By Jean Malanum
MANILA – University of the Philippines banked on rookies Ramil Bation III and Orlan Togores to beat De La Salle University, 3-1, in the UAAP Season 86 men’s football tournament at UP Diliman Football Stadium on Sunday night.
Bation delivered an impressive free kick in the 77th minute before Togores lobbed the ball over La Salle goalkeeper Enrico Mangaoang in the 79th to seal the victory.
“One of our objectives is to improve every match,” coach Popoy Clariño said. “We took all the things that we needed to improve on from the FEU (Far Eastern University) game and we focused on that during trainings. It’s so nice to see all the things that we talked about were covered during this game.”
UP is in third place with six points and a plus-1 goal difference after two wins and one loss, behind Ateneo with seven points (+5) and University of Santo Tomas with six points (+4).
Isaac Anoh of Ivory Coast scored in the 7th minute — his fourth goal this season — to give the Green Booters a 1-0 lead. But the Fighting Maroons made it 1-1 after midfielder Vincent Parpan scored in the 10th minute.
UP will be up against Ateneo de Manila University next Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on its home pitch.
“Ateneo is a very tough opponent. They have a great coach — coach JP Merida. Of course, they have that Ateneo mindset. But again, we’re always ready. There are things we still need to improve on and we’re gonna keep doing that,” Clariño said.
La Salle, which will face Adamson University on Thursday at 4 p.m., slid to fourth with six points and a plus-1 goal difference after absorbing its first defeat, followed by FEU with three points (0), University of the East with three points (-8) and Adamson with one point (-3). (PNA)
