CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu Football Club (CFC) Gentle Giants capped off their tightly-contested match against the Stallion Laguna FC with a 1-1 draw in the Philippines Football League (PFL) on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 26, 2023, at the Biñan Football Stadium in Laguna.
It was the second time since August the Gentle Giants faced the Stallions at the same venue after their scheduled match at the Dynamic Herb-Borromeo Sports Complex last November was canceled by the PFL.
In their first meeting, the Gentle Giants beat the Stallions, 4-3, in Biñan.
The Gentle Giants didn’t disappoint in giving the host club a scare in their rematch despite the draw after Papu Korsame scored the first goal at the 35th minute.
Cebu FC earned a ball possession from an interception which led to Ivorian forward Marius Kore doing a long pass after seeing Korsame sprinting towards the goal.
The ball perfectly landed on Korsame’s foot, enough to flick it behind the net and past the hands of Stallion’s goalkeeper Patrick Deyto.
They went on capping off the first half with a 1-0, lead.
In the second half, Cebu FC launched numerous attacks, with one of it almost converted to a goal at the 57th minute courtesy of Rintaro Hama’s attempt which was blocked by Deyto.
The Stallions, however, retaliated with an equalizer, 1-1, courtesy of Miguel Mendoza coming from Gerald Mark Layumas’ corner kick.
Layumas’ corner kick landed in the goal box resulting to both teams scrambling for possession, but Mendoza gained possession of the ball, and he immediately kicked it perfectly past the hands of Cebu’s goalkeeper Florencio Badelic Jr.
With the draw, Cebu FC remained as the No. 2 team in the standings with 25 points from seven wins, four draws, and one loss behind league leader Kaya FC Iloilo with 33 points with an 11-0-3 (win-draw-loss) .
Laguna is at the No. 5 spot with 16 points from 5-1-6 slate.
Cebu FC will face the No. 3 team, the Azkals Development Team on March 11, 2023, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, while Laguna will face Kaya at the same date with the venue, which has yet to be announced.
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