UFL: Sparks, Global, kick off 2nd round with emphatic wins
Match reports of Saturday's Division One games in Emperador Stadium.
Loyola Meralco Sparks 3, Team Socceroo 0.
“I'm nowhere near 100%” admitted Loyola striker Freddy Gonzalez after Saturday's comfortable win against TS.
“I've missed four games and been resting my swollen bursa sac” said the 36-year old former national team standout of his fitness issues.
“I'm slowly getting there” he added.
But on Saturday Gonzalez played like a player very much “there” and as 100% as a player could get in scoring twice to lead the Sparks to a decisive victory against Socceroo.
The win avenges the last meeting between the two teams, when Socceroo held Loyola to a 3-3 draw.
Without Phil Younghusband (suspended), James Younghusband (injured) and a few other cogs of the orange-and-black machine out of commission, Gonzalez started as Vince Santos' target forward.
Socceroo held back Loyola's strike force for most of the first half and had a few chances of their own from Lee Jeong Woo.
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But just before the half Loyola's Lee Joo Young finally kicked off the scoring when he streaked to the goal line beside Gui Hasegawa's goal, cut back in to avoid some defenders, then fired in a shot from an acute angle.
Seven minutes into the second half Loyola nearly went 2-0 ahead but Armand Del Rosario's bicycle kick was well-saved by Hasegawa.
Then two minutes later Gonzalez was on the receiving end of a clever looping ball from Lee Won Hyung. Spying Hasegawa off his line, the veteran lobbed the ball over the keeper's head and in for 2-0.
Gonzalez picked up his brace six minutes from time with a clinical 1-v-1 finish on Hasegawa after Lee Won Hyung again played the ball forward off a bad clearance by the keeper.
“Credit to Lee for spotting me with those two passes. If I didn't finish them I should have been shot” remarked Gonzalez in the postgame press conference.
Loyola remains on top of the table with 23 points.
Global 4, Green Archers United Globe 0.
Global keep pace with Loyola thanks to a big win against Green Archers. Misagh Bahadoran, Mark Hartmann, Jason de Jong, and Milad Behgandom all got on the scoresheet.
Leigh Manson's boys had more possession and chances but Archers did play their role in the game with opportunities of their own. Unfortunately for them, they missed the finishing of Chieffy Caligdong, who watched the game with a cast in one leg thanks to a fractured foot.
One minute after the half-hour mark Bahadoran kicked off the scoring with a half-volley into the top right corner off Hartmann's cross. It was the fruit of sustained pressure from the Global attackers.
At the half GAU keeper Patrick Deyto was substituted in favor of Ivan Fraire. Deyto had been nursing a back injury from a collision with Hartmann sustained when the two teams met in the first round, which was a 0-0 draw.
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Three minutes in Hartmann bedeviled United again, when he drove in a rebound off Fraire's fine save on a Bahadoran effort.
GAU coach Dolfo Alicante blooded defender Greggy Yang from DLSU for his first UFL action and sent Robert Lopez Mendy forward. But Jesse Martindale, Arvin Soliman, and Mendy all failed to convert chances.
In the 90th minute Behgandom made it 3-0 with a close-range header off a botched Fraire palm-away of a cross, and a couple of minutes later DeJong headed in a rare goal. DeJong played the entire game coming back from injury.
Global next plays Kaya on Wednesday. The game was moved back a day to allow the Azkals selected on either team to fly to Malaysia for the friendly against the Harimau Malaya on March 1.
Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH.
