Green Booters revive championship hopes after slow start

After losing their first two games in UAAP Season 76 against the UST Growling Tigers and the UE Red Warriors respectively, the DLSU Green Booters have managed to bounce back. As a matter of fact, head coach Hans Smit’s squad is currently at third place in the season standings, above their tormentors at the onset of the season and behind just the league-leading FEU Tamaraws and the UP Fighting Maroons.

In their third match, the Green Booters picked up their first win as they battled a more favored UP side in their first televised game of the season. Goals from Chuck Uy and Nace Gonzales sandwiched UP’s goal from Jinggoy Valmayor, the league’s leading goal scorer with six as of press time, as they shocked one of the preseason favorites.

The Green Booters then won their next two matches, against the NU Bulldogs and the defending champion ADMU Blue Eagles. In their encounter against NU, sophomore Gelo Diamante made his season debut after missing the team’s first three matches due to a bout with dengue and he announced his arrival with the lone goal of the contest. Then, in one of the most thrilling games of the season, the Green Booters overcame a 1-0 deficit against ADMU in the second half to come out on top, 2-1. Diamante scored the equalizer at the 75th minute of the contest. Just before the final whistle was blown, reigning UAAP Defender of the Year Greggy Yang fired a free kick from the top right corner of Ateneo’s penalty box and it found Al Bustamante who scored the game winning goal off a header.

Yang would be suspended for their next match against the Tamaraws and their last of the first round. The Green Booters sorely missed his presence on the defensive end and they fell, 3-1.

To begin the second round, the Green Booters exacted revenge on UST, picking up a 3-2 win with goals coming from veteran Matthew Nierras, rookie Noel Brago and Uy. They were unable to find the mark in their next outing, which was against ADMU, and the game ended in a goalless draw. It was a similar result in their next match which was a rematch against UE. A goal in the injury time period succeeding the first half from UE gave them a 1-0 edge but Gio Diamante scored the equalizer just a few moments later. Both teams failed to score again as they ended up with a 1-1 draw.

With their current slate of four wins, three losses and two draws, the Green Booters are at third place in the UAAP 76 Men’s Football tournament. FEU leads the league with 21 points, backstopped by their sweep of the first round though they were handed their first defeat of the year by UP. After a slow start to the season, the Fighting Maroons have stormed up the standings and sit at second place after their hard-earned win over FEU. UP has 16 points, just two ahead of DLSU.

UE rounds up the current top four with 12 points while UST trails them by just one at 11. Ateneo has been underwhelming so far in their championship defense as they are currently at the bottom of the standings. The Blue Eagles have six points, just one behind NU.

“Once we get the hang of it and the players become comfortable with each other again, I think we can go all the way,” shares Smit.

After two consecutive fourth place finishes, including a heartbreaking defeat to ADMU in last year’s semifinals via penalties, the Green Booters hope that this will be their year to finally bring back the UAAP championship to Taft Avenue for the first time since 1998. The past few seasons have been rough and this one has not been a perfect one, but the pieces are in place and with a few lucky breaks, this just might be the season for the Green Booters.