UFL: Global wraps up season with comfortable win over Army

Global completed their season with an easily-won victory over the Army, running out as 3-0 winners at the Emperador Stadium on Thursday night, after goals from Misagh Bahadoran, Jerry Barbaso, and Ben Starosta.

Bahadoran struck first, rounding the goalkeeper from a Jeffrey Christiaens through ball, to put Global ahead early on. It wasn’t all one-way traffic to begin with though, as Roland Sadia was forced into a couple of close-range blocks, but some questionable offside calls kept Global from extending their lead.

Some good passing found Jeffrey Christiaens out wide on the left, and his ball into the middle was perfectly weighted to evade the defenders and fall perfectly square for Izzo Elhabib. Global’s top scorer couldn’t add to his tally though as he reversed the ball back into the path of the goalkeeper who blocked well.  

Army began to work the ball nicely before hitting the crossbar from an indirect free-kick, but Global regained control quickly after. Elhabib hit another tame shot while through on goal, but the now-former UFL champions did double their lead as the Army goalkeeper came rushing out of his goal to get there. The keeper's block however fell to Jerry Barbaso, who took aim from over 30-yards out, to lob the recovering defender and goalkeeper and make it 2-0.

Army almost pulled a goal back, as a fantastic through ball presented a clear opportunity, but the composure was lacking and the Army’s best chance of the game came and went.

Global created a similar opportunity with Ben Starosta flicking the ball through for Val Kama, just before halftime, but the defender played upfield as a holding midfielder, shot wide one-on-one.

After the break, Misagh Bahadoran showed good vision to pick out Ben Starosta for a simple tap-in in the 53rd minute. Then after both teams made substitutions in the game, things took a bizarre turn in the last game of the season, with the starting and substitute Army goalkeepers both wearing bibs with the number one, and an Army player walking to the grandstands after being substituted.

It was an odd way for the season to end, but Patrick Delon Yao’s long through ball sent Izzo Elhabib in for one more goal, though the goalkeeper got there quickly to block the effort in the 77th minute. Elhabib was then presented with an even better opportunity in the 87th minute, but through on goal again, he lost his composure trying to place the ball and it flew wide.

End of season

It was a dominant victory for Global, who finish the season with the best defensive record in the league, 12 goals conceded and 11 clean sheets in 18 games. Unfortunately for them, the improvement wasn’t enough to retain the league title, as despite finishing with one point more than last season’s haul, Global had to settle for second place. Stallions are the new champions of the UFL, following up on their 2012 UFL Cup win, to hold both major UFL trophies at the same time, after amassing the highest number of points in league history.

The Army, meanwhile, finish the season in ninth place, with seven points in their 18 games. With the worst defensive record in the league, conceding 62 goals in the season, an average of almost three and a half per game, they will have a difficult relegation playoff match against Second Division runners-up Union International Manila. The result of that will determine if the Army can be the last remaining Armed Forces team in the top flight, or if all three Armed Forces sides will be the first three relegated teams of the UFL.  - AMD, GMA News