Ateneo Men's Football Match #1 Getting off on the Wrong Foot

http://www.ateneo.edu/index.php?p=120&type=2&sec=27&aid=6270

Getting off on the Wrong Foot
Ateneo 1 vs. UE 2
words by rick olivares
gab siojo goal pic by erwin cabbab

January 18
Erenchun Field
Ateneo De Manila University
RS Mantos woke up around 5am. But in truth he slept lightly. After almost a year of waiting the UAAP Football season was here and he was excited.

Five minutes after a horrific own goal of damning and comedic proportions, the third year Ateneo goalkeeper was still screaming. And he may yet not sleep a wink that night.

For the first time in seven years, the Ateneo Men’s Football Team lost their opening day assignment. One can make a case that they lost it because of terrible terrible mistakes rather than the University of the East Red Booters beating them. Without trying to take too much out of UE’s win, there’s truth in it.

UE has played Ateneo tough in the last two years. The final scores have been 1-nil with the goal coming close to full time. The Red Warriors’ coach Lloyd Lim knows he has a good young team. But first they have to get past their nervousness.

The Recto squad arrived at Loyola Heights around 7:45am a good two hours ahead of match one and as they got dressed, a few of them promptly threw up.

The Blue Booters were quartered at Blue Eagle Gym high in the old loft where the basketball teams of yore used to dorm. If the significance of the championship legacy was lost on the footballers, their aspirations were in the right place.

Except that for the first 45 minutes, their play had to match their desire.

In the first minute of the match, UE took corners on opposite sides of the pitch underscoring how much they are an offensive threat behind striker Mark Madrona and winger Gringo Bravo.

The Red Booters had an amazing seven shots on goal in the first 20 minutes that kept Mantos busy. On three occasions, all he could do was punch out the ball as he was swarmed by UE players.

The Ateneo defense, playing for its first UAAP match in six years without the graduated Pat Ozaeta in central midfield, was having a nightmarish first half.

UE had an excellent chance to open the scoring after a Felix Rivera corner from the far right that afro haired UE defender Fitch Alboleda failed to convert. Instead of heading the ball in, his volley from five feet out sailed harmlessly high above the cross bar.

But Ateneo is no slouch on the attack. When Kurt Alvarez checked in for Jolo Peralta midway through the first half, his insertion added a carbon copy of Gerard Cancio on the right flank.

But it was midfielder Gab Siojo who sublimely set up his teammates for numerous scoring chances. Unfortunately, none of them found the back of the net as Ateneo failed to exploit UE’S relative weak back four.

Operating a staggered 4-3-3, Lim dropped Shem Bensurto into a sweeper position that made up for his lack of speed.

But the offensive adjustments by Ateneo shook off their being stuck in neutral as the home team bore down on the UE goal.

Gino Tongson’s had three chances to get the first goal of the season. One was off a free kick which curled away from the goal as it eluded Bensurto.

The second came when Cancio broke down his defender then rifled a cross that Tongson controlled with his chest. As the midfielder whirled, needing only to tap the ball in, he volleyed wide. He covered his face in anguish as Cancio patted him on the back.

And the third harmlessly hit the side of the net.

At the half, the Blue Booters’ coach Ompong Merida noted that parts of the team’s vaunted system were not functioning as they were once again plagued by a slow start. He exhorted them to play their system and forming those triangles to get their scoring going. And the Blue Booters came out with a sense of urgency once hostilities were renewed.

Unfortunately for them, even with Madrona superbly marked all game long, Ateneo did get to open the scoring when Migs Tuason, Pat Ozaeta’s heir in the back four, passed the ball back towards his goal. There's nothing wrong except it is customary to pass the ball to the side and away from the goal when there is a lack of pressure from the attacking team. Instead the ball rolled towards the Ateneo goalkeeper rather than touch the ball, kicked at it to send it back into play.

Incredibly Mantos missed the ball completely and as it passed him, the veteran Ateneo keeper looked helplessly as it crossed the line for an own goal three minutes into the second half.

1-nil UE and a feat of infamy.

The own goal was shocking – an understatement at the very least. As UE celebrated, the Ateneans looked about in a daze. Merida who had remained seated rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

Most people may have not seen anything like this. But in footballing history it has happened a couple of times, the last one in 2006 when England keeper Paul Robinson, mistimed a kick on a back pass by Gary Neville for an own goal (that put Croatia up 2-0).

Five minutes after the gaffe, Mantos was still screaming.

Not soon after, Merida sent in rookie Mikhail Andrei Manglapus, the grandson of the late Senator Raul Manglapus. His entry and energy gave life to the attack.

After a stop by defensive midfielder Fred Ozaeta, Manglapus expertly laid a long pass to Kurt Alvarez who beat Raynold Lim then passed the ball to Derrick Candelaria who raced in to support. Candelaria lifted a nifty cross to Gab Siojo whose stab from close range put Ateneo on level terms.

UE began to falter at this point as Ateneo once more had numerous chances to pile in the goals.

In one sortie, Cancio beat Alboleda with a crossover of his own that drew out Martos. Rather than advance the ball a bit and chip it over – Martos had yet to recover to his goal line – Cancio sent it inside to Anton Amistoso who sent the ball wide.

Ateneo would soon pay for its inability to finish as Amistoso, one of several Blue Booters who were plagued by cramps on a day when the sun wasn't even scorching, crumpled to the grass.

Largely ineffective in his UAAP debut, Amistoso obviously had nothing more to show. But rather than substituted by the Ateneo coaching staff, he was kept in the game.

Astute fans of sports history will probably recall a similar incident when a player was kept in longer than he should. In the 2003 American League Championship Series of Major League Baseball, Boston Red Sox Manager Grady Little kept ace pitcher Pedro Martinez in the game long after he had hit his maximum pitch count. The result was a key hit and the New York Yankees winning the game and the series.

And this football game somewhat falls into that same class.

Picking himself up, Amistoso, the rookie from Southridge ran back on defense to do what he could. After snaring a loose ball, he sent passed it back – another slow roller that went to no one. One that Manglapus and other defenders failed to corral.

UE midfielder Frank Mabasa couldn’t believe his good fortune that the ball passed through two Blue Booters and who never checked his progress. A few second later, he found himself one-on-one with Mantos.

2-1 UE.

Ateneo Team Captain Alvin Perez railed at Manglapus. Once more, a mistake that they paid dearly for. There were no more rabbits in the hat. Three minutes later, the referee whistled full time.

After the match, a dazed Ateneo team wandered back to their bench. The inauspicious start left the team with more questions than answers. As for Mantos, he was left wondering if he was going to get any sleep.