by rick olivares
Sampana
Fadrigalan
Bonney Ashime Dorlas
Elnar Del
Rosario Lee WH Hartmann
Younghusband
Lee JY
Cuyos
Fateh
Akbari De Los Reyes
Bayemeg
Hossein
Echin Ubiam Weidmar
Mendiola
Albon
Pre-match overview of Loyola and Pasargad
Coming off their first loss in a while, Loyola
(9-2-1) needed to take this game with Global breathing down their necks. No way
were they going to underestimate Pasargad even if their opponent had a massive
facelift (they dropped six including Jaham Taher and added six including).
Loyola Coach Vince Santos said you have to put your guard up against the
unknown especially with Boyet Cañedo, James Younghusband, and Park Bo Bae injured.
After not having watched the Sparks in a while, I was
surprised to see that they had gone to a 4-4-2 formation rather than the
4-2-3-1 they ran almost exclusively the previous year. I always felt that they
were a big field team where the 4-2-3-1 works better. When they ran that some players
had a tendency to run up field leaving behind large tracts of open space to be
hit for the counter. That was evident in the Kaya game that was the main match
of the Tuesday doubleheader. The 4-4-2, I felt, would give them a more compact
formation in my opinion.
But that was to be tested as well.
Pasargad on the other hand is not the one I had seen
the previous two years. There had been wholesale changes with Charles Ujam the
only familiar face. Without knowing the on goings behind the team, I am not
sure how competitive they could be with all the changes. One or two new and
good players will not be enough to save a team.
I felt for my friend Pasargad coach Ayi Aryee who is
in a difficult position as his side is mired in the relegation zone (1-1-6).
First half:
The Sparks struggled to get the ball into the final
third. Either the pass to the strikers was short, long, or intercepted. The
midfielders, Alex Elnar in particular, couldn’t get his passes right and his
decision making wasn’t too good for this match (it was one of those days). It
didn’t help that Pasargad’s new signing, central midfielder and playmaker
Hossein Doustdarsefidmazghi – that’s a mouthful -- was tearing right through
Armand Del Rosario and Lee Won Hyung.
The Sparks were bothered initially by the physical
play (physical not dirty and there’s a difference) of Pasargad. Coupled with
the poor passing in the final third, they couldn’t mount a proper attack. Their
best offense came from the corners – seven in the first half – where Phil
Younghusband targeted the tall Sam Bonney – for chances.
Aryee’s team had better shot opportunities to Loyola
as their new signings – Hossein Doustdarsefidmazghi and Mohsen Akbari Sarabi –
made their presence felt.
Despite a lack of chemistry, Pasargad mounted some
serious threats because of Hossein’s ability to switch his team around in a
millisecond from defense to a quick counter.
Hossein has pace, vision, and a mean right boot. I
thought his ability to find Hamed Fateh on the left wing as well as Akbari or
Cuyos in the middle was fantastic. He reminded me of Hamed Hajimehdi (who along
with his former Pasargad teammates were cheering from the stands for 50 bucks
quipped Misagh Bahadoran) except Hossein is faster.
Hossein nearly put Pasargad on the score sheet with a
long-range effort. He spotted Loyola goalkeeper Baba Sampana who had ventured
off his line and Hossein fired a howitzer from some 10-feet past the midfield
line. Sampana’s full extension tip while backtracking saved the ball and a
goal.
Despite his near howler, the Ghanaian was Loyola’s
MVP in the first half for his series of wondrous saves. With Loyola looking
shaky on defense, Hossein was finding cracks in the defense. Akbari even had a
bicycle kick from outside the box hit the crossbar.
Pasargad’s second best chance to get a goal ahead of
Loyola was when Hossein found Fateh with a forward pass from the middle and the
former beat PJ Fadrigalan. He darted in from the left with Akbari providing
support up the middle. Fateh fired a powerful low range shot that Sampana
saved.
In Loyola’s next offensive, Matthew Hartmann’s
forward pass found an onrushing Phil Younghusband whose one-touch volley beat
keeper Jerome Cuyos.
Pasargad had paid for blowing their chances.
Second half:
Loyola made crucial changes to fix their shaky
defense and their right midfield when Freddie Gonzalez came in for Elnar (Lee
dropped back to Elnar’s slot while Gonzalez moved forward).
When Yves Ashime went out early in the first half because
of an ankle injury, Joaco Cañas came in shoring up the middle.
The other change was the tight marking of Hossein
with some gulang to go with it. As it was his first taste of UFL football, all
his getting knocked to the ground, shredded his concentration. He became a
non-factor. With no one to get jumpstart their offense, Pasargad came undone.
Matthew Hartmann continued his brilliant play with
another cross this time finding Gonzalez (who up to that point had not had any
influence on the game) for a header and a 2-nil lead that eased the pressure
and broke the game wide open.
Hartmann was rewarded for his efforts when he struck
from the left with a difficult shot that hit darted in from the right, 3-nil.
I’d like to point out the first two goals that came
off assists by Hartmann. In the first half, when Loyola was struggling, the
support from the middle was too late. When the cross came in there was no one
home to slot or fire the ball in. Cuyos too made excellent reads and saves.
Hartmann’s crosses were on the money.
In one instance in the second half, Fadrigalan was
coming in from the right side of the box and instead of a chip or lofting the
ball over to a teammate his cross went long and sailed out of harm’s way (for
Pasargad). Hartmann’s and Gonzalez’ crosses were examples of precision.
Phil Younghusband closed out the scoring with his
second strike of the match to make it 5-nil.
Post-match
thoughts:
Great adjustments by Loyola.
Huge “bunots” by Vince Santos. Cañas helped plug that hole in the back. Furthermore, you really have to be
ready to play as shown by Jake Morallo’s goal.
But Loyola paid for this win with Sam Bonney getting
a red card and Roxy Dorlas foolishly picking up a yellow for a deliberate
handball near the midfield line after he was angered when he had his foot
stepped on. I don’t think that you can lose concentration and pick up needless
cautions that will hurt your club.
However, the bigger hurt was laid on Pasargad that
succumbed to their eighth loss. I hear they have a few more talented players
coming in but it will take more than a few recruits to turn things around. We
saw this two years ago.
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Goal of the game: Phil Younghusband's volley off a pass by Matt Hartmann.
Player of the Game: Matthew Hartmann. Two assists and one goal! Nice!
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