Despite essentially playing as the visiting team, Ateneo de Manila University managed to win round one of the UAAP Season 86 Men’s Football Tournament’s ‘Battle of Katipunan’ by surviving University of the Philippines 1-0 at the UP Diliman Football Stadium last Sunday.
As always under coach JP Merida, the Blue Eagles demonstrated their ability to grind out a victory despite having less possession and chances.
Defender Jose Antonio Lopez played a key role on both ends of the pitch: marshaling the backline while also scoring the game’s only goal in the 50th minute.
“It always feels good to win, but today it felt especially better because the team worked really hard,” said the Master of Business Administration student.
“Everybody gave it their all. You could see everybody on the floor after the game because they’re so tired. The determination was there. For me, it doesn’t matter who scores. What matters is the win. I’m happy as a captain that we won today and we look forward to the next game,” the native of Davao City added.
“I think it’s very important to be physical against UP. They play strong. They’re aggressive and at the start we had an adjustment period. But in the duration of the game, we were able to come back, find our physicality, and we were able to finish strong.”
Lopez’s second-half goal was a sucker punch toward the Fighting Maroons. The Blue Eagles struggled to create goalscoring opportunities from open play and relied on set-pieces to find the breakthrough.
During a corner kick, after striker Kofi Agyei’s initial attempt that was saved by UP goalkeeper Alfonso Gonzalez, Lopez was the quickest one to react to put the ball at the back of the net.
For the 25-year-old defender, a lot of the gratitude should go to his mentor Merida, who drilled his players to execute this set-piece play during their training sessions.
“I like to give credit to my coach,” he said. “My coach told me to make this movement. Because of our coach, we were able to score. I won’t take full credit. Although I was there at the right place and at the right time, I still give credit to my coach for telling me what to do.”
From one rival to another, Ateneo will end the first round against De La Salle University this Sunday,
The Blue Eagles are riding high on top of the standings while the Green Booters have hit a skid by failing to win their past two matches.
While momentum is with Ateneo as of the moment, the Blue Eagles know that they cannot take the Green Booters lightly.
“We look forward to it,” said Lopez. “Right now, I just want to rest and relax. I have no comments about the La Salle game except see you there.”
