Tamaraw Booters sweep first round in UAAP football

MANILA, Philippines — Far Eastern University capped its first-round domination with a convincing 3-1 victory over La Salle Friday in the UAAP Season 76 men’s football tournament at the FEU Diliman pitch.

With the first-round sweep, the Tamaraws have a shot at an outright finals spot if it continues the trend in the second round of action, which resumes on January 9.

Jess Melliza’s aggressiveness on the attack set the tone for FEU against La Salle, breaking the ice in the sixth minute by using his chest to score.

Chy Villaseñor scored FEU’s next two goals, just two minutes apart, to give FEU a commanding 3-0 lead.  Villaseñor converted in the 36th minute on an Arnel Amita assist and followed up a miss by Melliza in the 38th.

Gelo Diamante stopped the bleeding in the 40th minute as he nailed the lone goal for the Green Archers, who wouldn’t threaten the Tamaraws even with an improved second half showing.

FEU continued to break away with a maximum of 18 points, eight points ahead of University of the East, which is in second place with a 3-1-2 win-draw-loss card.

“I hope in the second round, we have 18 points again,” said the Tamaraws’ Korean coach Kim Chul Su. “I’m proud of how they played.”

La Salle remained tied with University of the Philippines in third and fourth spots with nine points on a 3-0-3 slate.

Both teams are two points ahead of fifth-running University of Santo Tomas, which has seven points on a 2-1-3 slate.