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| John Celiz is being mobbed by his teammates after scoring JP Voltes' second |
By Kevin Estrada
MANILA-- Just a week after shocking Kaya, JP Voltes created another massive
jolt in the UFL table, upsetting another title favorite in a thrilling encounter Sunday
afternoon at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Proving that their upset win was not a fluke, Voltes leaned on the first half strikes of Takumi Uesato and John Celiz to put a
massive shakeup in the league table with a 2-1 upset of a more fancied Loyola side to win their fourth win on the trot move to fourth with 22 points, two behind their victims today.
Phil Younghusband pulled one back for the
Sparks from the spot in the second half, but it was not enough for Simon
McMenemy’s men to preserve the winning streak which ended at six matches today.
Playing manager Yu Hoshide only made one change from the side that sent shockwaves to the league last week, with Camelo Tacusalme getting the starting nod over Allan Auman to complement skipper Masaki Yanagawa at central defence, while Loyola made two adjustments from their thrashing of Pasargad last Thursday, with Simon Greatwich and Joaco Cañas preferred over Ian Clariño and Anton Del Rosario as Gui Hasegawa remains the man between the sticks.
The match started out slightly in Voltes' favor, yet their errant running let them down as Celiz and Alen Angeles were caught by the linesman's flag for offside early on.
But it took only tweleve minutes for last season's playoff winners to break the deadlock, as Uesato receives Hoshide's through ball and beats the Brazilian ith a close ranged effort.
From then on, Loyola pressed hard for the equalizer, but only found their shots either wide or in the hands of Nelson Gasic who made spectacular stops althroughout the match.
Voltes' counter-attacking football bore in the 40th minute, as Celiz beats the Spanish defender on the break and fired past Hasegawa into the bottom corner to double their advantage.
Gasic made a massive save five minutes later, when he denied Curt Dizon's thumping close-ranged volley to preserve Voltes' 2-0 cushion at the break.
Gasic made a massive save five minutes later, when he denied Curt Dizon's thumping close-ranged volley to preserve Voltes' 2-0 cushion at the break.
With the danger of being humiliated by the
giant-killers, Loyola went to work right at the restart, and were rewarded three
minutes in to the second half as Curt Dizon were brought down by Camelo
Tacusalme in the box, in which the Azkals skipper calmly slotted home the spot
kick soon after.
However, the Sparks squandered many chances
the rest of the way, with Jinggoy Valmayor’s shot that clanked the crossbar
with six minutes left the closest they came for an equalizer, as Voltes took
down another title challenger for their fourth straight win.
Coach Kyo Nagami expressed sheer
delight after winning against another title-challenger. “They [Loyola] get more possession, but our defence was not
bad as well. Luckily our team was patient,” the Japanese quoted after the
match, in which they only have 45% of the time they have the ball. When asked about challenging for
the title, he only said that they will get it one place at a time.
Incoming gaffer Dan Padernal credited their
discipline and their execution of their plays on the field that made their chances
count despite giving up most of the shots and possession, especially to their
through-balls that led to the two goals.
“We
have already upset two [big] teams. And we also hoping to keep this good form
heading into the second round,” the former Global
deputy concluded after the match.
Follow him on Twitter: @KevinLEstrada
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