AFTER their opening-day loss, the RP Training Pool racked up two straight wins to share the lead in the Barotac Nuevo Invitational Men’s Open Football in Barotac, Nuevo Iloilo yesterday.

In its first game, the RP Pool lost to the Philippine Navy, 2-1, before getting its first win over home team Barotac Nuevo FC, 4-1. BNFC recently topped the Rep. Ferj Biron Inter-Club Invitational with a 2-1 win over Don Bosco FC in the finals.

The RP Pool has Cebuanos Michael Casas, Oliver Colina and Junel Bapor in the line-up.

Colina showed his skill with the set play as he scored the final goal off a direct shot just outside the penalty area using his left foot.

In their next match, it was Casas’ turn to supply the heroics as he came up with two brilliant stops for a 4-3 win over the Philippine Army, which has Cebuanos Rocky Garciano and John Michael Flores.

After a scoreless regulation, the match went into shootout, where Colina converted his kick to keep the lead before Casas came up with the saves.

The team will next face the Philippine Air Force, its supposed opponent last Saturday before the schedules were changed.

“It’s a must-win situation for us because everyone has the same 2-1 win-loss record and only Barotac is out of contention after losing all its matches,” Colina said.

The top team after the single-round elimination will be declared champion.

“If we win, we might be given a few days’ break so I can go home,” Colina added

THE RP Training Pool suffered its first set back after losing, 2-1, to the Philippine Navy in the Barotac Nuevo Men’s Football Open last Thursday.

The other teams in the tournament are Philippine Air Force, Army and Barotac Nuevo FC, the newly-crowned champion of the Rep. Ferj Biron Inter-Club Invitational.

After Peter Jaugan leveled the match at 1-all, the match went into extra time, where an unchecked striker banged in the winning goal off a save by Michael Casas.

“The game was great, they scored with five minutes left in extra time,” Oliver Colina said.

Three Cebuanos are on the team, Colina, Casas and reserve goalkeeper Junel Bapor.
Casas, is the product of the Carmen National School, while Colina is a University of San Jose Recoletos alumnus. Bapor played for Don Bosco College before moving to the College of St. Benilde in Manila.

Both Casas and Colina started for the training pool, while Bapor was not utilized by coaches Rolando Piñero and Melo Sabacan.

“We will next play the Philippine Air Force today,” Colina said.

Aries Caslib, head coach of the Senior team, is not with the team as he is currently conducting the National Coaching Certificate Course in Bacolod City.
Caslib recently picked Colina for the team after conducting a trial for Cebuano players last April.

“So far, the training is good and I can keep up with it,” said Colina, who joined the pool last May 25.

CEBU International School’s Michael Sharpe and Paolo Casas helped the Makati Football Club – Philippines to a third place finish in the Manchester United Premier Cup in Thailand recently.

Anton Amistoso scored the lone goal in their win over Singapore in the play off for the third spot, the Philippines first podium finish in four years of the tournament.

In their earlier matches, they drew with Malaysia, 1-1, Singapore 0-0 and lost to eventual winner Thailand, 8-0.

FAIR PLAY: Few months back, they got into a fight, now they got the Fair Play award in as they finished third in Ilo-ilo. Junard Aguilar (second from left, sakto ba?) got the Best Striker award with nine goals Photo from hiroshi website

LADY Luck turned against Don Bosco Football Club as it lost to host Barotac Nuevo FC, 2-1, in the Cong. Ferj Biron Inter-Club Invitational in Barotac Nuevo, Ililo yesterday.

“It was a tight match, the people enjoyed the game,” DBFC’s Glen Ramos said.

Meanwhile, Hiroshi FC turned its ire on Sta. Barbara in a 7-2 win to finish third in the tournament.

Trailing by one after the first half, Don Bosco’s Mark Buglosa leveled the match after converting a penalty kick early in the second.

“We were able to hold their offense and we also had attempts by Dave Intong and Jay Facubasan, but their goal keeper was just too lucky and he had many saves,” Ramos said.

One shot hit the bar and the Barotac Nuevo ‘keeper, who was named the tournament’s best keeper, saved a follow-up.

Don Bosco managed to get its last attempt off Ramos’ direct kick in the final five minutes, but the keeper did an impressive job stopping it.

“He was able to deflect it and the ball just crawled towards the line. Everybody just stood, we thought it was a goal but the keeper managed to clear it,” Ramos said.

