Routine win strengthens Green Booters’ grip on fourth place

The DLSU Green Booters finished the first round of the season with a hard-fought, 2-0, victory against the UE Red Warriors to remain at fourth place in the last day of the UAAP football tournament earlier this afternoon, December 19, at Ateneo’s Ocampo Field.

Green lights all over

As soon as the referee whistled, the Green Booters asserted dominance in the field. With less than a minute gone by, DLSU Defender Greggy Yang’s free kick from 40 yards out was almost converted by Matthew Nierras who fired the ball over the goal.

Two minutes after, Yang took another free kick from a nearer position. His attempt forced UE Goalkeeper Lendon Clores to dive towards the corner.

Aside from the early chances, DLSU had 10 more chances in the following 42 minutes of the first half, but none changed the score.

The best among those came in the 18^th minute. Gelo Diamante teed up his elder brother Gio who had a one-on-one opportunity against Clores, but the latter managed to push the ball away from danger. The elder Diamante recovered the ball quickly and passed it to Nathan Alquiros who almost scored, but his shot struck the crossbar.

The team nearly rued all the squandered chances before the 23^rd minute when Goalkeeper Patrick Deyto cleared Kevin Rioveros’ shot. The teams entered halftime with the score staying the same as it was when the game started.

The Red Warriors performed better in the second half, but La Salle continued to get the tone of the match. After 14 unconverted attempts, the Green Booters’ perseverance paid off. Nierras trudged the left wing before crossing the ball towards the younger Diamante who scored his fourth goal of the season with a half-volley shot to give the team a, 1-0, lead.

As the team held a precarious one-goal lead, the men from Taft kept their feet on the gas in search of the team’s second goal to win the match for good. That much-sought second goal came in the second minute of added time. Gio Diamante headed Yang’s free kick from the right flank. Clores caught the ball, but the UE goalkeeper lost hold of the ball and Chuckie Uy rushed to deliver La Salle’s second goal of the game. A minute after Uy’s goal, the referee blew the final whistle to hand the third win of the Green Booters this season.

Way too physical

Smit was not satisfied with the victory. He believed that the Green Booters should have scored more than the team did today. Fortunately, the team’s relentless pursuit led to a number of opportunities that were enough to give them three precious points.

In addition, La Salle’s mentor was furious about UE’s rugged play. “They were not out there to play football. They were out there to injure my players,” claimed Smit. He also argues that the Red Warriors deserved to be “sanctioned by the UAAP” for disciplinary issues.

UE’s Janus Ragodon joined five teammates who were already suspended this season after earning his second yellow card. The UE fullback elbowed substitute Andres Mayol in the 84^th minute.

Fight fire with fire

Apart from the win, Diamante and his teammates learned a valuable lesson from today’s match. “When we’ll face a rough opponent, we have to be as rough as them, but we still need to keep our heads in the game,” the Davao native added.

Halfway through

After playing six matches, the Green Booters ended the first half of the season with nine points to seize fourth in the standings. The team failed to beat Ateneo, FEU and UP—the top three of the tournament, but has won the other three games against lower-ranked teams which are UST, UE and NU.

Coincidentally, all of La Salle’s wins were played in the Ocampo Field and the team’s losses were obtained at Erenchun field. DLSU Skipper Patrick Deyto shared, “It’s not just us, but everyone else is saying that they like it here [in Ocampo].” He describes Erenchun to be a soft pitch that makes it hard for players to maintain balance while Ocampo is a smaller field, but still caters the players the luxury of delivering fastballs and stable footing.

Even so, he pointed out that the match could have finished the other way around had the team failed to score in the second half. Even if La Salle controlled the game, the Red Warriors were pretty much into the game until Uy’s last minute insurance goal.

After the game, Deyto and his teammates will enter a long break. He is optimistic that the team will do better in the second round. He added, “We’re in decent shape. We have played them once so we just have to adjust to our first games with everyone.”

Moreover, Deyto admitted that being in fourth reduces the anxiety as compared to being the higher-seeded team, yet he would still prefer to have more points than what the team has right now.

Looking forward to the second round of action, Deyto concluded, “There is less pressure in this position so we just have to peak at the right time.”

Other results:  UP 2-0 UST; FEU 7-0 NU.

Men’s Football Standings (after six game days)