Breaking down Loyola’s win over Harimau Muda B

This appears in abs-cbnnews.com

Breaking down Loyola’s win over Harimau Muda B

by rick olivares 

pic by freddy gonzalez

Let’s break down the 3-0 win by Loyola over Harimau Muda B in the opening round of the 2013 Singapore Cup. Here's the recap of the match last Saturday at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

Here’s what worked and what didn’t work.

What worked:

1) Phil Younghusband playing in the second wave of the attacks. No chance to double team. He blitzed right through and for chances. This was like watching him early in the season when Freddy Gonzalez was healthy.

2) The Sparks dictated the pace of the match (after settling down in the 10^th minute). Good to see them taking control of possession. Some will say that Harimau Muda isn’t good. You cannot tell that of a team after seeing them for one game. If you follow that logic, if you saw the Loyola-Kaya second round match, you would infer that the Sparks aren’t a very good squad but we all know they are (they just have to win something for the naysayers to clam up). The Malaysians gave proper credit to Loyola but at the same time said that this was their worst outing of the entire season. I disagree that they are tired because they had a few days to recover from their win over Woodlands Wellington (and before that against Tanjong Pagar United).

3) Nice to see Oong (Jang Joo Won) given a chance to play the target position. Needs some work but this will give him plenty of confidence. Loved how he would soak in advice from Phil Younghusband and Freddy Gonzalez. If he develops more, he'll be huge up front for the Sparks.

4) It's important to keep their 4-2-3-1 shape. They did for much of the game but on a couple of occasions, they were nearly caught flat-footed on the counter with Harimau Muda running through the undefended gaps.

5) The subs came up huge. Angelo Marasigan, Jake Morallo, and Alex Elnar did their part. Hopefully, this will do well for Morallo’s confidence and decision-making.

6) Simon Greatwich back in the middle. This guy will make a case and compete along with Mark Hartmann and Phil Younghusband for Loyola’s Player of the Year. As I have said and written before, I was hardly impressed last season and he gave away a couple of poor passes that led to goals. But this year, he came in focused, fit, and superbly conditioned. The result is excellent football. I hope he continues this fine form. Clearly, a huge plus for Loyola.

What didn’t work:

1) Part of the game plan was to go hard against the Malaysians but no such thing happened. I realize Loyola is a finesse team and they do not have the personnel to go hard. By not doing so, they gave Harimau Muda some time to collect themselves. The Malaysians knew Loyola has some national players but the fact that they were not blitzed gave them some composure. The first two scoring chances of the game went not to the UFL side but the S. League team. When Loyola did go forward, more often than not James Younghusband was open on the left and his teammates never recognized it. What a waste! Anto Gonzales would have spotted that.

2) The Sparks did not exploit Harimau Muda’s being down to 10 men. The coaching staff was explicit in their orders to only pass the ball back if they needed to but they sent it back for much of the time (accounting also for the huge pass completion numbers). After a while the Malaysians sat back and waited for what Loyola wanted to do.

3) Missing Rodrigue Nembot and Park Minho on defense saw Jeong Byeong Yeol play in the back (where he played a season ago but has since thrived in an attacking forward/midfielder role). That stifled the attack some. But this is a patchwork unit in some ways with Freddy Gonzalez, Nembot, Park, and Jang Jo Won unavailable for the match.

Undoubtedly, this was a huge win for Loyola. This is why teams work to get better.

What’s next?

From what I understand, for the next round of the Singapore Cup, there will be another draw. And this can be a nervy moment. But again to be the champion, you have to take on all comers.

When Loyola returns for the quarterfinals, they might have a different look. The UFL will be done and contracts are expiring. So we will see some different players. Here is what head coach Vince Santos had to say in the post-match interview: “It’s going to be after the transfer window, we might have a change in our look when we come back. Still maybe in the centerback position, maybe a keeper, just for rotation purposes, a striker as well. It’s a long year to play so it would be nice to have a deep bench for occasions like this when you have players injured.”

The next round should be a massive one.

Loyola defeats Harimau Muda, 3-0, to advance to q’finals of Singapore Cup

A condensed version of this appears on the Tuesday May 28, 2013 edition of the Business Mirror.

