SINGAPORE—There was no shortage of quality and belief when the Loyola Meralco Sparks’ were pushed to the limit Friday night in their Singapore Cup debut.
Playing in humid conditions on a wider pitch they were not accustomed to, the Sparks mustered enough strength to overcome Singaporean side Geylang United, 2-1, in extra time to reach the quarterfinals at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
Korean defender Park Min-ho struck the game-winner six minutes into extra time after Mark Hartmann equalized with a sublime volley early in the second half as the United Football League squad became the first foreign team to advance to the next round of this year’s competition.
“We responded very well in the second half,” said skipper James Younghusband.
“The team spirit was unbelievable,” said Hartmann. “We should have been winning earlier but we conceded a sloppy goal.”
With the win, the Sparks booked a return trip to Singapore to face the winner between Burmese side Kanbawza and S-League team Woodlands in a two-leg tie in July.
Despite getting clear-cut chances in the first 45 minutes, the Sparks fell behind on a 43rd-minute strike from Geylang’s English midfielder Michael King after a breakdown in a makeshift Loyola defense that included Park and Byeong Jyeong-yeol, who were both out the past two weeks because of dengue fever.
But the Sparks regrouped after the break and found the breakthrough when James Younghusband crossed to Hartmann, who controlled with his chest, before volleying it past Geylang goalkeeper Yazid Yasin.
Hartmann was also involved in the game-winner, bringing the ball into a dangerous area, before the ball fell kindly to Park, whose long range effort deflected off a defender and found the top corner.
It was another milestone for the sport in the country as the Sparks were pitted against a side that won the Cup three years ago and were playing in one of the more developed leagues in Southeast Asia.
“This is great for our domestic league and our objective of being competitive in the region,” said Loyola Meralco Sparks chair Randy Roxas, who is also UFL president.
The Sparks suffered a blow just before kickoff when the Philippine Football Federation maintained that the one-year suspension on Matthew Hartmann also included international club competitions, making him ineligible for the match.
“We just came back and kept going until the end even though some players had cramps,” said Phil Younghusband.