Loyola Meralco puts dent on Global's title-retention bid

MANILA, Philippines – Loyola Meralco Sparks put a huge dent on Global’s bid to defend its United Football League title with a 2-0 shocker Thursday night at the Emperador Stadium in McKinley Hill, Taguig.

Already out of the title picture, the Sparks played the spoiler’s role anew with Mark Hartmann and Phil Younghusband piercing through the defense of the out-of-sync Global.

A calm and compose Mark Hartmann buried the first of the two daggers just 11 minutes into the match.

Hartmann caught two defenders flat-footed before launching the shot from a tight angle from the left flank of the goal to give the Sparks the initial lead.

Global looked lost and fatigued after booking a quarterfinal berth in the Singapore Cup with a 2-0 vicotry against defending champion Warriors FC and with several of their key players coming off from national duties in the Philippine Azkals’ emotional 1-0 win against Hong Kong in the former crown colony last Tuesday.  

Loyola pounced on Global’s lethargic play with a Younghusband goal in the 72^nd minute as the Sparks took the upper hand in their head-to-head advantage this season, which serves as a confidence-booster should they meet in the semifinals of the Singapore Cup.   

Their first round meeting ended in a 1-1 draw.

The loss derailed Global’s run to a second title as they got stuck at 40 points with their second loss in 16 games.  

League leader Stallion-Sta. Lucia could clinch the crown on Tuesday with a win against the dangerous Sparks in their last match of the season.  The Stallions currently have 45 points on the strength of a 15-0-2 win-draw-loss card.

Global’s only chance is to hope for another Sparks win on Tuesday and then sweep their remaining two matches against Kaya and Army.

The ejection of Carlos Guisso and Delon Patrick Yao which left Global with nine men to finish the match in the second half also hurt their chances with the duo to serve out an automatic suspension in their next match.

In the first game, Kaya grabbed the fourth spot with a 1-0 win over Phil. Army courtesy of a late goal by its American reinforcement Logan McDaniel.

McDaniel fired the marginal goal in the injury time as Kaya held on to win its seventh game against seven draws and three losses to pile up its 28^th point, three points clear of fifth running Pachanga-Diliman, which has a game on hand.

Phil. Army, meanwhile, shot itself in the arm with 12^th loss in 15 games. The Army men have three games left to salvage their season and get out of the relegation zone.