Meanwhile, after a 5-4 loss to Don Bosco in the semifinal round, Hiroshi got back into winning, starting with a 4-0 halftime lead.

Ariel Cahilig opened the scoring at the 24th and 30th, while Mark Hilay added one at the 33rd. Martin Bontia, who missed the penalty in Hiroshi’s semis shootout loss, scored on a spot kick for his team’s fourth goal.

Hiroshi ace striker Junard Aguilar claimed the Best Striker award after tallying nine goals in the tournament, while the Fair Play Award was also awarded to his team.

THE Don Bosco Football Club finally got even with Hiroshi FC after a 5-4 shootout win in the semifinal round of the of the Rep. Ferj Biron Inter-Club Invitational in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo yesterday.

“Nabawsan jud mi (They really got back at us),” Hiroshi coach Francis Ramirez said after their match.

DBFC, which suffered a close 2-1 beating against Hiroshi in the Cebu Invitational Inter-Club finals last month, will next face hometown team Barotac Nuevo FC in the finals today. BNFC defeated University of St. La Salle-Bacolod in the other semifinal.

Hiroshi top striker Junard Aguilar, who already had eight goals in the tournament, was a marked man and rarely got a shot.

“He missed his shots but we had some chances,” Ramirez said.

In the final minute before halftime, DBFC defender Kim Relucio committed a foul inside the box on Jake Acre, who converted his spot kick for a 1-0 Hiroshi lead. However, Vermonel Resuena returned the favor after tackling DBFC’s Glen Ramos at the 65th.

Ramos then leveled the match at 1-1, which was the score until the end of regulation.
In the shootout, all DBFC kickers scored while Hiroshi’s Martin Bontia fumbled his for the loss.

Hiroshi will play La Salle for third place at 8:30 a.m. today, while DB will play the host squad at 2 p.m.

Aside from the home team, DBFC will have to contend with the crowd, whom they got involved with in a free-for-all in its previous match.

KIDS in football. Sun*Star photo by Ruel Rusillo

IN A battle of the sexes, the Gwapitas got the better of the Yellow boys to top the Under-16 division of the Milo-Pabol Football Festival last Friday at the Divine Word Seminary.

The Eleazar Toledo-coached Gwapitas banked on defender Stephanie Sharpe’s lone goal in the 10th minute to beat Pabol Blue, 1-0.

The one-day football festival was also a reunion of Brent International School’s Giorgia Guidicelli with her teammates from CIS, Gabby Aboitiz, Presley Cunningham, Gabby Mercado, and Amanda Darza. Maritoni and Monica Trebol of St. Joseph’s Academy also played for their team.

The Green team of Arion Marin, Thomas Jackson, Igi Maximo, Lance Villafania Emmanuel Cunningham finished third, while the Red Team of Nikki Sembrano, Bea Maximo, Jovannah Yu, Charmaine Badilles, Jade Low, Bea Martinez took the fourth spot.

Althea Lua, Erika Casas, Ken Casas, Jackie Ting, Patty Liu, Tanya Gandionco, Mykeeh Soberano of the Blue team finished fifth.

In the U-12 division, Lucky Tableware scored a 3-1 win over the Red team to win the crown.

Athena Chu, who had seven goals for the day, started the barrage at the fifth before Paulina Almira added one at the eighth. Lia Gandionco puled Red within one at the 10th but Nika Miranda made it 3-1 after four minutes.

In the battle for third, top scorer Tracy Liu scored a hat trick for Primary Structures’ 6-4 win over the Green squad.

Liu, who led all scorers with nine goals, scored in the second, 10th and 11th, while teammates Jillian Reyes, Mai-mai Dakay, Megan Liu added one each.

The Green team got their goals from Trixx Tecson, Alexis Casas, Janica Adlawan And Tiffany Go.

RIVALS Don Bosco Football Club and Hiroshi FC set up a rematch in faraway Iloilo after barging into the semifinals of the Cong. Ferj Biron Inter-Club Invitational in Barotac Nuevo.

Hiroshi defeated DBFC, 2-1, in last month’s Cebu Inter-Club Invitational, and this time, Don Bosco is eager to exact revenge. Junard Aguilar again came up with a strong performance as he scored four goals in Hirsohi’s 7-1 dumping of John B. Lacson Colleges, while Don Bosco, led by Glen Ramos, got past Sta. Barbara, 2-1.

