Jarringly beaten by Kaya in the quartefinals last Saturday, the Loyola Meralco Sparks redeemed themselves with a 4-0 rout of Forza in the plate semifinals of the UFL Cup yesterday evening at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
James Younghusband delivered for the Sparks with a hat trick and an assist for Joaco Cañas’ goal, underlining a stellar night from the Filipino international. Reflective of the scoreline, the match was dominated by the men in orange with Forza’s looks on goal only coming from rare counter attacks and set piece deliveries.
Loyola registered the first chance of the night through Kou Ichi Belgira. The youngster tried to guide the ball into the net off a Tahj Minniecon cross, only for him to put it wide. Minniecon’s corner found another teammate in a good situation moments later, but Adam Mitter made the same mistake as his header sailed wide. Succeeding each of the promising corners taken by the Australian, Forza made a pair of counter attacks that were both read by Sparks’ goalkeeper Tomas Trigo.
The Azkals custodian was actually the first one to make a save in the match when he had to parry an 18th minute Steph Burda free kick. He also had to deter the rebound shot made by Hayato Aoki. It was the best chance Forza had in taking the initiative, as the Sparks unleashed a fruitful attacking barrage as a response to the threat.
Again from a Minniecon corner 19 minutes into the game, James Younghusband’s powerful strike was kept out by Forza keeper Yoshiharu Koizumi. The young goalkeeper also did well to keep the score level two minutes afterwards when he stopped a Jason de Jong shot from going into the back of the net. There was little Koizumi can do, however, when Loyola won a penalty at the 24th minute. De Jong broke away from the defense and had Koizumi on a one-on-one, but Fredy Lope Mbang wrongly impeded the run of the Loyola midfielder. As a result, Younghusband drilled in the penalty to open the scoring.
Ten minutes later, Loyola padded their lead from another set piece. De Jong’s free kick led to a Younghusband header inside the box. Uncertain about the ball’s direction, Cañas applied the final touch to make sure the ball goes into the onion bag. Approaching halftime, the Sparks nearly went ahead by three goals had Koizumi not got something on Minniecon’s shot five minutes before the break.
The second half produced more chances for both teams, although the quality of those opportunities wasn’t that high. Before the hour mark, Curt Dizon and Anton del Rosario had good runs inside the box but neither was able to make the most out of their ventures. On the other end, Forza was getting free kicks but couldn’t seem to execute their rehearsed sets on the pitch.
Jinggoy Valmayor nearly made an immediate impact off the bench when he was presented a decent opportunity to score a goal just two minutes after he got on the pitch. The ex-UP Fighting Maroon striker managed to hit a shot that only went wide. It wasn’t the last chance he had in the game as he came a bit closer in his second attempt, hitting the post at the 71st minute. His teammate, Jorrel Aristorenas, followed it up with a shot on target saved by Koizumi.
Not long after, Younghusband scored his second of the night. James was set up nicely by de Jong and had all the time to smash a shot into the top left corner, leaving Koizumi with no chance of saving his attempt. De Jong himself almost got into the scoresheet but his shot went harmlessly over the bar.
With time running out, there was a chance for Forza to grab a consolation goal–and they almost did at the 84th minute. Burda’s free kick located Lobe Mbang whose header struck the crossbar. In the end, a goal did happen before the final whistle, but it went for the Sparks. Down to the last minute, Younghusband completed his hat trick with a second long range conversion to cap off the night.
Loyola Head Coach Simon McMenemy thought the players played professionally in a game that he thought meant little for his side that was still stung by a painful quarterfinals loss to Kaya. “It takes a lot for the boys to pick themselves back up again. I’m happy with the reaction today. We played very well, we dominated the game, we passed the ball really well,” the Scottish tactician assessed.
Booking themselves a spot in the plate final, McMenemy is planning to use the match against JP Voltes not primarily to win the consolation silverware but for them to prepare for the upcoming season.
