THE UST Golden Booters have lost all chances of earning a semis berth in the Ang Liga Football Cup.
After a mediocre first-round showing, Coach Nonnoy Carpio’s wards are not doing any better in the second round, dropping three games and settling for a draw in their most recent match.
The former Ang Liga bridesmaids settled for a 2-2 draw against the Nationals last Sept. 23 at the UST Football Field.
The Golden Booters, led by Thomas Liao and Joubert Bernarte, gave the RP team a run for their money.
The Nationals had an early lead with Roy Clores’ goal in the early minutes of the game, but were penalized after a hard foul on UST’s Meliton Pelayo. Liao scored on the penalty kick to keep at pace with the Nationals.
In the second half, the Nationals’ Jerome Orcullo scored a goal to give his team a 2-1 cushion midway second half. UST, however, returned with a series of blocks and corner goal attempts, finally hitting the jackpot with Bernarte’s strike in the homestretch.
The Nationals had chances to salvage the win, but UST’s goalkeeper Benjamin Valenzuela blocked all six desperation attempts of the veteran squad.
“We had a constructive offensive attack, unlike before. Maganda ang physical conditioning namin because we had extra hours of practice allotted for running to improve our speed,” Carpio told the Varsitarian.
The Golden Booters are now toting a 2-5-2 win-loss-draw card, just above University of the East (UE) and out-of-sync UAAP champion Ateneo de Manila University (Ateneo).
Earlier matches
UST lost to CSB anew in a lopsided 1-3 match last Sept. 11 at the UST Football Field.
CSB Midfielder Salah Al-Ryashi was on fire, scoring all of CSB’s two goals in the first half.
UST fought back in the second half with a number of good attempts from the corner and an intense defense. The Golden Booters, however, managed only one goal courtesy of Louie Brillantes’ free kick.
Al-Ryashi struck another goal in the dying minutes of the game.
Earlier, the Nationals scraped a 1-0 win over the España-based Booters last Sept. 9.
Both teams showed aggressive defense, ending the first half scoreless, but Orcullo sealed the win for the Nationals with a goal just 10 minutes remaining in the game.
