Loyola Meralco Sparks look forward to tomorrow’s match against Kanbawza

Loyola Meralco Sparks look forward to tomorrow’s match against Kanbawza

by rick olivares

Mike Yamamoto, team physiologist

When we arrived last time the weather was really humid. The energy was sucked out of the players before the game. It was the first time for the team to go out last time and in terms of acclimatizing ourselves, we only had a little over a day to do that.

For this two-game series, we asked the players to do a lot of stretching and jogging. We also pushed them more with their conditioning and their nutrition. Even here at our hotel, we advised the kitchen not so serve oily foods. We are giving them all the vitamins they need and are also working on their hydration.

Anto Gonzales, midfielder

It's a different challenge for Loyola in this Singapore Cup because we are representing our country. We want to show our Southeast Asian neighbors that apart from our national team's improvement, the clubs are not far behind. We really want to make our countrymen proud. As for Loyola per se, it's a different motivation because we want to make up for our not winning the UFL.

Patrick Ozaeta, defender, vice-captain

It's a different motivation to be here. You're playing for country and your club. This is going to be a bigger challenge because this is not Geylang United anymore. This is Kanbawza of Myanmar is a much better side. They look to be tough but it will only mean an exciting match.

Jake Morallo, midfielder

Syempre malaking bagay ‘to hindi lang para sa amin bilang isang club team pero para sa bayan. Hindi pa yata natatalo ng Pinas ang isang Myanmar team. Sana ‘to na may chance tayo.

James Younghusband, midfielder, captain

We're underdogs here no doubt. And that means less pressure on us. But we will be ready to play our best because this is new territory we're charting here. It is always good to get opportunities. 

Vincent Santos, assistant coach

The pace of the games here is much quicker. The fields are bigger and longer so we really have to adjust to the conditions here. It is a good thing that it has been raining because it will be less humid.

Loyola has also added two new players from the FEU team - Eric Giganto and Michael Menzi.

MATCH INFO:

The quarterfinals will be a two-legged "home and away" series. The winner will be the team with the greater number of goals (aggregate) over the two-match series. The 'away goals' rule does not apply. Should both teams be tied at the end of fulltime, there will be two halves of 15 minutes each played. If both teams are still tied, then they will go into penalties.