Ateneo Men's Football Game 5 The Point of No Return

The Point of No Return

Ateneo 0 vs. UST 1

by rick olivares

This was the perfect opportunity to leapfrog from the middle of the pack to the top. Ateneo has pretty much handled UST well in the past decade and their 2-2 record notwithstanding, they new the Tigers were beatable.

They showed that in the first half with repeated slices through a porous Tiger defense with Anton Amistoso, Gerard Cancio, and Gab Siojo getting good shots in that veteran UST keeper Johnson Lee deftly parried. However, their finishing touch needed some work.

The defensive backs, Luigi Meer in particular, would send one long ball after another deep into UST territory instead of the midfield where there were better options of swinging the ball to either side.

“Malapit na,” noted Ateneo coach Ompong Merida at the half. “Just execute our game plan and the game is ours.”

On the other side, Tigers coach Marjo Allado was worried that Blue Booter Cancio was easily beating his back four. “Markahan niyo na,” he said in varying forms that ran from encouragement to begging to outright being upset. “Asawahin niyo na agad.”

At the resumption of the match, UST crowded Ateneo’s midfield throwing the blues’ attack in a funk. There were still blazing runs that resulted in near goals but they were fewer.

The Tigers in the meantime were getting more corner kicks. “Pressure!” thundered Allado.

At that point, the game was anybody’s ballgame and a draw was even possible. For all of UST’s pressure, they had been unable to penetrate Ateneo’s defense.

Until another bad call changed the complexion of the game.

At the 67^th minute Ateneo defender Carl Llado was whistled for a yellow card then to the horror of the Ateneo side, a successive red card for a tackle on UST’s Nicanor Palacios several feet from outside the box. The referee at first confused him with Ateneo central back Mario Marcelo whom he carded earlier for arguing a call. Then he reasoned that Lllado (at this point he was still confused with who’s who) denied a scoring chance that was erroneous. Palacios had two defenders in front – Llado and Fred Ozaeta and was dribbling the ball not in the act of taking a shot.

With one less man and Ateneo still upset at the call, the Tigers Mungcal sent an unmarked shot from outside the box that grazed past the fingers of Ateneo keeper RS Mantos.

That was all UST needed as they repeatedly turned back Ateneo’s spirited last-ditch rally.

It was the second time this season the Blue Booters had fallen to a quick call by referees who never conferred whether the call was correct or not.

In the first round match against La Salle, the linesman and the referee failed to see Meer pushed from behind by an attacking player. The push forced Meer to touch the ball as it was going out of bounds. While undeniably a handball and inside the box, it should warrant a penalty, football and its complex rules and interpretation by the referees always look whether there is an advantage, a scoring opportunity, or a violation. The referee then signaled for a corner but the linesman whistled for a penalty. The proper thing would be for the two to confer but immediately, the referee changed his decision.

Incredibly, in the UST game, while everyone saw a clear handball by a UST defender right in front of the goal and facing the field, the referee missed it as the Ateneo bench and onlookers yelled “handball.”

In the meeting between tournament officials after the end of the day’s matches that saw FEU upset UP 2-1 and UE take out their frustrations on La Salle 5-0 in a match they dedicated to their coach Lloyd Lim who is in sickbay with cancer, it was all agreed by officials that the referee and many others had done a poor job not just with the match but many others in the tournament.

In the first game of the season between UST and DLSU, the referee and linesman missed a goal by the Tigers that was clearly inside the goal line when Green Booter keeper Patrick Deyto batted it out.

The current crop of referees are from both the NCRFA and PFF with many of the best officials seeing time in the UFL that is also played at the same time. As it is, some of the replacement referees are from RIFA while some are newbies and unused to the high level of competition.

But for Ateneo and the all the other teams, the second round will be even more hotly contested in terms of wins, points, and goal difference for a chance at the top two slots.

“We’re not yet done,” said Merida after the game. “Pero wala nang margin for error. We cannot afford another loss or draw. We have to get a win to have a chance.”

Of their chances?

“Bilog ang bola eka nga.”