Loyola defeats Harimau Muda, 3-0, to advance to q’finals of Singapore Cup

by rick olivares

Singapore -- The Loyola Meralco Sparks made its triumphant return to Singapore with an impressive 3-0 win over Malaysian S.League side Harimau Muda B in the opening round of the 2013 Singapore Cup at the Jalan Besar Stadium last Sunday.

The Sparks got goals from Phil Younghusband scored a brace while Jang Joo Wong, playing atop their 4-2-3-1 formation, found the back of the net for his first international goal in the win.

It was the first bit of good cheer the Sparks got in the last few weeks as they have dropped out of the race for the UFL title following some crushing losses and disappointing draws after leading the league in the early part of the season.

“I am hoping that this is where we turn the corner,” said team manager Carlo Rodriguez a day before the game. And the beleaguered Sparks did just that to advance into the quarterfinals of the Singapore Cup for the second consecutive year.

“When we came last year it was for the experience. Now, we have the experience,” noted head coach Vince Santos.

Although the Sparks took control of the match from the opening whistle, it was the Malaysians who had two early chances to score but forward Maxsius Musa fired wide in the fifth minute while a one-two combination pass between Yazid Zaini to Iskandar Hanapiah three minutes later also went awry.

Phil Younghusband’s back heel pass in the seventh minute to older brother James in the right wing saw Loyola in a good position for their first chance but the latter’s cross sailed away.

In the 17^th minute, Phil Younghusband was felled inside the box by defender Ashmawi Yakin who was the last line of defense after the Filipino broke through several defenders. Referee Abdul Malik Bashir sent off the Malaysian leaving Harimau Muda with only 10 men on the pitch. A minute later, Younghusband made good on his spot kick to give Loyola the opening goal of the 2013 Singapore Cup.

Malaysian head coach Razip Ismail lamented the sending off his player. “It’s too harsh to give a player a red card. In our last game against Woodlands, almost the same situation but the player never got a red card only a yellow card.”

Santos offered somewhat of a mild counter, “The chance we created to concede a red card was with eleven men. It’s the last man then there’s a chance for a red card. But if it happened anywhere else in the field then I would have not expected a red card.”

Loyola dominated possession of the match as they completed 83% of their passes (439-531 attempts). They also got stellar wing play from Matthew Hartmann on the left and James Younghusband on the right. But it was their ability to hold the ball and find holes in Harimau Muda’s defense that had the Malaysians playing cautiously and opting to attack on the counter.

In the 40^th minute, a brilliant nine-pass set saw Phil Younghusband find Jang Joo Won on a long ball release. The Korean deftly maneuvered between two defenders before firing to his left but well under the arms of the diving Harimau keeper Ilham Amirullah for a 2-0 lead that gave the Filipino side some breathing room.

The Malaysian side, their Under-19 national team, played better in the second half, with a 4-4-1 formation. But they got few opportunities to break through.

Decried Ismail, “We couldn’t break the opponent back four, I don’t think maybe we get a clear try at the goal. We never had one clear chance. You need to go inside the box. We lacked ideas maybe because of less man.”

Harimau Muda retained better control of the ball in the second half and that afforded them a few attacking opportunities. In the 78^th minute, Hanif Dhazir who had come in the match as the Malaysian’s first substitute for forward Yazid Zaini, unloaded from 25 yards out but it was wide left. One minute later, Musa sent another long range shot well high over the crossbar leaving Loyola keeper Ref Cuaresma unchallenged for the most part of the match.

With several hundred Filipinos at Jalan Besar Stadium cheering on the Sparks, Loyola stepped up the pressure with their substitutes all making an impact.

Angelo Marasigan, in for Matthew Hartmann, had a brilliant turn, but fired straight at the keeper.

Attacking midfielder Jake Morallo who performed well in last year’s Singapore Cup came in the 74^th minute for Jang and he had three scoring chances.

Seven minutes after his introduction into the game, James Younghusband’s long forward ball found Morallo with space to operate just outside the right side of the box. A defender blocked his initial cross but Morallo recovered the ball drawing out Amirullah. With a crowd in front of him, Morallo’s pass to a wide open Phil Younghusband, who had run up in support as the third man, was exquisite. The long-time national player could do no less than blast the ball into an empty net for a 3-nil lead and the clincher.

Santos pronounced himself “satisfied” with the win. “Morale was a bit down after one of our losses it’s good to have our morale back. It helped they got a man down but before that we were showing good movement. We created some chances and I think we deserved at least that first goal when they went a man down. It was a little easier after that.”

