A booter from the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R) Kicking Jaguars tries to gain possession against a player from the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters during their first round meeting in the College division of the ongoing 19th Cesafi men’s football tournament at the Cebu City Sports Center. | Gerard Vincent Francisco
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Kicking Panthers may have notched another rare win against the six-time defending champion University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors, 1-0, but they also lost their coach to a red card in the College division of the ongoing 19th Cesafi men’s football tournament.
Referee Dave Intong handed a red card to USPF head coach Eleazar Toledo in the 53rd minute for allegedly shouting the expletive “Puta… I..” to him during their match against USC, Sunday, October 13, 2019 at the Cebu City Sports Center.
Tournament director Francis Ramirez explained that the Cesafi football adheres to the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) tournament rules which will hand cards, yellow or red, depending on the violation, not only to players but to the members of the coaching staff as well.
This ruling has always been in the FIFA tournament rules but in early 2000, they stopped using it in lieu of sending erring members of the coaching staff outside the playing area or up the bleachers.
But the ruling was brought back last year.
USPF compensated for converting a penalty in the 71st minute courtesy of Robert Aguilar, thus giving the Kicking Panthers the win despite the unfortunate incident.
Both teams have met thrice for the title, however, USPF has never managed to win it, always ending as runner-up. The last time they met for the title was in 2017.
Toledo will be serving a one game suspension but will not have to pay the sanction fee of P5,000 or do four hours of community service as these are reserved for unsportsmanlike physical behaviors.
Thus, Toledo will be missing the USPF’s match against University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters on Sunday, October 20.
Read more: Late goal gives USC the victory in Cesafi football
This is the first time that a local coach has been meted with a red card, said Ramirez.
He also added that if the crowd would be unruly during the championship game, they might decide to stop it and would have it played again in a closed out stadium, meaning only the players could play either, so no spectators.
This is because Ramirez has observed that the crowds watching the games often resort to thrash talking.
Aside from Toledo, also meted with yellow cards were USC head coach Allan Medalle during their secondary match on Saturday and Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu’s assistant coach Dan Villarico. Both were yellow carded for thrash talking.
The other collegiate match had University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R) Kicking Jaguars finally clinching their first victory at the expense of UC Webmasters, 1-0.
Towing USJ-R to the win column was Cyrus John Paca.
Despite the loss, USC still leads the tournament with 10 points on a 3-1-1 win-loss-draw record.
Read more: USC edges UV in 2019 Cesafi football tournament
USPF climbs to second with nine points on a 2-1-3 card relegating UC to the third spot with its seven points equivalent to a 2-3-1 card.
Last year’s runner-up, University of the Visayas (UV) Green Booters, is at fourth with six points owing to its 2-3-0 slate.
It has the same standings as USJ-R but UV takes the fourth spot as it scored more goals at five, two more than USJ-R’s at three. So, despite the win, USJ-R remains at the bottom rung./dbs