The last time the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles had seen action in UAAP Men’s Football, they suffered a 4-1 beating at the hands of their Katipunan neighbours University of the Philippines in the Final.
In their return to the stadium where they fell short a season ago, the Blue Eagles looked like a completely new squad. A few familiar faces came alongside new ones, marked by shaved heads that symbolize a rookie initiation not foreign to the UAAP.
New team, new luck it seems, as they went home 4-0 winners against the Adamson University Soaring Falcons in their first game of the UAAP Season 79 men’s football tournament.
After the referee blew the final whistle, the Ateneans looked evidently happy as they got off to a hot start. Add to that the fact that two rookies managed to find the back of the net in their debuts. It’s surely the best of starts for the Blue Eagles, who are aiming to finish the season in a better position than last year.
The 4-0 win places them on top of the table early on, and with a Thursday game against the National University coming up, the Blue Eagles have the chance to make it two wins in a row should they emerge victorious against the Bulldogs in the 2PM game at their home ground of Moro Lorenzo Football Field.
Early days, but a good opening few games may well propel Ateneo to similar highs experienced last season. Sophomore striker Jarvey Gayoso, nonetheless, does not want the team to get carried away by an opening game rout.
“It’s nice na we started the season very well with top of the table but of course we shouldn’t be complacent about the position. We should always learn from the mistakes that we’ve made,” last year’s joint-leading scorer pointed out.
Despite his team winning by four goals, Gayoso admitted that they could have carved more chances and converted better on the night.
Entering the season, Ateneo ushered in 10 rookies. With new faces crowding the lineup once more, captain Carlo Liay heaped praise on his new teammates, saying,
“It’s been constant naman that we have a lot of rookies. They integrated very well in the dynamics of the team so I’m really happy with their performances.”
Gayoso agreed with his captain, citing that the current batch looks better than his batch that came in a year ago. When asked about meshing the team together with the newest members, the second year striker suggested that the transition is close to seamless.
“Adjusting wasn’t really that hard. We took five months to prepare for this. It wasn’t really that hard to adjust myself and for the team to adjust to the style of play,” the sophomore said.
It also helps that he is already familiar with some of his freshman teammates in their stints with the youth national teams.
For the past three years, Ateneo has had many players coming and going and it’s quite difficult to imagine that Liay is the only member of the Season 75 championship team to be in this season’s lineup. As the leader of the team, the Season 75 Rookie of the Year awardee wants to his younger teammates to understand the importance of discipline.
“Discipline and maturity are the key to get the championship for me. I’ve been really strict about discipline, like training on time and those small details. For me with this very young team as the only veteran, it’s really about discipline,” Liay mentioned.
As the season slowly unfolds, the Blue Eagles will face tougher battles along their pursuit of glory. Whether they will conquer the challenges or not remains to be seen. Regardless, with the talented young bunch of players Ateneo has in the books, it would be ridiculous to rule them out this season and even for the upcoming ones. As Gayoso said,
“It’s just a bright future I see for this team.”