The Sparks had a great practice in Manila before leaving for Singapore and in their final one, the night before the Harimau Muda match, saw the players moving with a lot of energy. “The cloud we were under in lifted in the past few days,” noted Santos.

“I knew we were going to win,” chimed in a joyous Alex Elnar who before boarding the team bus bound for Jalan Besar Stadium related how when the team attended Holy Mass at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, a few minutes walk from the team hotel in Bugis. “During the Homily, the priest talked about the Holy Trinity and in our practices, we’ve been working on our three-man runs.”

And after the 3-nil win? “Three goals and a clean sheet? Yes!” roared Elnar.

Ismail on the other hand could only shake his head. “This is our worst game. Our worst performance. (Defender) Syawal Nordin injured his knee during warm-ups and we had to replace him.”

“This is not Harimau Muda team that you’re used to seeing. Very difficult opponent (Loyola); an experienced team. I think maybe we are tired after two hard games in the S.League (both wins – 3-nil over Tanjong Pagar United and 2-0 over Woodlands Wellington). We are also did not know this opponent even though I understand there are a few national players in this team.”

In perhaps the best compliment paid to the UFL side, Ismail said, “We never played anyone with this quality.”

The Malaysian coach also named several players who he thought played well for the Sparks: “I think number 23 (Mark Hartmann), and the striker (Phil Younghusband) is not bad. The captain (James Younghusband) also. They moved very well and they play good football. They are a good team with experience.”

Starting XIs:

Ref Cuaresma

PJ Fadrigalan    Chad Gould    Jeong Byeong Yeol   Roxy Dorlas

Simon Greatwich    Mark Hartmann

James Younghusband   Phil Younghusband     Matt Hartmann

Jang Joo Won

Ridzuan Abdunloh

Iskandar Hanapiah    Yazid Zaini    Maxsius Musa

Akhir Bahari    Azzizan Nordin

S Vikneswaran    Nashriq Yahya    Osman Yusoff   Ashmawi Yakin

Ilham Amirullah

Substitutes:

Loyola: Angelo Marasigan (67) for Matthew Hartmann, Alex Elnar (69) for Jeong Byeong Yeol, and Jake Morallo (74) for Jang Joo Won.

Harimau Muda: Hanif Dzahir (20) for Yazid Zaini, Syafwan Syahlan (59) for Iskandar Hanapiah, and Nur Areff Kamaruddin (64) for Azzizan Nordin.

Possession:

Loyola: completed 439 of 531 passes – 83%

Harimau Muda: completed 296 of 369 passes – 80%

Notes: The Jang brothers – midfielder Jang Jo Won and forward Jang Joo Won – have another brother playing in the S. League. He is Jang Jo Yoon who is playing with Woodlands Wellington FC. Jang Jo Won also once played in the S. League.

Arrival at Jalan Besar Stadium

Interview with Razip Ismail

Interview with Vince Santos

Looking at Bayern Munich's win & their 4-2-3-1 formation

The winning goal struck by Arjen Robben that gave Bayern Munich its fifth European Champions League trophy was equal parts broken play and an act of desperation.

First of all, that long ball from Jerome Boateng was on the money to midfielder Franck Ribery.

Ribery’s backheel was intended for attacking midfielder Thomas Muller but the ball was blocked a bit. Fortunately, Robben who plays the right side of Bayern Munich’s 4-2-3-1 formation dashed in from the middle and broke free from three Borussia Dortmund players in Likasz Piszczek, (then a tackle from) Mats Hummels, and Neven Subotic. That drew out keeper Roman Weidenfeller and Robben, who now had Muller on his left and one stride back as an option waited for a split second for what the Dortmund keeper would do.

It seems like an easy shot but remember, Robben is left-footed and when he fired, it was a slot that didn’t have too much power but was sufficient enough to roll right through.

It is sweet vindication for Robben who also assisted on Mario Mandzukic’s opening goal for Bayern Munich. In last year’s UEFA Champions League Final AT HOME AT THE ALLIANZ ARENA, Robben missed a penalty that would have won it outright for Bayern.

He had several chances again in this match and at the half, Bayern President Franz Beckenbauer lamented about the Dutchman, “Evidently, in big games, he just can’t score.”

