Ali Go, Ceres-La Salle FC Head Coach perhaps left the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium last Sunday night as the happier of two coaches. His team may have not won the match against the defending champions Global FC but he was pleased that the team stayed on course for a first-ever United Football League (UFL) Division I title.
It may have been better though for the runaway league leaders when they seized the initiative early on. Goals from Bienvenido Marañon and Manny Ott gave Ceres-La Salle breathing space at the interval. Global, however, stormed back to level the match thanks to goals from OJ Clarino and Misagh Bahadoran. Before witnessing his team concede a couple of second half goals, the man at the helm for Ceres-La Salle instructed his boys to stay sharp in the opening 15 minutes of the match. Apparently, the team only for did just that. “The game plan was working. Second half, we said to ourselves they’re going to give everything in the first 15 minutes. We have to play the same tempo..After that, the tempo went down,” he underlined.
The coach also thought that committing mistakes in marking some of the country’s best players inevitably opened up opportunities for Global to even take the match completely away from Ceres-La Salle. Facing a few questions amidst a very satisfying season, the former national team standout treats this game as a learning experience for bigger things to come. “I think the boys need more heart to finish the game. If you want to play [at the] AFC, you don’t want to give up two goals in the second half,” Go stressed.
Moving on, the Ceres-La Salle championship run will continue tomorrow against the rampaging Green Archers United (GAU) FC squad. Even if his team has beaten GAU twice this year already, Go remains wary of the rejuvenated side mentored by Rodolfo Alicante. After that, they are bound to square off against Kaya FC, who currently sit second in the table. “Two big games [ahead]. [If] We win this two, I think it’s all over,” Go optimistically implied. For them to do that, they should only play their best football throughout the 180 minutes they are bound to play this week.
