It is halfway through the 2016 United Football League season, and the championship is bound to be won by Global Football Club. Global lead the league table by six points. Unless a dramatic collapse occurs, Global will become champions at the end of the season.
One major result that considerably helped Global was Ceres-La Salle FC’s shock 1-2 loss to Green Archers United FC, last August 6, 2016 (Sunday) at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Taguig. “We played like we planned but we missed too many opportunities. They scored with the two they opportunities had. They win the game,” lamented newly-installed head coach Risto Vidakovic.
Vidakovic was announced as the new head coach of Ceres-La Salle a few weeks ago. He conceded that the loss was a hugely negative result for Ceres’ title campaign. “Seven games left, we will see what happens. We have to go [to] every game to win, the same like before this game today. We lose but we have to get forward,” the Serbian mentor added.
As a new appointee, Vidakovic admitted that there hasn’t been enough time for him to fully implement his ideas to the Ceres players. “We spent maybe just ten days with the players. Just the style of the training maybe we changed something but not so much. We have too much in ten days. We need more time but that’s not an excuse why we lose today.”
However, Vidakovic was undaunted by the huge task of coaching Ceres. “It’s the same everywhere. The work is the same. The work with the players it’s just like Europe but maybe more work here because maybe the players are not tactically ready yet. It’s a different style of game but the football is always the same. We have to do what we have to do. We work on the pitch, on the field.”
Just like any other coach, Vidakovic understood who he needs to focus on – his players. “We have to work together,” he said. “Until today, we don’t do it as a team. We have talented players but we need to get better. We need to improve many things tactically and the tactical things are I think we need to improve on.”
As things stand, Global are well on course to win a UFL and UFL Cup double this year. Ceres’ second defeat of the season looks like it has cost them a chance at defending their crown. While there is still the 2016 Singapore Cup for Ceres, this might be a trophy-less year for them. Perhaps Vidakovic’s appointment should be seen as the start of a new project for the club to win more titles in the future.
