UFL Tuesday: Global vs Loyola: Something has to give

Global vs Loyola: Something has to give

by rick olivares

This is the second of three matches that everyone has been looking forward to.

Loyola versus Global. The first was the Stallion against Global that the latter won, 1-0, on a late header by Izzo El Habbib (the third obviously is Loyola taking on Stallion).

With the way Global has been rampaging through the UFL’s Division One, a win against Loyola could mean a massive advantage in defending the championship. The defending champions are still unbeaten in seven matches while Loyola, last season’s third placer, is 6-1-0. There’s a two-goal difference that separates them.

Global looks even stronger with the addition of Ed Sacapaño who is on loan from Army, midfielder Jason de Jong, Joshua Beloya (who is on loan from Ceres), and new pick up Koray Gunduzoglu. Juani Guirado also returns after a three-month sabbatical. Taking advantage of the March transfer window, Global improved itself offensively and defensively.

Even while Global dropped striker Alex Obiang, who has since moved to Kaya, as well as reserves Maverick Madayag, Lexter Maravilla, David Basa, and James Gardner, they look even better. The addition of more Filipino players was done with the upcoming AFC President’s Cup in mind.

In the meantime, the Singapore Cup-bound Loyola took a hit when it was announced that injured striker Freddy Gonzalez is now out for the season after American doctors decided that the damage to his knee was even greater than first detected.

“No doubt, Freddy’s a big loss to us, but we’ll just have to raise our game,” promised Loyola head coach Vincent Santos after his side’s friendly with Turkmenistan that ended in a 4-1 loss to the Sparks. “We didn’t go all out as Global is just a few days away.”

To beef up their campaign, the Sparks added former Global midfielder Matthew Uy and PSG defender Angelo Marasigan.

Uy will add depth to an improved and dangerous midfield while Marasigan should provide relief in the back; something that will be under siege when they play Global.

“The way I see it, it will come down to who makes the first mistake,” said Loyola defender Chad Gould. It’s hard to score against Global so we cannot be complacent in our defense.”

Loyola will be hard-pressed to watch the wing attack of Global where they have the speedy Patrick Reichelt, Jeffrey Christaens, Delon Patrick Yao, and Jerry Barbaso. In the middle, they also have to contend with the dangerous Ben Starosta and Yu Hoshide. Loyola will have to be concerned about the wing play in their 4-2-3-1 formation.

In Global’s matches against Nomads, Stallion, and Army, where they struggled before putting them away, their midfield couldn’t get going because of either a press or close marking. Loyola will have to look at what opposing did to a degree of success if they want to win.

On the flipside, Loyola will have to watch their midfield where they give up space to attackers on the wings. Kaya and Turkmenistan exposed that weakness (as did Pachanga-Diliman to an extent).

In an interview with Global’s Izzo El Habbib, he said that the improved midfield play of Loyola behind Mark Hartmann is key in stopping the Sparks.

When Gonzalez was around, his presence afforded Loyola to drop Phil Younghusband to the secondary where he could help set up his teammates. Without Gonzalez, Younghusband will return to the front and try to beat his old nemesis in Barbaso.

“I agree,” noted El Habbib. “Whoever makes the mistake could lose.”