UFL: Socceroo bows to Archers, Stallion draws with Sparks 

In a night of tight UFL football, Green Archers United squeaked past Team Socceroo 2-1, while Stallion FC, virtually out of the title race, played spoiler for the Loyola Meralco Sparks, drawing with them 1-1 and keeping them in second place behind Global FC, Thursday at the Emperador Stadium.

Lopez Mendy Brace gives Archers the win

In a scrappy game that saw a yellow card flashed within the first 20 minutes, both keepers had work to do, as the attempts poured in.

At the 20th minute, the Archers’ Robert Lopez Mendy finally got a goal after a couple of attempts. Archer Shapay Johnson took a shot that was blocked by Socceroo keeper Gui Hasegawa, but the rebound went to Lopez Mendy, who wasted no time in sending the ball to the back of the net. A few minutes later, Lopez Mendy tried again, this time with a spectacular bicycle kick, but it went wide.  

The 30th minute saw what will probably be one of the League’s most controversial goals. Referee Rey Ritaga had whistled for a foul on an Archer who had wrestled down Socceroo’s Diego Barrera right near the edge of the box. Archer keeper Patrick Deyto perhaps thought that there was time to organize a wall and walked out towards the outer box. Instead, Barrera gathered the ball and put it in the correct spot for a free kick and kicked it into the empty net, for a 1-1 halftime draw.

Barrera’s equalizer was controversial but legal. The Socceroo player took advantage of Deyto's confusion to get off a quick free kick. The referee had not blown his whistle a second time, which would have stopped the play.

The teams came out of the gates smoking at the start of the second, with the teams continuing to pile on attempts.

At the 76th minute, Jesse Martindale was replaced by Gab Olowoyeye, and the Archers armband went to former UP Maroon Raymark Fernandez.

Five minutes later, a second yellow was shown to Socceroo’s Kennedy Venida Uzoka, reducing Socceroo down to 10 men in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Team Socceroo held off the Archers well, until the 89th minute, when Lopez-Mendy put the Archers back on top. The whole Socceroo team and officials were up in arms saying it was offside, but the goal held.

In four minutes of added time, Deyto was shown a yellow card after he knocked down a Socceroo player right at the edge of the box, but Jeong Won Lee skied the free kick. On the succeeding play, Deyto should have been shown at least another yellow when he lifted his leg too high after a save, hitting a Socceroo player.

However, the result stood, giving the Archers their fourth straight win, while Socceroo arguably got the same treatment that the Archers had been getting most of the season - bad calls that ultimately decided games.

The Green Archers are in fifth place with 19 points, four behind Stallion, and have a game in hand. Socceroo continues to languish at eighth spot with nine points, five ahead of cellar-dwellers Pasargad FC.

Read about the draw between Loyola Meraclo and Stallion: 

Loyola Meralco Sparks held by defending champs Stallion
 
A solid tackle by David Basa on Lee Joo Young right at the opening sent Lee flying through the air and on to the ground. It was a good tackle as Basa got all ball on his first touch and it signaled what kind of game this was going to be.

The ball spent a lot of time around the Stallion goal in the first 10 minutes, but they finally woke up and saw a couple of good attempts from Balot Doctora, Masoud Shadideh, and Junior Gaye.

Half an hour into the game, a free kick was awarded to the Sparks off a Basa foul at the edge of the box. Phil Younghusband curved the ball, finding what was probably the only gap in the wall and sent it through, eluding the keeper.

But Balot Doctora got that back for his team, controlling the ball off a rebound and evening the score. The rebound was off a Milan Arends attempt that Sparks keeper Baba Sampana had finger tip-saved.

It was more of the same in the second half, as both teams tried their absolute best to break through the stalemate.

At the 66th minute, there was a good chance from Arnel Amita, who had come on for Fred Gonzalez, but the ball went straight to Stallion keeper Wilson Munoz.

The last couple of minutes in regulation were wild, to say the least. A free kick for the Sparks was taken by Phil Younghusband but it was stopped by Munoz and the rebound went to Hartmann, who volleyed it. However, the ball hit a Stallion player and went out for a Sparks corner. The corner resulted in a header from Joaco Canas but the ball went out for another corner. The next corner produced a Rodrigue Nembot header, only for the ball to go up and out.

The Sparks desperately tried to get another goal in the dying minutes and into added time, but Stallion defended for their lives. On the flipside, they had nothing happening for them on offense at the end of the game.

"We felt we had some chances,” said Stallion coach Ernie Nierras, “We had to win this game. I don't think mathematically it's possible for us to win the championship [anymore],” he conceded after the game.

Sparks coach Vince Santos looked extremely disappointed after the game. ”For a championship team, especially in long seasons like this, there will always come a point where you're questioned, how much do you really want it? It's a question that's being asked of us right now. I'm really hoping we respond well,” he said.

The draw meant that the Sparks did not retake the top spot, and that Global will be four points clear if they win against Pasargad FC on Saturday. Stallion remains in fourth place with 23 points, four points ahead of Green Archers United and four points behind Kaya FC. Both Kaya and the Archers have a game in hand.   - AMD, GMA News