Hiroshi bags U18 title
THE Hiroshi Football Club showed resiliency as it outlasted a gritty University of San Carlos to eke out a 2-1 win in the Aboitiz 18-Under Cup at the Cebu City Sports Center yesterday.
The win gave Hiroshi the title, the right to represent Cebu in the regional eliminations later this month and also threw out all "what if" scenarios for the Cebu Football Association. A draw would have put Hiroshi tied with the University of Cebu.
UC, which defeated Don Bosco Boys Home 4-1, finished second with eight points, while USC settled for third. USC still has a game to play, against San Roque FC, but it is already moot as it can't improve on its third place finish.
Hiroshi started the game with its defense stretched as USC's Michael Sharpe and Kyle Soriano pressed the attack but managed to get ahead, 1-0, in the 23rd with Rodel Saranillo's perfectly struck free kick.
Saranillo, hitting just outside the box, curved the ball to the top right corner, leaving USC keeper Patrick Uno no chance to stop the ball.
Their celebration was cut short after Sharpe deflected Louie Tirol's free kick past Paolo Pascual three minutes later to even the count, keeping USC's title shot alive.
The match took an ugly turn in the second half with Hiroshi's Jerson Omnos earning two yellow cards in a two-minute span.
Despite playing with only 10-man, Hiroshi matched USC stride for stride before RJ Sembrano banged in the go-ahead goal in the 69th minute, sending his team to the Philippine Football Federation regionals later this month.
Though they may have showed resiliency, Hiroshi also showed an aspect of its game that may needs improvement, playing fair. In football, the referee can not stop the game with the ball still in play, thus players intentionally sends the ball out so play can be stopped. In the next play, the team who has ball possession normally throws the ball back to the other team, hence the term, fair play.
That wasn't the case yesterday and Hiroshi almost scored as USC, expecting the ball to be returned to them, didn't bother to mark the players, giving a Hiroshi striker open space to attack. Fortunately, he was stopped.
The win gave Hiroshi the title, the right to represent Cebu in the regional eliminations later this month and also threw out all "what if" scenarios for the Cebu Football Association. A draw would have put Hiroshi tied with the University of Cebu.
UC, which defeated Don Bosco Boys Home 4-1, finished second with eight points, while USC settled for third. USC still has a game to play, against San Roque FC, but it is already moot as it can't improve on its third place finish.
Hiroshi started the game with its defense stretched as USC's Michael Sharpe and Kyle Soriano pressed the attack but managed to get ahead, 1-0, in the 23rd with Rodel Saranillo's perfectly struck free kick.
Saranillo, hitting just outside the box, curved the ball to the top right corner, leaving USC keeper Patrick Uno no chance to stop the ball.
Their celebration was cut short after Sharpe deflected Louie Tirol's free kick past Paolo Pascual three minutes later to even the count, keeping USC's title shot alive.
The match took an ugly turn in the second half with Hiroshi's Jerson Omnos earning two yellow cards in a two-minute span.
Despite playing with only 10-man, Hiroshi matched USC stride for stride before RJ Sembrano banged in the go-ahead goal in the 69th minute, sending his team to the Philippine Football Federation regionals later this month.
Though they may have showed resiliency, Hiroshi also showed an aspect of its game that may needs improvement, playing fair. In football, the referee can not stop the game with the ball still in play, thus players intentionally sends the ball out so play can be stopped. In the next play, the team who has ball possession normally throws the ball back to the other team, hence the term, fair play.
That wasn't the case yesterday and Hiroshi almost scored as USC, expecting the ball to be returned to them, didn't bother to mark the players, giving a Hiroshi striker open space to attack. Fortunately, he was stopped.
Comments
since Maximo already announced that the match will be replayed, that would mean that the forfeiture decision was taken back and that is an acknowlegment that SRFC properly informed CebuFA in advance that they will not be able to play that match as originally scheduled because of valid reasons.
since this is a league-format, even though a champion has been declared, the rescheduled game must still be played, right ?
by the way, why did USC put the ball out of play in the first place ? did a Hiroshi player got injured ?
i've seen practically all of these U19 players play (except SRFC) and have followed them for several years now (these abellana, springdale, cis, dbc, dbbh and usc players). i'm tempted to post suggestions on who coach ramirez should pick-up as reinforcements and what are the strenghts and weaknesses of each but i won't. i'll just wait after he reveals his final lineup.
of course, we can alsways say - what for ? the champion has been identified, it would just be a waste of time and money (for refs and venue use).
i say that they game should go on. much have been discussed regarding that particular match and i feel that the acknowlegement that SRFC properly advised CebuFA meant that no forfeiture occured and that CebuFA just had a lapse in judgement for not informing the refs and for declating a forfeiture.
if the match does not push thru because most would say - what for ? - then we may save some money but at the cost of professionalism. games - whether it has bearing or not - should push thru. we would be deemed amatuers in the way we hold our tournaments if we do so.
again, this may be a petty matter to some - forcing the playing of a non-bearing game. why not just declare a draw or something.
the point is, we have rules to follow and declaring a draw just because the game is non-bearing is not in the rules. pushing thru with a game that none of the players are likely to enjoy playing and the most minimal of supporters will most likely watch will not be a fun game to view.
but it will be the right and the professional thing to do.
it doesn't have to be played at the CCSC. to cut costs, have it played at USC-TC or San Roque, perhaps after school or early in the morning of this weekend. the players and coaches can treat it as a practice game or an exibition - the important thing is that it must push thru.
not completing the tournament just because a champion has already be declared will have a lot of consequenses down the road. for one, forfeitures will be taken lightly. since CebuFA has no existing policy regarding a minimum period of time wherein one can inform that they cannot play then teams can abuse this later on. we must have a policy regarding forfeitures and sanctions and not make it a case to case basis.
Kasibulan, in concept, was supposed to address this problem but it failed to take root in many areas. however, in a recent trip to La Union, i managed to pass by an elementary school near Agoo and asked if the football field in the school was being used. the security guard told me that every saturday morning, a coach from nearby San Fernando City comes to train a kids coming from nearby towns. the number of participants vary because bus fare was scarce.
that incident made me think that perhaps the concept of Kasibulan may still be our last hope of a true grassroot program. kids paying thousands of pesos in urban areas for football lessons is not my idea of a grassroot program - for me that's business. if we can only find a way of making the Kasibulan concept practical and implementable, then our chances of becoming a competitive football nation would greatly increase.