Loyola upends Ceres; Kaya up

COUNT on Phil Younghusband to deliver in another big game.

The national team star found his scoring touch in the first half as Loyola Meralco stunned defending champion Ceres-La Salle, 1-0, Saturday night to move closer to a place in the semifinals of the PFF Smart National Club Champion-ship at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

It wasn’t just Younghusband’s industrious display up front that got the Sparks going as they also proved disciplined defensively to frustrate the two-time defending champions from Bacolod.

Kaya kept its semifinal hopes alive with a 6-0 blanking of Laos FC in an earlier match.

After losing to Ceres, 2-3, Thursday night, Kaya moved up to second, ahead of the Bacolod side on goal difference.

But Kaya will have a tougher assignment today as it faces Loyola for the last match of the group, while Ceres squares off with winless Laos.

The Sparks only need a draw to top the group. In a strange quirk in the standings, though, a heavy Loyola loss to Kaya coupled by a Ceres rout of Laos could eliminate the Sparks from the semifinals.

Kaya has no recourse but to beat the Sparks and hope that a healthy goal difference would vault them into the next round.

Ceres also suffered from the dismissal of midfielder Arnie Pasinabo, who was shown a red card for a rough challenge on Eddie Mallari in the 32nd minute.

The Sparks dominated the game for long periods, packing the midfield and finding Young-husband’s timely forward runs.

One such run led to the only goal as Younghusband, picked out brilliantly by a through ball from Matthew Hartmann, raced clear of the Ceres defense before beating Michael Casas.

“It was a disciplined, professional performance,” said Loyola coach Simon McMenemy. “We had a gameplan and it worked brilliantly.”

Joshua Beloya and Joven Bedic broke the Laos resistance with goals in first-half stoppage time, before OJ Porteria, Chris Greatwich, Louis Clark and Kofi Osei scored in the second half.