The Green and Lady Booters will have to win their respective games to retain their UAAP Football Tournament Championship bids. The Green Booters will be pitted in a Valentine’s Day match against the top-seeded Ateneo Blue Booters while the Lady Booters will tussle with the UP Lady Maroons today, February 10.
Playoff picture
After playing 12 games each, Ateneo placed first with 27 points while La Salle ended up at fourth following a 1-2 defeat against reigning champion UP. The latter will fight a best-of-three series with FEU.
The elimination round series is even between the two fierce rivals, Ateneo and La Salle. Ateneo took the first round meeting with a 1-0 victory, while La Salle fought back and dealt a 2-0 win in a second matchup. A week and a half after the match, the two teams will once again square off.
The Green Booters have to avoid losing to extend its season. La Salle has to either win the game within 90 minutes or emerge stronger than the Katipunan-based XI in the penalty shootout, which will be put into place once the score is level after 90 minutes of play and a 30-minute extra period. If the Green Booters come up with a win this Thursday, another do-or-die game will take place between the two teams.
After the team’s game against UP, Green Booters’ Captain Patrick Deyto tweeted,“[I’m] Disappointed with the result and the performance today. [We] Gotta work with what we have and strive to improve.”
Making the most out of the game
The Lady Booters will have to trudge a rocky path as the team’s fate depends on the result of the FEU-UST game. Last year’s finalist would have to beat UP and hope that the Tigresses would fail to win against FEU. On the other hand, Ateneo suffers the same fate as the team stands a slim chance of entering the Finals.
Should the Lady Booters enter the championship, the team will lock horns with the FEU Lady Tamaraws. Both teams have drawn with each other in two meetings in the elimination rounds.
Lady Booters’ Skipper Miel Ampil emphasized, “We just really have to focus on our game.”
With the FEU-UST game starting before the DLSU-UP match, the Lady Booters’ chances of entering the Finals could possibly end before the team’s game against UP begins. Nonetheless, the ladies will push their limits to bag a win. Ampil said with conviction,“[If UST qualifies for the finals,] we still have to play all out so we can get third place.”
