Another game, another rout for Ceres-La Salle Football Club. The Bacolod club continued their routine of trashing teams in the 2016 United Football League by defeating Laos FC, 11-0. The result left Ceres-La Salle technical director Ali Go lamenting the state of the UFL once again.
Amidst Go’s calls for a more competitive UFL, he himself saw to it that Ceres-La Salle wouldn’t rest on their laurels. How so? By getting a new coach. Serbian mentor Risto Vidakovic has been announced as the new coach of the powerhouse team. Vidakovic has coached a number of clubs in Spain and is seen as someone who can still make Ceres-La Salle an even stronger club. Go noted, “Tactically, systematically I think the new coach will give new movements to us.”
For Go, the appointment is a calculated risk for the sake of fulfilling Ceres-La Salle’s potential. He shared, “Maybe you know our potential will be (higher), if not maybe what I’m doing is already the highest potential. We will never know until we try. We got a UEFA pro coach who has a good CV, who’s very experienced in Spain. I think there are some differences with what they’re doing in Spain and here and I have to let him know the Philippine setting. I think tactically he has a lot to offer.”
In light of Vidakovic’s appointment, Go will now only be known as technical director pf Ceres-La Salle. While Go admitted that there will be less stress, he stated that everything will pass through him. For coach Vidakovic, though, the pressure is on.
“Probably we can reach our highest level. Maybe there’s more to Ceres than what we’re seeing. We’re not playing bad. We reached AFC 2nd round, we almost won the knockout. We’re in the semi-finals of the Singapore Cup. We’re all focus here in the UFL, we win our last few games then we’re on top of the table. I don’t want to let him feel the pressure but he cannot make a mistake. We’re gonna help each other. Maybe this pro coach can help us more. That’s what we want”, Go concluded.
