Ilocos United FC may be the clear underdogs when they play host team Global Cebu FC tonight in the Philippines Football League (PFL).
But the visitors vowed to frustrate Cebuano football fans who are rooting for a win by the Cebuano club at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) football pitch.
The young team has learned a lot from its maiden year in the professional football scene, according to Ilocos United FC’s head coach Ian Gillan.
The bottom ranked team from up north will be facing Global Cebu FC, the current number four in the PFL standings. Ilocos United has seven points so far from one win, 19 defeats and four draws while Global Cebu has 37 points from 10 wins, six losses and seven draws.
“Global’s one of the best in the country and it’s a privilege to travel here in Cebu and play against them. We are looking forward to play tomorrow (today). We are looking for a positive result and move forward from our forfeited match against FC Meralco,” said Gillan during yesterday’s presser at the Golden Prince Hotel.
Ilocos United FC was recently slapped a forfeiture in their match against FC Meralco Manila Sparks due to problems with its franchise agreement with the PFL. However. the problem has been resolved.
“We came down here a few months ago and we got beaten, 2-1. There were some controversies in that game which could have given a different result. Now we come to rectify that result and come back to Vigan with three points,” added Gillan.
Leading the league standings is FC Meralco Manila Sparks with 48 points (14-3-6 win-loss-draw) card followed by Kaya Makati FC with 47 points (14-7-5) and Ceres Negros FC with 42 points (13-4-3).
Akhbar Nawas, Global Cebu’s coach meanwhile, said that the team is still oozing with confidence going into tonight’s game despite losing to Kaya Makati FC, 0-2, last October 21 in the latter’s turf.
“The team is in high spirits. All the players recognized their mistakes in that loss and everyone’s working hard for tomorrow’s (tonight) match,” said Nawas. “It’s always dangerous to play against a team which is hungry for a win but we are prepared.”
Global Cebu’s ace skipper Misagh Bahadoran may suit up as a starter for the 7 p.m. match after he recovered from his shoulder injury but defender Amani Aguinaldo is expected to miss play as he is still nursing an injury. Dominic Del Rosario on the othjer hand is still serving his suspension.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
