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| Ivan Saldajeno |
By Kevin Estrada
MANILA--UFL Division 2 runner-up JP Voltes unleashed its full strength as it mauled Team Socceroo with a 9-0 beating in the second leg of the United Football League promotion play-off at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Tuesday night.
The two-match playoff tie ended 12-1 on aggregate in Voltes’ favor as the result zoomed the club to the UFL Division 1 next season. Voltes took the opener, 3-1, on Saturday.
Team Socceroo, on the other hand, was sent back to Division 2 after two arduous years in the top flight.
Dominic Del Rosario drew first blood in the 17th minute when he smashed the ball inside the box past Baba Sampana after he made an interception to add the Voltes' aggregate advantage.
Voltes skipper Chihiro Noda doubled the advantage seventeen minutes later, when he got the lob pass by Takashi Odawara to dribble past the former Loyola shot-stopper. That gave Voltes an insurmountable 5-1 aggregate lead and put the tie beyond doubt.
As if to say that a four-goal advantage was not enough, Noda made it 3-0 and 6-1 on aggregate at the end of the first half. He dribbled the ball all the way to the box and placed his shot at the bottom corner of the goal.
The relentless runner-up of UFL Division 2 this season further showed their class four minutes into the restart.
Del Rosario, on loan from Kaya, had rubber-stamped Voltes’ promotion to UFL Division 1 when he fired a missile past the hapless Sampana and into the top corner to make it 4-nothing and 7-1 on aggregate.
And even the keeper switch of Cedric Hodreal would not help Team Socceroo at all as he let in John Celiz score in the 57th minute and Noda complete his hat-trick four minutes later to make it 6-0 on the night and 9-1 on aggregate.
Noda showed no mercy on Socceroo as he got the cross from Del Rosario for a diving header to make it 7-0 (10-1) in the 69th minute.
Two minutes later, Del Rosario completed his own hat trick to make it 8-0, 11-1 in the tie.
Noda made his Voltes Five with seven minutes left in the clock that turned out to be the "laser sword" to the beleaguered Socceroo’s heart.
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