THE FIERCEST rivalry in local football comes to the fore this Saturday as part of the United Football League All-Star Weekend at Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Long regarded as the breeding ground of the country’s top homegrown talents, Negros Occidental and Iloilo square off in the game dubbed the Western Visayas Classic that hopes to settle the argument as to which is the best footballing province in the country.
Kickoff is at 5:15 p.m. with both teams, made up of stars from UFL teams who are from the two provinces, promising an encounter to remember, much like their showdowns in the past.
“It’s all about pride,” said Ruben Doctora, the Iloilo side’s skipper, during the press conference yesterday.
“It will be a fun game, but of course, we are there to beat them.”
The UFL Filipino All-Stars take on the UFL Rest of the World All-Stars in the main match at 8:15 p.m.
Kaya skipper Aly Borromeo will be reunited with his teammates in the national team like Phil and James Younghusband as they banner the PH team.
“It’s going to be interesting and from a fans’ perspective, its going to be a spectacle to watch how these players will match up against each other,” said Rest of the World coach Simon McMenemy.
UFL Filipino All-Stars—(Coach Ali Go of Ceres La Salle) OJ Porteria, Chris Greatwich, Miguel Tanton, Manny Ott, Juani Guirado, Michael Casas, Martin Steuble, Nate Burkey, Misagh Bahadoran, Jerry Barbaso, Daisuke Sato, Patrick Deyto, Mark Hartmann, Amani Aguinaldo and Simone Rota.
Rest of the World All Stars—Son Yong-chan, Orman Okunaiya, Sang Min-kim, Adrian Gallardo, Izzo El-Habbib, Roland Sadia, Yu Hoshide, David Icardo, Daniel del Rio, Lopez Mendy, Hamed Hajamahdi, Adam Mitter, Anthony Putrus Schenell, Joaco Canas, Baba Sampana and Louis Kaole.