CERES-LA SALLE fought back from a goal down to oust Pachanga Diliman, 3-1, Thursday night and reach the finals of the United Football League’s FA League Cup at Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The victory set Ceres up for a mouth-watering duel with reigning league champion Global in what promises to be an explosive encounter at 8:15 tonight.
Goals from Adrian Gallardo and Manny Ott in the last 10 minutes sealed the victory for the Bacolod side after Jason Sabio cancelled out an early strike from Pachanga’s Park Yi-young.
Global earlier slipped past Loyola Meralco, 2-1, in the other semifinal duel.
The final has plenty of interesting subplots with the likes of Ceres standouts Jeffrey Christiaens, Carlie de Murga, Patrick Reichelt and Juani Guirado playing against their former team.
“It’s a special game, not just for me,” said Carlie de Murga, who was once crowned the Most Valuable Player of the UFL as a player of Global. “Every player wants to play against the defending champions of the UFL League. We’re going to prove who is the best team here in the Philippines.”
Global coach Leigh Manson said his side has a responsibility to protect its league status.
“To be honest this is where we expect to be,” said the Scottish coach. “We expect to be in the final. This is what it means to be at Global. Everybody else, their job at the moment, is to catch up with us.”