UFL: Global snatches top spot, Kaya drubs Pasargad 

In a pair of one-sided routs, Kaya unloaded nine goals on Pasargad, who could not come up with a reply, while Global vaulted up to first place after thrashing Pachanga 3-0, in UFL action, Tuesday at the Emperador Stadium.

Global versus Pachanga

Losing to the Loyola Meralco Sparks FC in their first game of the season must have really stung, and Global FC has been nipping at the Sparks’ heels since that time. Last night, they finally overtook the orange-clad team.

Global’s Jeffrey Christiaens opened the scoring extremely early. He collided with the much bigger Pachanga keeper, Steve Yambou, but managed to send the ball into the goal three minutes in.

There were chances for Pachanga, including a good one from Alu Kigbu, but the ball skimmed across the crossbar and out. A Nate Burkey free kick in the 24th minute was then wide.

Four minutes later, Izo Elhabib, who started the game for Global, slipped past Andrew Santiago and Reza Amirkhizan for a score, making it 2-0 for Global before Yambou could track back into a position to save it.

At the 37th minute, Izo made it 3-0 for Global. Off a pass by Christiaens, Izo received the ball inside the box, turned, and blasted it past Yambou, making football look simple and easy.

In a surprising move by Pachanga coach Noel Marcaida, Reza was subbed out for Jed Rances at the 42nd minute. Reza has not been his usual scoring self for Pachanga in the last few games.  

At the start of the second half, both teams sent in some substitutions. For Global, Napoleon Bustillo came on for Curt Dizon, while Pachanga sent in Ariel Zerrudo for Alu Kigbu. With still no goals for their side, Burkey was subbed out for Paolo Salenga at the 60th minute.

Global’s jets seemed to have cooled down in the second half, and at the 67th minute, coach Leign Manson sent in Angel Guirado for Daisuke Sato and Yu Hoshide on for Raul Martinez, perhaps in an effort to jumpstart their offense.

It was the first time for Guirado to play this season, although Global never dropped him from their roster. He had been undergoing a “tryout phase” with his old club, and this was the first sign that he has indeed been welcomed back into the fold.

Pachanga had a good chance to pull one back at the 71st minute, when Davide Cortina found  Salenga in a good position inside the box, but Salenga sent the ball over the crossbar.

At around the 80th minute, Global’s Amani Aguinaldo was shown a yellow card. Pachanga’s Hong Bo Sim had collided with Amani while fighting for position. However, Global’s captain, Jason de Jong got into the fracas, exchanging some words with Zerrudo. It escalated into a minutes-long shoving and shouting match before cooler heads intervened. Oddly enough, no cards were shown although the referee was clearly seen holding on to a red card.

Yambou had a couple of great saves late in the game, saving attempts from Mark Hartmann and Christiaens. There were three minutes of added time announced.

Hartmann, who leads the League in goals, made another attempt a minute before the final whistle, but his attempt hit the post and bounced away. Still, Global walked away with the 3-0 victory

“That's a funny question because we feel disappointed with how we played,” said coach Manson when asked about being on top of the standings.

The Sparks had lost their game against Green Archers United last Saturday in a shock 3-2 game, dropping three points along the way. They now have 32 points on 10 wins and two draws and have played 14 games. After last night’s 3-0 victory over Pachanga PLDT Home Fibr FC, Global now has 34 points on 11 wins and a draw, over the same number of games.

Charlie Pettys had tweaked his knee during warm up, forcing Global to play Jerry Barbaso, in his first game since having an operation on an injured knee. “His passing was a little off,” said Coach Manson, who was still, however, thankful for Barbaso’s presence, as Delon Patrick Yao had not dressed to play in the game.

Manson also had praises for their opponent, “I think Pachanga will cause a lot of teams a lot of trouble if they play like that.”

Asked again about being top of the League and potentially being in a great spot to win it all, Manson had this to say: “It’s too early in the League, ask me in 10 weeks time when we have one game to go if we're excited.”


In the earlier game, Kaya thrashes Pasargad. Also, watch Azkals coach Thomas Dooley try balut: 

Kaya versus Pasargad

In the earlier game, Kaya FC blanked Pasargad FC 9-0.

There are times that it feels like the mercy rule usually seen in high school softball or baseball should be applied to football as well. This game was one of them.

Masanari Omura opened scoring in the first minute.

Perhaps the highlight (or lowlight) of the first half was Chris Greatwich getting kicked in the head by Pasargad's Hossein Doustdarsefidmazgi during a Pasargad attempt very late in the half, almost triggering an on-pitch fight. Thankfully, cooler heads intervened.

At halftime, it was 5-0 for Kaya behind goals from Masanari, Kenshiro Daniels (19’), Anton del Rosario (30’), Pedro Rodriguez Aracil (35’), and OJ Porteria (37’).

The second half was more of the same, with Kaya’s Ayew Egba scoring three minutes into the half and then again at the 60th minute. Richard Greer and Janrick Soriano also contributed to Kaya’s campaign.

Kaya solidified their hold on the third spot in the League behind Global and the Loyola Meralco Sparks. With 27 points on 8 wins and three draws in 14 games, they are now five points clear of Stallion, who have 22 points on six wins and four draws in the same number of games.


 
Halftime show

Azkals Coach Thomas Dooley, who is a fixture in the stands during UFL matches, fulfilled the promise he made on FTW to try out balut.

During halftime of the Global versus Pachanga game, the coach not so gamely tried the fertilized duck egg with the Kaholeros. The Kaholeros are the Azkals official cheering squad and have been known to travel even overseas to watch games. They are also semi-regular members of the FTW football panel.

Dooley had of course heard about balut since he arrived in the Philippines. He had tried asking restaurants about the balut but had not chanced upon one that served it.

On Wednesday night, after a few minutes of prodding, the German-American finally took a couple of bites. No, he did not eat the chick part of the balut. Maybe next time. - AMD, GMA News