Ceres Fc win PFF Smart Nat Club Championship qualifiers

Ceres Fc won 7-0 against FCB from Bacolod in NOFA qualifiers for PFF Smart National Club Championship.

Ceres FC will represent NOFA in Visayas qualifiers.

Global does it again, clinches 2nd UFL title with still plenty to spare

By Karlo Sacamos

GLOBAL FC marked its new territory on the day the country celebrated Independence Day.

The proud football squad ruled the United Football League following a 7-2 stomping of Pachanga on Thursday night to reassert its dominance in the local club scene.

Global banked on a torrid first half, held off a mini comeback, before finally pulling away to capture its second title in two years with still three games to spare.

It came early, but the coronation seemed expected and was just a matter of time before happening considering how Global stamped its class since the late second round.

"It's very satisfying," Global coach Leigh Manson said. "But it's all credit to the players who have worked week in and week out to get to where we are.”

So dominant was Global that Angel Guirado, Izzo El-Habib, and Milad Behgandom all scored a brace, while Jeffrey Chrisiaens chipped in a goal in just his first game back from injury.

spin.ph

Super-sub OJ Porteria brace powers injury-plagued Kaya FC past Pasargad

By Karlo Sacamos

A DEPLETED Kaya FC continued to make do with a makeshift lineup as it frustrated Pasargad, 3-0, on Thursday night in a United Football League match marred by a gruesome injury at the Emperador Stadium in Taguig.

OJ Porteria left a huge imprint in the second half, where the star striker registered a brace and an assist to Janrick Soriano as Kaya broke the match wide open.

The second-running side thus kept a firm grip of its position by improving its points tally to 46 points in 22 games, while leaving its Division 2-bound victims stuck at the bottom.

However, Kaya, plagued by the injury bug all-season long with Anton del Rosario, Richard Greer, Masa Omura, Pablo Rodriguez, Manu Saubach, and Miguel Tanton among those nursing injuries, suffered another casualty in Hector Zaghi, who appeared to break his leg after a collision with Pasargad goalkeeper William Nsangou in the second half.

“It hasn’t been a kind year for us in terms of injuries,” Kaya coach David Perkovic said. “But talk about depth of the squad, we still won a game with that many players out.”

Coming off the bench in the second half, Porteria provided the finishing quality that Kaya missed in the first half as the Azkals striker unlocked the Pasargad defense in the 67th minute when he struck from close range off a feed from national teammate Kenshiro Daniels.

Porteria doubled the lead just four minutes later when the diminutive dynamo pounced on a wide-open net after Nsangou went down following his aerial clash with Zaghi, who ended up suffering the most.

“I don’t want to speculate, but I think it’s pretty bad, possibly even surgery (is needed),” said Perkovic, who claims he has a medical background from a previous job in his native Australia.

spin.ph

Undefeated Philippine U14 Girls National Football Team stuns competitors in AFC Championship

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – They were the underdogs. They finished fourth last year and most of their players had little or no international experience. They had only six weeks to train. Some girls could barely get a passport in time. Others had never been on an airplane before.

But someone forgot to tell the Philippine U14 Girls National Football Team that they were destined for defeat.

In the Asian Football Confederation Regional Championship for Southeast Asia in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, this week the band of 13 and 14 year old Filipinas faced off against a powerhouse Vietnamese team that trained throughout the year and had the home field advantage.

The tenacious teenagers from the Philippines refused to be intimidated. After a stunning 1-0 upset defeat of Vietnam on Wednesday, and an easy 5-0 victory over Cambodia and 6-0 win over Singapore, the girls from the Philippines emerged undefeated and at the top of every category in the tournament.

Most overall points based on most wins: the Philippine team is first with 9 points, followed by Vietnam with 6.

Most goals scored: The Philippines is at the top with 12.

The number of goals scored against the Philippines during the tournament: 0.

The number of red and yellow card penalties for the Philippines: 0.

In the fiercely competitive match on Wednesday, the Philippine and Vietnamese teams fought careful defensive battles with few opportunities for either side to score. The stalemate was broken when Philippine striker Lindsay Whaley fired a rocket past the Vietnam Goalkeeper Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy at 28 minutes into the first half.

“Vietnam is technically and tactically strong, but our girls played hard,” said Let Dimzon, head coach of the Philippines team. “I was surprised at the intensity of our players. The girls came to play.”

The Vietnamese team was stymied by goalkeeper Yasmin Elauria, who built a brick wall in front of the Philippine goal, while forward Annika Velez kept the pressure on the opponent’s keeper. Midfielders Joyce Semacio and Glynnes dela Cruz, backed up by defenders Tenelyn Otom and Jennifer Baroin, kept the action on the Vietnamese side of the pitch for much of the game.

On Thursday, the Philippine team made short work of Cambodia, which was composed of a struggling team of inexperienced players. Philippine scorers included Joyce Semacio at 26 minutes into the game, Itsuko Bacatan at 44, Lindsay Whaley at 56, and Chloe Hails at 67 minutes. Cambodia accidentally knocked the ball into its own goal at 55 minutes into the game.

The Philippine team takes the day off on Friday and will play Myanmar in the semi-finals on Saturday. Vietnam will take on Thailand the same day. The winners of those two games will play in the championship on Sunday.

According to coach Dimzon, all three of the teams left in the tournament - Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam - are tough competitors that play with a high level of technical skill. None will be an easy victory for the Philippines.

