Sparks fizzle out, drop semis match vs Rovers

UNITED Football League side Loyola Meralco Sparks got a tough reality check in the RHB Singapore Cup Thursday night when they bowed to Singapore League powerhouse Tampines Rovers, 0-2, in their first leg semifinal clash at  Clementi Stadium in Singapore.

Singapore’s naturalized Serbian striker Aleksandar Duric kept his impressive scoring record against Filipino sides, this time scoring the opener for Tampines, before Ahmad Latiff doubled the advantage early in the second half.

Backed by a boisterous Filipino crowd, the Sparks almost made their pressure pay in the second half when Chad Gould headed home off a free kick only for the goal to be waived off.

If there’s any consolation, the Sparks showed plenty of resolve even after the ejection of Korean centerback Kim Woo-chul in the 73rd minute. Kim was sent off for taking the free kick that led to Gould’s disallowed goal without referee Sukbhir Singh’s go-signal to resume play.

The Sparks—the only foreign team standing in the 16-team knockout tournament after beating S-League side Geylang and Burmese squad Kanbawza in the earlier rounds—need to win by more than two goals in the second leg on Sunday at the Jalan Besar Stadium to advance to the finals.

“This puts us in a hole as we were unlucky in this game,” said Loyola striker Phil Younghusband. “But we’re still in it. We’ll have to be at our absolute best and we have to score early if we want to draw level. It will be difficult but we expect it to be as Tampines are the top Singaporean side.”

There were health concerns for Loyola before the start of the game with skipper James Younghusband left on the bench as he was recovering from a flu. Younghusband entered the game in the 37th minute for Simon Greatwich.

The Loyola defense, particularly goalkeeper Ref Cuaresma, was kept busy by Tampines all game long with Duric testing him with a close-range strike in the 13th minute.

But Cuaresma could do little to prevent the 42-year-old striker from putting Tampines in front. Duric shrugged off Gould, before chipping the ball past Cuaresma, who was caught off his line.

Latiff fired a spectacular shot from just outside the box to put Tampines two goals up in the 49th minute, before the Sparks created several chances in the second half thanks to the entry of Mark Hartmann.

Tampines also finished the game with ten men as defender Benoit Croissant was also sent off in injury time.  Cedelf P. Tupas