NCR Teams win in Suzuki Cup

This appears in the Wednesday May 11, 2011 edition of the Business Mirror.

NCR Teams win in Suzuki Cup

By rick olivares

LOS BANOS, LAGUNA -- One National Capital Region team made a grand exit from the competition while its brother team put on a fiery display of offensive might to put them in a position to advance to the next stage of the competition.

NCR Team A as coached by Anto Gonzales showed what they could do given enough time and preparation as they sent host team Laguna packing 3-nil over at the UP-Los Baños pitch. It was a king-sized upset considering that NCR were opening day 7-nil losers to Iloilo and on the business end of a 4-nil thrashing by Davao in the second day of the Group A quarterfinals of the PFF Suzuki U-23 National Cup.

Laguna in the meantime drew 2-2 with Davao and 1-1 with Iloilo. A win, especially by a huge margin would have been enough to send them through. Unfortunately, they were overconfident while NCR played with a purpose and a cohesiveness not seen in the first two matches.

Greggy Yang opened the scoring for NCR with a set piece that beat Davao keeper RS Mantos in the 7^th minute. Arturo Enriquez added a second in the 34^th minute while striker Anton Amistoso closed out the scoring in the 67^th minute.

Iloilo topped Group A with a 4-1 win over Davao which finished second in the group and will also advance to the semifinals that will be played in Barotac Nuevo next weekend.

Over at Panaad Stadium, Bacolod, NCR Team B crushed Dipolog 6-0. Striker Ojay Clarino broke out of his two-match funk by scoring his side’s first four goals. That included a virtuoso move in the 32^nd minute by the UST striker who went through and around five Dipolog defenders before sending the ball past keeper goalkeeper Rizziel Villaespin. Clarino later assisted fellow forward Don Rabaya who scored his second goal of the tournament.

Clarino later added a second half goal in the 54^th minute to complete the rout.

NCR had complete control of the midfield as Yannick Tuason, Nikko Villa, Stephen Permanes, and Jay Eusebio stymied all Dipolog incursions. And that led to the first half feeding frenzy.

Dipolog, which placed second in the Mindanao regionals was dealt a bad hand when four of their best players were unable to join them in Bacolod. As it was during their game against Bacolod (that resulted in an 8-1 drubbing), the charges of English coach Reginald Jukes played better in the second half as they allowed only one goal while manufacturing four decent scoring chances including one strike that whizzed past keeper Patrick Deyto only to hit the second post.

“Happens all the time,” lamented Jukes. “But we’re learning something.”

As of presstime, Bacolod, the first team to qualify for the semifinals, was playing Masbate. A win by Bacolod will see them go up against Davao in the crossover semifinals while Masbate must win by six goals to advance.