University of the Philippines products Daniel Gadia, Ace Villanueva, and Kintaro Miyagi are set to reunite and bring their collegiate success to Dynamic Herb Cebu in the upcoming season of the Philippines Football League.
The team announced that coach Anto Gonzales’ former wards are part of its lineup for its top-flight debut. The trio was part of UP’s UAAP Season 78 championship team.
The trio will be joined by La Salle’s Mauro Acot and Far Eastern University’s Nicolas Ferrer Jr while foreign reinforcements such as Ekundayo Emmanuel Andrew, Marius Kore, Mohamed Soumah, and Gamal Al Mesbahi are expected to bring an instant impact.
Keenen Julian Cergneux, Ranulfo Colina, Lorenzo Giuseppe Genco, Ruffy Llorente, John Roy Melgo III, Julian Pio Miranda, Ren Okuda, Michael Pacite, Steven Patalinghug, Jaime Rosquillo, Yoji Elliot Selman, Baris Tasci, Evren Tasci, and John Francis Zambrano complete the lineup.
Cebu shall be coached by Oliver Colina, who was tapped by Kaya-Iloilo in its 2020 AFC Cup campaign. The 39-year-old mentor was having a decent campaign with the LBC-backed club with one win and two draws in Group H, only for the COVID-19 pandemic to cancel the competition.
Colina will be aided by assistant coach Alex Ballesteros, veteran stopper Ref Cuaresma as the goalkeeping coach, current Philippine Women’s National Football Team assistant Apol Bariñan physical therapist Mark Uy, conditioning coach Carlo Sumayang, and kit man Jimmy Liman.
“We are working on our final roster in the coming days. After initially signing a few players, our Team Manager Hannah Wong has completed submission of the remaining requirements from the provisional license that PFL has primarily granted last August 6. We eagerly await updates for the licensing status,” furthered the statement.
Cebu has recently been granted a provisional license by the Philippine Football Federation’s Club Licensing First Instance Body,
There is still no word when the 2021 season of the Philippines Football League shall commence after it was postponed due to the imposition of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in the National Capital Region and its nearby areas.
