Football
UFL Week 6: Loyola destroys Navy; Air Force heats up
AKTV/Toto Gamboa
Another round of the United Football League is in the books and it’s official: No one is untouchable in the first division.
Saturday’s action saw Kaya bounce straight back from their defeat against Loyola, overcoming a stubborn Pasargad side to win 3-0. High-flying Stallion was in action shortly after, but it failed to build on its 5-2 win over Green Archers United the week before, suffering their first loss of the season 1-0 to Global.
While Stallion’s title push stumbled, Philippine Air Force Phoenix gave its hopes of defending its crown a lift with a 3-0 win over Nomads Auction Manila on Sunday. Azkal striker Ian Araneta was in the mood for the Airmen, scoring two goals off set-pieces early in the second half. A header from a corner broke the deadlock, before a long-range effort from a free kick doubled the advantage.
Randy Bela-Ong added gloss to the victory eight minutes from time, burying an impressive 25-yard effort that Nomads keeper Jeff Blake could do little to keep out.
It was a vital win for Air Force, which has made it two straight triumphs after a very shaky start to its campaign. With the season nearing the halfway point, Araneta and company can no longer afford to drop points if they are to keep within touching distance of the leaders of the pack.
In the second match of the day, those in attendance at the University of Makati could be forgiven if they had thought they had entered some strange time-space continuum and were watching a repeat of the Cup’s group stages. The First Division of the UFL prides itself in being the toughest in the land, but the Loyola Meralco Sparks made a complete mockery of lowly Philippine Navy Red Juice. 14-0 seems more like a scoreline fitting of the early stages of the first quarter of a basketball game, but the Younghusbands and company were in no mood to show any sort of mercy.
Ideally, we would like to give a picture of how the goals were scored, but we’re afraid this would turn into the longest round up in history if we went over each one. To give an idea of how proceedings unraveled, however, Loyola was already 6-0 up before the break, with Phil Younghusband already securing a hat-trick to complement a double from older brother James and the first of three from Mark Hartmann.
While many thought a slowdown was in order in the second half, the Sparks had other ideas, scoring even more goals in the next 45 minutes of action. Phil finished with five, and James and Mark both completed hat-tricks. A brace from Jake Morallo and a rare goal from Alex Camara rounded out the demolition job. To add to Navy’s woes, they finished the match with nine men, with Jose Alfie Caminos and Loreto Kalalang getting sent off.
The result leaves Navy rock bottom of the standings, and Loyola being propelled to the top of the table, two points ahead of Stallion.
Green Archers United capped the action by securing its first win, 3-1, over Philippine Army Fritz & Macziol Monday night at University of Makati.
This weekend’s First Division action will be the last before the long break brought about by the Challenge Cup, so make sure that you get your UFL fix before attentions are switched to the national team.
Josue Jamlang covers football for InterAKTV and announces matches for AKTV on IBC. He served as an assistant technical director for the UFL during its maiden season. Follow him on Twitter for more football discussion.
