Cebu FC’s Daniel Gadia. | Photo from Cebu FC Facebook page
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu Football Club (CFC) Gentle Giants climbed to the third spot in the Philippines Football League (PFL) standings after defending their turf against the visiting United City FC, 2-1, on Saturday evening.
The Gentle Giants remained undefeated at home by winning all of their four matches since April.
It was also a statement win for Cebu FC to break the tie in terms of the win-loss record against the United City FC.
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Before the match’s outcome last Saturday evening, both clubs were tied with five wins and one defeat. Cebu FC was in fourth place, while United City FC was in fifth place with the latter having the upper hand with a higher goal differential.
After yesterday’s matches, Stallion Laguna FC led the team standings with 19 points from their six victories, one loss, and one draw, followed by Davao Aguilas-University of Makati (6W-1D) also with 19 points, but with a lower goal differential.
READ: Cebu FC defends home turf, beats One Taguig 3-1 in PFL
Late comeback
However, Cebu FC pulled off a late comeback during their game on Saturday at the Dynamic Herb-Borromeo Sports Complex in Cebu City to win the match.
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Its ever-reliable midfielder, Daniel Gadia scored the match’s first goal in the 27th minute. The match sealed the first half with a 1-0 advantage for the host squad.
In the second half, United City FC retaliated with a 51st-minute equalizer courtesy of Mark Hartmann, bringing the match, to 1-1.
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As time winded down, Cebu FC scored the winning goal from the veteran Papu Corsame in the 73rd minute.
A perfectly timed cross pass inside the goal box from Abou Sy found Corsame left wide open to sneak in the goal.
Gadia was eventually named the “Man of the Match.”
Cebu FC
Despite their victory, Cebu FC’s head coach Memiş Özata admitted that United City FC was one of their most difficult matches so far this season.
“We had a lot of injured players. It was a difficult match, they’re a very good team. It was difficult but the guys did very well and we’re very happy,” said Özata.
The last time these two clubs faced each other, their match ended with a 3-3 draw in October 2022 at the same venue.
“The second half, we played defense but we had to play football also. We played better football to score the second goal. It was a very difficult match but I’m very happy, it’s very good to play at home watching the fans, I thank the fans for watching the games,” Özata explained.