Well, he did. And now, Bayern Munich are the champions of Europe for the fifth time. What also made this season special is how Bayern played team ball in their dynamic version of 4-2-3-1.

Here’s Bayern’s formation:

Neuer

Lahm    Boateng    Dante    Alaba

Martinez   Schweinsteiger

Robben    Muller    Ribery

Mandzukic

That is some creative midfield they have.

Robben – 5 assists

Muller – 11 assists

Ribery – 14 assists

Along with captain and defender Philip Lahm (11 assists), Bayern Munich has the top three assist men in the Bundesliga.

And there’s Toni Kroos with eight assists.

Because of their highly creative players, Bayern led the Bundesliga this season with 98 goals (they only conceded 18 goals; a league best). That’s 17 more goals than Borussia Dortmund.

And they continued that form in the Champions League.

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Read this on Arjen Robben's redemption from ESPN Soccernet.

Loyola Meralco Sparks in high spirits for Singapore Cup by rick olivares

Loyola Meralco Sparks in high spirits for Singapore Cup

by rick olivares

The Loyola Meralco Sparks are in good spirits in Singapore. They had not played well in the last few weeks. In doing so, they have dropped out of the race for the UFL title.

Hoping to salvage a trophy-less season, the Sparks look forward to making some serious headway in the 2013 Singapore Cup. The initial assignment in the tournament is against the Malaysian U-19 team, Harimau Muda B, that is hoping to gain a lot of experience by playing in the S.League. This current season, the Young Tigers are in fifth place in the 12-team standings with a 6-2-6 record.

The Young Tigers play a compact 4-4-2 formation but have trouble scoring. Harimau Muda B has scored 17 goals in the S. League but has also conceded 17.

“We cannot take them lightly,” warned Loyola assistant coach Gil Talavera said. “Last year, Geylang was at the bottom of the S. League but they nearly won our match. Even the last match against Gombak United, another midcard team, was a difficult one to play as the Sparks lost 2-nil (Gombak has since pulled out of the league citing financial difficulties).

Forward Phil Younghusband expressed excitement in returning to the tournament: “It’s good to be back. It’s always good to back in Singapore. There’s a more sense of professionalism being in a hotel, being isolated just with your teammates so you have nice facilities and like that. We also came back because of how well we did last year (in the Singapore Cup). And we’re excited to play. Obviously, with the disappointed of the league, we still want to prove something. So this gives us the opportunity.”

Midfielder/defender Simon Greatwich who has come into this current UFL season in superb shape concurred: “it is a good opportunity for us to get outside the country. We haven’t been doing well in the UFL so it’s a fresh start. It’s a one-off game and everyone’s excited to prove our critics wrong.”

“We’re now more aware of the level of the other teams. Coming out through three or four trips last year after progressing through the rounds so we got an idea of the competition and the level of the Singapore league.”

New addition and veteran internationalist Armand Del Rosario couldn’t contain his excitement about being in the Singapore Cup, “I’m excited. Nice to be here with the guys. It’s like being back with the national team. The team is together everyday bonding. We’re relaxed and having fun. We are in a position to do well.”

“Now we have to go out and get a good result,” summed up Younghusband.

The Sparks play Harimau Muda at 730pm at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

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Additional reading: Loyola returns to the 2013 Singapore Cup

At Changi International Airport with Freddy Gonzalez and Bob Guerrero.

At Jalan Besar Stadium, Saturday night, with Louie Potenciano, Carlo Rodriguez, Vince Santos, and Gil Talavera.

Gilas will play in the Jones Cup

Gilas will play in the Jones Cup

by rick olivares

Amid reports or speculation that Gilas Pilipinas might not defend its William Jones Cup title in Taiwan this July (6-14), a conversation with team manager Butch Antonio indicated that the national team will indeed participate in the regional basketball tournament.

“The Chinese Taipei Basketball Association sent a second invitation for the tournament and we have every intention of complying,” said Antonio in a phone conversation yesterday afternoon. “We cannot just reject the invitation or do something that will be construed as a snob. That is for the politicians and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to work on. We on the other hand will look to our preparations for the upcoming FIBA tournament.”

“We (Gilas) started practicing two days ago with an eye on our calendar that involves the training camp in Lithuania (June 2-16) and possible matches lined up with the Japan Basketball Association and the Jones Cup.”

