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.