GLOBAL delivered when the stake was high, hacking out a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Stallion to solidify its title chances in the United Football League at the Emperador Stadium in Taguig on Tuesduay night.
Ben Starosta and Izzo El-Habib emerged the goal scorers for the defending champions, who overhauled an early deficit to move just two points behind their victims with still a game in hand.
The result also augurs well for Global’s preparations for the Singapore Cup, where the squad will make its debut on Saturday against defending champion Warriors FC.Their back-to-back title chances suffering a huge blow, the Stallions are left needing to win their last two games —against Loyola Meralco and Nomads—and hope Global commits a slip up in its last three games versus the Sparks, Philippine Army, and Kaya.
“We have to calm ourselves down,” Global owner Dan Palami said. “We still have tough matches.”
“I’m delighted, but nothing changes,” Global coach Brian Reid said. “We got three points, but we still have three games to go. We can’t get carried away.”
El-Habbib created early chances for Global, but it was the Stallions who struck first after Hector Zaghi put the reigning UFL Cup champions ahead by scoring 24 minutes into the game.
But after getting a mouthful from Reid at the half, Global regained its bearings in the second half and was finally rewarded in the 54th minute when the Polish Starosta found the back of the net in a sequence that started off a Yu Hoshide delivery to El-Habbib, who headed it to Starosta for the strike.
El-Habib completed the comeback with his strike 12 minutes before stoppage time off a pass from Jeffrey Christiaens.
“We could’ve been two or three goals up with the clear-cut chances we had, but I felt my players started the second half very brightly,” Reid said.
“We showed a character coming from one-nil down. It could’ve gone either way,” Palami said. “I was quite disappointed initially with the finishing of Izzo, but he redeemed himself.”
Follow the writer on Twitter: @KarloSacamos
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