Antonio admitted that while there are concerns over the team’s safety given the reported physical threats on Filipinos working in the island state after the death of a Taiwanese fisherman at the hands of the Philippine Coast Guard in overlapping ocean economic zones last May 9, he sees no reason for the organizers of the basketball tournament will not come up with the proper security measures.

In the days after the death of the Taiwanese fisherman, a Taipei legislator, Cheng Chih-Lung called for the suspension of all Taiwan-Philippines sporting events including the William Jones Cup. Antonio, however, debunked the report by pointing out that tournament officials have asked the Philippines for confirmation about their participation.

“Right now,” pointed out Antonio. “We’re focused on basketball and not anything else.”

National team head coach Chot Reyes on his part said that, "As far as I know, we have not been uninvited. But security concerns aside what will not make us participate is if any of the governments say that we should not play."

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I tried to get SBP Executive Director Sonny Barrios to respond to this but got no reply. Will try to get more info!

Loyola returns to Lion City for the 2013 Singapore Cup

This appears in philstar.com

Loyola returns to Lion City for the 2013 Singapore Cup

by rick olivares pic from goal.com.sg

With the chance for any UFL silverware now up in smoke, the Loyola Meralco Sparks return to Singapore today, May 24, 2013, that is the site of some of their greatest victories and some of their most terrible defeats.

The Sparks unexpectedly drew with Nomads 2-2 last Tuesday sending the team into their Southeast Asian neighbor for the annual international football invitational with all sorts of questions about their game. The draw, coupled with the wins of league-leading Stallion and close second placer Global, has made the chase for the league title a two-horse race.

During the Sparks inaugural stint in the 2012 Singapore Cup, they defeated Singapore side, Geylang United, 2-1, in a thrilling match at the Jalan Besar Stadium with a 95^th minute goal by Park Min Ho. With the Filipino side unused to the hard turf surface of Jalan Besar and the extreme humidity that left most of the Sparks cramping up, they took the fight to the home team and came away with a lot of respect from the Singapore clubs.

Into the second round, they defeated Myanmar champions Kanbawza 5-3 on aggregate to advance to the semifinals.

Loyola’s luck ran out in the semis where they faced S.League champions Tampines Rovers who crushed them 5-0 in aggregate scores for the two legs. Then Loyola was ignominiously bounced 4-0 by Gombak United in the battle for third place.

Mark Hartmann and James Younghusband each scored two goals to pace Loyola in the tournament. Phil Younghusband, Jake Morallo, and Park Min Ho added one goal each to their campaign.

“It was a learning experience for us last year,” said club president Randy Roxas on the eve of the team’s departure for Singapore. “We will come back stronger and wiser. But it won’t be easy as the Malaysian team we are playing, Harimau Muda B, is the Under-19 team of Malaysia.”

Harimau Muda B, nicknamed ‘The Young Tigers”, plays in the S.League without foreign reinforcements. It is done so with an eye towards development and for moving up to the senior national side. The Young Tigers are currently in fifth place in the 12-team S.League where they currently tote a 6-2-6 record.

The Young Tigers finished in eighth spot in last year’s S. League.

“Hopefully we will do better this year and win us some silverware,” said Loyola forward Phil Younghusband. “We’d also like to see how far we’ve really come as a club.”

The Sparks will play without two injured starters in forward Freddy Gonzalez and centerback Rodrigue Nembot.

Defending UFL champion Global will likewise make its Singapore Cup debut this June 1 when they play Warriors, the defending Singapore Cup champions at their home field of Choa Chung Kang Stadium. Warriors, formerly known as the Singapore Armed Forces Football Club, is surprisingly buried at the near bottom of the S.League with a 4-2-6 record despite having several national players in goalkeeper Hassan Sunny, forward Erwan Gunawan, midfielder Shi Jiayi, and defender Daniel Bennett who is also the team captain.

Notes: The 2013 Singapore Cup will have all 12 S.League teams participating with four foreign invited teams. Aside from Global and Loyola, Boeung Ket Rubber Field (from Cambodia) and Laos Police Club (from Laos) are also competing. The latter two teams as their league’s respective club champions. Making their Singapore Cup debut for Loyola are Armand Del Rosario, Matthew Uy, Angelo Marasigan, and Jang Jo Won, the younger brother of the Sparks’ midfielder/defender Jang Joo Won.