UFL: Shorthanded Global win battle of undefeateds, Sparks smother Archers
Recaps from Tuesday's Division one games from Emperador stadium.
Global 1, Stallion Sta. Lucia 0.
Once again, the league champs have entered a big game without their key Azkals and have come out on top.
Izo Elhabbib's header in the 78th minute broke a tense deadlock in the game and in the league standings as well.
Global now sits alone atop the league table with seven wins from seven games, for 21 points. Stallion tumbles to third with 18 points, behind second-place Loyola at 19.
The win echoes Global's remarkable Azkals-less semifinal win over Loyola in the 2012 UFL Cup.
Global were missing Azkals Carlie De Murga, Jeffrey Christiaens, Patrick Reichelt, Marwin Angeles, Misagh Bahadoran, and Matthew Uy because they have already been in training for the Challenge Cup qualifiers which start on Friday.
Denis Wolf is injured and Jason De Jong, acquired on loan from Stallion, is also with the national team.
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Global gave starts to Marvin Angeles, Aaron Altiche, and Nino Ochotorena in the absence of their stars.
Stallion started youngsters Nonoy Felongco on the wing and Jovin Bedic in the central midfielder spot.
Stallion ruled the midfield for much of the match and had more attempts, but Global's ace striker needed only one chance to turn the game on its head.
Stallion's best early chance came in the ninth minute from Rufo Sanchez when he collected a ball from Jovin Bedic, recovered from a bad first touch, then fired into the top corner, from where Global keeper Roland Dely Sadia made a gorgeous save.
Lee Joo Young and Park Bo Bae also threatened Sadia's goal but misfired.
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In the second half Altiche nearly put Global ahead but his well-taken volley was just wide.
Nathan Alquiros was brought in to replace him, and he volleyed to Sadia soon after.
Rufo, Bedic and Park all spurned gilt-edged chances as Stallion poured on the pressure.
But twelve minutes from time, Elhabbib exploited some iffy positioning from Joaco Cañas and slithered free, allowing himself latch on to a corner kick and nod home.
Jason Cordova, usually a defender, went into the game for the very effective Bedic as a striker.
Stallion pressed forward with Rufo forcing a terrific save from Sadia, and Cañas heading just wide.
Global seemed to feign injury in an attempt to waste time and some Stallions took exception with the theatrics of Sadia.
But in the seventh minute of injury time referee Ariel Montaña blew his whistle sparking celebrations from the Global players.
“It's well-documented how many players we're missing today. That makes the victory even sweeter” said Global coach Brian Reid afterwards.
Loyola Meralco Sparks 2, Green Archers United Globe 0.
With the Younghusband brothers watching the match in street clothes with the other Azkals, a depleted Sparks team gutted out a solid win over the Archers.
Jeong Byeoung-yeol put Loyola in the lead with a tasty long-range half volley from thirty yards out in the 29th minute that snuck in over Archers keeper Patrick Deyto's hands and under the crossbar.
In the second half the Sparks continued turning the screws, with Simon Greatwich hitting the bar with the header and shooting wide.
Mark Hartmann finished the scoring in the 81st minute. His powerful midrange shot was stopped by Deyto but he followed up the rebound with a strike that disturbed the nets for 2-0.
Deyto was brilliant all game long with several saves, the best being a 33rd-minute reflex save on a brilliant volley from Chad Gould, who played up top for the Sparks.
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The Archers keeper also stoned Mark Hartmann's fourth minute free kick.
Green Archers had few chances as Loyola dominated proceedings.
United was also missing star power in the form of Chieffy Caligdong, who was also in a red Azkals shirt in the stands along with his mates.
Sparks coach Vince Santos wasn't too effusive with the win.
“I'm glad about the movement but at the end of the day we have to convert. But I'm glad we got a clean sheet.”
The Sparks, along with Stallions' loss to Global, move to solo second in the standings at 19 points.
Loyola and Global play each other on April 2.
OTHER NOTES: Before both matches a minute of silence was observed for Wool Reyes, the Team Socceroo founder and manager who passed away on Monday. Players on all four teams wore black armbands in his memory.... The Azkals stayed for the first game, the Loyola-Archers encounter, then left before the second game. The Younghusbands even joined their mates in the pre-game huddle. I have been told that for a centralized tournament like this, it is common that five days before the start, the team is already quartered together.... I chatted briefly with Neil Etheridge. He told me that Fulham recently played a friendly with League One side Portsmouth and that he played in it. The London club won 5-2.... The stands were full for the Global-Stallion encounter, but there was hardly any organized cheering from either set of supporters.
Follow Bob on Twitter @bhobg333.