The 18 girls on the Philippine national team were chosen based on nationwide tryouts. This year’s Philippine team is made up of Stacey Ann Arthur of Metro Manila; Jennifer Baroin of Makati City; Princess Beth Caparida of San Carlos City; Jan Reese Jumawan of Cebu City; Tenelyn Otom of San Carlos City; Lindsay Whaley of Subic Bay; Itsuko Bacatan of Cebu City; Patricia Erika Francisco of Davao City; Chloe Anne Hails of Metro Manila; Francesca Anne Marie Suerte of Ilo-Ilo City; and Annika Velez of Manila; Glynnes Dela Cruz of Metro Manila; Joyce Semacio of Davao City; Arantxa Mari Trebol of Cebu City; Yasmin May Elauria of Olongapo City; Alexandrea Gumilao of Cebu; Tejanee Marie Isulat of San Carlos City; Mikayla Grace Simons of Hong Kong.

The coaching staff includes Assistant Coach Joyce Landagan; Goalkeeper Coach Melissa Chris Marquez; and physiotherapist Katherine Anne Soriano.

The tournament is being held at Thong Nhat Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. - Rappler.com

UFL Thursday - Global win UFL

FT- Kaya FC 3-0 Pasargad FC. Goal scorers: Oj Porteria 67' 71' Janrick Soriano 90'

FT-Global FC 7-2 Pachanga FC scorers: Elhabbib-22' 81' Guirado-33' 50' Behgandom-35' 78'(PK) Christiaens-72' Pachanga- Fornea 46' Burkey 67'

AFC U-14 Girls : Philippines 5-0 Cambodia

Philippines won 5-0 against Cambodia in the last group match and won the group.

They will  be playing semifinals against  Myanmar on Saturday.

Semacio, Bacatan, Whaley , Hails scored for Philippines. Cambodia had a own goal.

AFC U-14 Girls Vietnam 0-1 Philippines

Ho Chi Minh City: The Philippines upset last year’s champions Vietnam 1-0 in their 2014 AFC U-14 Girls Regional Championship (ASEAN) match at Thong Nhat Stadium on Wednesday.

The Philippines, who finished in fourth spot in the inaugural edition last year, went into the match as the underdog but Lindsay Whaley’s goal on 28 minutes sent the Filipinas leapfrogging the hosts over to top spot in four-nation Group A.

Marnelli Salvador Dimzon-led Philippines started their campaign with a bang as they whipped debutants Singapore 6-0 in their opener on Tuesday.

Vietnam commenced their campaign on a similarly encouraging note as Nguyen Tien Minh’s girls thrashed Cambodia 8-0 in Tuesday’s other match.

This year’s edition sees seven nations battling it out in two groups for ASEAN honours with the first edition witnessing only six countries taking part.

The Philippines will take on Cambodia while Vietnam clash with Singapore on Thursday which will determine the group’s leaders and runners-up who will advance to the semi-finals.

Only three nations – Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines – are still in reckoning for the top-two finishings with Singapore already out of contention.

afc.com

Azkals boss Dan Palami sees window of opportunity from new Asian Cup qualifying format

By Karlo Sacamos

WITH the recent change in the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup qualifying format, the Philippine men’s football team will now have to go through a different route to get to the showpiece event in the continent.

The Azkals had come so close to reaching the 16-nation 2015 Asian Cup, stumbling at the final hurdle after dropping a heartbreaking 0-1 decision to Palestine in the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup final two weeks ago.

With the Philippines classified as an 'emerging' football country, the Challenge Cup had for so long presented the only opportunity for the Azkals to make the Asian Cup.

Now, the AFC has given more opportunities for nations to qualify for the Asian Cup by increasing the number of participating countries from 16 to 24 starting in the 2019 edition.

The governing body has scrapped the Challenge Cup, with all nations now needing to take part in broader qualifiers made up of eight groups with five teams each.

And the path appears tougher for the Azkals, who face the possibility of getting ranged against top-ranked Asian squads like Japan, Australia, and Korea.

Under the new format, there will be eight groups with five teams each, with each team playing eight matches (four home, four away). The top teams in each group and the four best second-placed teams will not only be seeded in the 2019 Asian Cup, but they will also advance to the final qualifier for the Fifa World Cup.

The 12 remaining teams that will complete the new 24-team roster will be determined via another qualifier.

The Philippine Football Federation also expects AFC approval for its proposal alter the format and have the four groups coming from East/Southeast Asia and the other four groups from West/South/Central Asia to ease the travel load for the teams.

“So if we are grouped in the East or Southeast Asia, then it’s better for us because time difference is not a problem, unlike if we are grouped with a country from the West Asia, where the time difference is about seven hours and travel time is about nine hours,” PFF president Nonong Araneta said.

“(Still) it’s definitely not easier,” Azkals midfielder Jason de Jong said. “This (previous format) was a lot easier to qualify for Asian Cup, because you play with lower-ranked countries (in the Challenge Cup). But this is how it is. We have to go the normal qualifiers now and the only thing we can do is prepare as best as we can.”

Azkals manager Dan Palami thinks otherwise.

“I’m actually looking forward to that, because then that allows us to really gauge ourselves in so far as the bigger arena of Asia is concerned. We’ll be grouped against East Asia where there’s Japan, North Korea. But I don’t think it’s something we should be too worried about.”

“What it should do is to inspire us and challenge us, and make us work harder — not just the team, but also the federation,” he added.

“I like it better, the new one, because it allows us to have home games. at any time we’re home, we always stand a good chance,” Palami continued.

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