DB needs a miracle to stop Crazy Horse
Team W D L P GD
Crazy Horse 5 1 - 16 24
Don Bosco Alumni 4 1 1 13 10
USJ-R 4 - 2 12 7
Queen City 3 - 3 9 1
Wild Cebu 3 - 3 9 -5
USPF 2 1 3 7 -2
San Roque FC 1 1 4 4 -15
Magone - - 6 0 -20
WITH still one round to go, only a miracle can stop Crazy Horse FC from bagging the 2nd Aboitiz Premier League title next week at the San Roque Parish grounds and the Japanese owned club can forget the stigma of losing last year's title to just one goal.
Crazy Horse, owned by Yamato Ayabe, leads the eight-team league with 16 points, while the Don Bosco Alumni FC, coached by Neil Montesclaros, is second with 13.
Three points and 14 goals separate the top two teams and for Don Bosco to snatch the title, it needs to conspire with the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), which is manned by mostly Bosconian alumni, and Queen City United.
This Sunday, Crazy Horse will take on USJ-R after Don Bosco faces the reeling Queen City United, which lost its last match via forfeit. The other games will be Magone against San Roque and Wilde Cebu against University of Southern Philippines-Foundation.
First, Don Bosco has to hope that Queen City will have enough players come kick off, so it could proceed to bury them by as many goals as they can.
If Queen City fails to show up, resulting to a 3-0 win for Don Bosco, the Bosconians will then have to stay and cheer their brothers and hope they somehow manage to sneak 11 goals against the tough Crazy Horse defense.
However, it is easier said and done. After Crazy Horse conceded two goals in its first win, their defense has tightened up and allowed only two in their next five matches.
The final match also features the top two strikers in the league—USJ-R's Dave Intong and Crazy Horse's Rodolphe Lina.
Both players lead with seven goals.
Still, even with the odds stacked against their opponents, Crazy Horse is expected to play to their full potential this year to finally bag the chance to represent Cebu in the regional finals next month.
Last year, Crazy Horse held eventual champion Hiroshi FC, 2-2, to finish second. Both Hiroshi and Crazy Horse finished with identical 5-win and 1 draw cards and a plus 29 goal difference.
However, Hiroshi, which opted not to defend its crown this year, got the title for scoring 33 goals to Crazy Horse's 32.
Crazy Horse 5 1 - 16 24
Don Bosco Alumni 4 1 1 13 10
USJ-R 4 - 2 12 7
Queen City 3 - 3 9 1
Wild Cebu 3 - 3 9 -5
USPF 2 1 3 7 -2
San Roque FC 1 1 4 4 -15
Magone - - 6 0 -20
WITH still one round to go, only a miracle can stop Crazy Horse FC from bagging the 2nd Aboitiz Premier League title next week at the San Roque Parish grounds and the Japanese owned club can forget the stigma of losing last year's title to just one goal.
Crazy Horse, owned by Yamato Ayabe, leads the eight-team league with 16 points, while the Don Bosco Alumni FC, coached by Neil Montesclaros, is second with 13.
Three points and 14 goals separate the top two teams and for Don Bosco to snatch the title, it needs to conspire with the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), which is manned by mostly Bosconian alumni, and Queen City United.
This Sunday, Crazy Horse will take on USJ-R after Don Bosco faces the reeling Queen City United, which lost its last match via forfeit. The other games will be Magone against San Roque and Wilde Cebu against University of Southern Philippines-Foundation.
First, Don Bosco has to hope that Queen City will have enough players come kick off, so it could proceed to bury them by as many goals as they can.
If Queen City fails to show up, resulting to a 3-0 win for Don Bosco, the Bosconians will then have to stay and cheer their brothers and hope they somehow manage to sneak 11 goals against the tough Crazy Horse defense.
However, it is easier said and done. After Crazy Horse conceded two goals in its first win, their defense has tightened up and allowed only two in their next five matches.
The final match also features the top two strikers in the league—USJ-R's Dave Intong and Crazy Horse's Rodolphe Lina.
Both players lead with seven goals.
Still, even with the odds stacked against their opponents, Crazy Horse is expected to play to their full potential this year to finally bag the chance to represent Cebu in the regional finals next month.
Last year, Crazy Horse held eventual champion Hiroshi FC, 2-2, to finish second. Both Hiroshi and Crazy Horse finished with identical 5-win and 1 draw cards and a plus 29 goal difference.
However, Hiroshi, which opted not to defend its crown this year, got the title for scoring 33 goals to Crazy Horse's 32.
Comments
USJR Alumni doesn't have it's top alumni playing for them this year. Coach Bono, it think, opted to expose his younger varsity players considering that 5-6 starters are on their last year of eligibility for the CESAFI wars. former Jaguar stalwarts Kim Relucio and Bong Aller are playing for the Crazy Horse backline and both are familiar with Dave Intong and the rest of the USJR offense so going past them would be extremely difficult.
hope springs eternal, but common sense and logic dictates that CebuFA should already engrave Crazy Horse's name on the Championship Trophy.
Who knows, maybe next Sunday's matches will spring a surprise or two.
primarily because of how they play the wings. crazy horse (CH) usually starts their offensive plays with Hayato or Abellana giving it to the wingers near half-court, almost always a forward pass. the CH wingers doesn't wait till they are near the corners to cross the ball. they do so a good 15 to 20 yards before the endlines. at that point, their wingers are also 5-10 yards from the sideline and are at a good position to follow their crosses instead of fading away at the corners. that means that the defense has to cover not only the strikers and the far post but also the passer. furthermore, hayato and abellana are excellent in covering up the space behind their strikers, thus CH always has 6 attackers in offensive position.
most of the other teams employ the 4-4-2 formation. the CH wingers usually draw 2 defenders towards them, one to shadow and the other to cover the area between the wing and the centercourt. if the opposing team's midfield are slow to go downfield to help defensively, the remaining central defender is forced to cover not only the CH strikers but also hayato and abellana. effectively defending CH calls for 3 central defenders.
don bosco alumni managed to draw against crazy horse because they employed a defensive half to cover the CH midfield in an attack. DB also converted their top wingers into fullbacks to help cover CH wingers. true, DB played defensively, considering they were up against the league's top offensive team. the team practically had no offense, but a draw was what they wanted at tleast, and a draw was what they got.
not counting the near-misses crazy horse had on that game, they were sure winners after that early goal but a defensive blunder cost them the win. DB strikers are short on breath and endurance but they are wily and lanky.
scoring against CH is very difficult. Relucio and Aller are excellent at central defense. Kim is a physically emposing presence with his wide body while Aller has the speed to chase a striker down and the willingness to bring that striker down - at any cost. the best attacking formation against CH would have to be a 3 striker + attacking midfield and the wingers must be quick in asking and receiving thru-passes. such an attack would force the CH wingers to come down and cover their sides, and it would also allow the opponents some breathing room defensively in the event of a counter-attack because the CH wings are downfield and not in attacking formation. plus, their midfield must'nt allow hayato and abellana to much time to set things up. give them 5-6 touches and you are in big trouble.
of course, THAT IS EASIER SAID THAN DONE !!!!!
wilde cebu's win ruined what could have a been a very exciting last two games. DB had several chances to win that one but blew it. credit wilde cebu for playing well. like i said, save time and have the trophy engraved with Crazy Horse's name on it. better luck next time for the rest of the teams.