabbib and Patrick Reichelt nearly connected on attempts in the early going while DeJong could have scored in the 22nd but his shot was cleared well off the line by Younousse Yaogo.
Just before the half ben Starosta nearly made it 1-0 for Global but his volley sailed over the crossbar.
Two minutes after the hour mark Global had a chance to break through when Jahambahksh Taher was called for a handball in the box, resulting in a spotkick for the champs.
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But Starosta could do not better than drive the ball into the underside of the bar.
An obviously unsatisfied Reid made a rare triple substitution, yanking Starosta, Carlie De Murga, and Bahadoran, and sending in Marwin and Marvin Angeles along with Gündüzoglu.
Elhabbib nearly opened Global's account with an ambitious scissor kick in the 66th but it sprayed wide.
But just a minute later he was luckier.
Marvin Angeles took the ball into the Pasargad box, juked some defenders, then offloaded to Reichelt, who supplied a gorgeous cross that Elhabbib nodded into the net past a badly-positioned Reza Ataei.
Six minutes later Mbata received his second yellow for petulantly throwing the ball at Global's Jerry Barbaso. But seven minutes later Global were also down to ten men when DeJong, on a yellow, was harshly judged to have handled a hard PSG shot.
DeJong insisted afterwards that the contact was accidental.
In the aftermath of the card Reid was also ejected.
Two minutes from time Gündüzoglu collected the ball outside the box and reeled off a sensational strike that found the bottom left corner, past Ataei's reach, for 2-0.
“I thought the referee had a half-decent game but I was disappointed in the Pasargad bench for clapping when Jason got his red” said Reid. “I think that's very unprofessional.”
Reid and DeJong will both miss Global's next game on April 25 vs Nomads.
The win puts Global momentarily on top of the league at 25 points, one above Stallion Sta. Lucia, who have a game in hand. They play Archers on Thursday.
OTHER NOTES: Christiaens says it will be a week at the soonest before he can start to play. Another injured Global Azkal, Denis Wolf, dressed but was an unused sub. He says it will take him two weeks to get to 100%.... Gündüzoglu is a German of Turkish descent who is a relative of Stephan Schrock's wife.
Follow Bob on Twitter @bhobg333.