Aguilar struck first at the 17th and Jake Acre made it 2-0 five minutes before the break.

Hiroshi picked up steam in the second as Aguilar struck at the 50th, followed by Marion Cubelo at the 66th. JBLCS scored its lone goal at the 74th before Aguilar scored twice in the final 10 minutes, and Ronel Cuizon hit one for their lopsided win.

Aguilar earlier completed a hat trick in Hiroshi’s 7-1 win over PNP while scoring one in a 2-0 win over defending champion Western Visayas Institute of Technology.

Meanwhile, after their fight-marred eliminations, Don Bosco leaned on Ramos and Mark Buglosa’s goals for its 2-1 escape.

The other semifinal match will be between La Salle Bacolod and the winner of the WIT-Barotac Nuevo match.

SCORER: Striker Junard Aguilar bought his golden boot to Ilo-ilo as he scored a hat trick in Hiroshi’s 8-0 win over PNP. He’s shown here scoring one against Leyte in the Cebu Inter Club.Sun*Star photo Allan Cuizon

RIGHT in the heart of the country’s football capital, two teams are making a name for Cebu football as they qualified into the quarterfinal round of the Cong. Ferj Biron Interclub Invitational at Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo.

The Harou Iwanaga-owned Hiroshi FC notched two wins, including a 2-0 beating of defending champions West Visayas Institute of Technology to bag a quarterfinal spot today.

Meanwhile, Glen Ramos’ spot kick earned Don Bosco a tough 1-0 win over the University of San Agustin and a quarterfinal slot in a fight-marred match.

“The plaza is always packed, it seems all the tricycle drivers are on strike because they are all here even early in the morning,” Hiroshi coach Francis Ramirez said.

Ramirez added that the way the two Cebu teams are playing was in contrast to how the Iloilo teams played.

“They say we play differently, we are not forcing anything. We have set plays, and we don’t rush things. On the other hand, they’re on attack mode as soon as they get the ball. They say we are killing them with our passing game,” Ramirez said.

In its first game, Hiroshi defeated WIT courtesy of workhorse Junard Aguilar’s strike at the 23rd minute and Jake Acre’s shot at the 54th. In their second match, they dealt PNP-Cocomangas Boracay an 8-0 thrasing.

Julius Acre scored at the opening minute off a direct kick, while Frederick Alazas added his in the 26th, and Ronel Saranillo scored again a minute later. The red card-prone Ariel Cahilig kept his wits as he made it 4-0 with goals at the 29th and 44th.

Not to be outdone, the former Carmen boy Aguilar scored a hat trick at the first 25 minutes of the second half as Hiroshi completed the rout to finish on top of Group B.

Hiroshi’s quarterfinal opponent is yet to be determined as gameswere still being played at presstime yesterday.

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Sun*Star photo by Ruel Russillo

THIS early six-year-old Lorenzo Genco is showing some promise as he led the Giuseppe Team to the 7 under crown of yesterday’s Pabol Football Festival at the SVD field.

Meanwhile, the eliminations in the 12 under and 16 under division were still being played as of press time yesterday. Eleazar Toledo’s Gwapitas team led the 16 under group with 3 wins. The group is composed of Georgia Guidecilli, Gabi Mercado, Gabi Aboitiz, Stephanie Sharpe and other Cebu International School players.

Genco was an unstoppable dynamo as he scored twice in their 2-0 win over Pabol Red in the final to take the crown in their culminating activity of the Pabol Football Academy.

“He’s very quick and he’s very good,” one parent said of him.

At times, it seemed Genco was too fast for his own good, as he drove towards the goal leaving everyone behind before sliding the ball to stop his run, or colliding with a teammate before running again with the ball.

Genco’s teammates, Kirk Alvez and Ica Maximo were sometimes reduced to mere watchers as he challenged the defense and piled goal upon goal.

Pabol Red is composed of Anton Pastoriza, Amber Villafor and Bienco Cimafranca.

On the other hand, Iani Miranda scored all four goals to lead Pabol Yellow to their 4-2 win over Pabol Green. Miranda’s teammates, Santi Medalle and Gram Liu had an easy ride with Miranda’s golden performance.

Dave Suico and Davo Bacatan scored the goals for Green who also had Dave Suico on their team.

The Blue team of Matias Robinson, Jerby Pardo and Dietre Dakay finished fifth