In a finishing masterclass from Jarvey Gayoso, the Azkals Development Team earned a ticket to the 2021 Copa Paulino Alcantara semi-finals thanks to a 9-0 demolition job of Mendiola 1991, Saturday evening at the PFF National Training Center in Carmona, Cavite.
The result gives the ADT three points in Group B, which is enough to help the club finish at the runners-up spot behind group winners Kaya-Iloilo. On the other hand, Mendiola ended its campaign in dismal fashion with zero points and a goal difference of minus-15.
“We all did our parts,” said Gayoso. “We wanted to keep working hard no matter what the scoreline was… It was a do-or-die match so we had to make sure that we got the win. We wanted to bounce back. We had a lot of guys who were struggling mentally since we came off a loss against Kaya but at the same, we wanted to pick ourselves up and make sure we do our best in this game.”
Former Ateneo star Gayoso started the rout when he converted a penalty at the 16th minute. Dennis Chung then doubled his side’s cushion at the 29th minute with some fine individual play.
Defenders Christian Rontini and Mar Vincent Diano then headed the ball home off set-pieces at the 33rd and 35th minutes respectively. Gayoso then secured his brace in the first half with a quality finish at close range in the 38th minute.
Gayoso then completed his hattrick at the 52nd minute with a glancing header off another set-piece, secured his fourth goal in the contest courtesy of another penalty at the 72nd minute, and got a fifth strike at the 73rd minute with a cool finish.
Sandro Reyes added his name on the scoresheet at the 76th minute from close range.
“We addressed all the mistakes we made during that game (against Kaya),” said coach Jovanie Villagracia. “We’re very happy with the result and we’re looking forward to the next match against Stallion.”
The ADT will face Stallion Laguna in the semi-finals of the competition. The said fixture takes place on Tuesday with kickoff time scheduled at 4:00 PM.
Azkals Development Team XI: Kammeraad (GK), Chung, Gayoso ©, Diano,. Rontini, Custodio, Bias, Limbo, Kekkonen, Gallantes, Reyes.
Mendiola 1991 XI: Asong (GK), Dosso, Manlapas, Semblante, Ashley, Clarino, Crestal, Suba Jr, Hajimahdi, Bricenio, Flores (C).
